One of the main motivations for many starting their own company or buying a business is that they become their own boss. Business owners quickly learn that this expectation is, at best, a half-truth since your business can quickly become a more demanding task-master than any human boss. I’m not surprised when a business owner tells me their title is something like “Owner/President/Lead Designer/Janitor”. And yet, there’s a sense of satisfaction, even joy, in seeing the business grow and create value for customers, employees, and the community.
Christians know that the world doesn’t revolve around us, that we are called to sacrificial love in serving others, and that we are called above all to serve God. As I serve customers, I am to do it with excellence and integrity, as if I were doing my work directly for the Lord. I’m not to be focused on doing what pleases worldly men, but rather I am to know that my true Master is watching and receiving my God-honoring work as a living sacrifice to Him.
Doing our work as to the Lord does not come naturally. All the forces of the world are aligned against it, encouraging us to be our own man, to take boastful pride in our accomplishments, to protect and pursue our self-interests. But as Christians, we are not our own. “And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)