ClearPurpose

What does Bible reading have to do with running a business?

God is the Creator. He made man in His image, so we are also creative. God put man to work from the very beginning and gave him dominion over creation. We were designed from the beginning to create, build, and manage. Business leaders reflect this in our work creating, building, growing, and managing businesses. 

Much of the Bible is focused on helping us see how to live all aspects of our lives in a way that pleases Him and glorifies Him, including through our work. In his teaching, Jesus often used parables, telling stories of businessmen acting in ways that reflected God’s ways and glorified Him, or of other businessmen acting in ways that conflicted with God’s ways and dishonored Him. Throughout the Bible, God makes clear that the righteous (those that live according to His ways) will be blessed both in this life and in the eternal life to come.

The Bible is the only authoritative and infallible source for knowing God and what He desires from us. Anything we can learn about pleasing and glorifying God will come from the Bible, either directly or indirectly. We can learn much from listening to preachers and teachers and authors, but if we really want to know what God says, we must read the Word He has given us, the Bible.

God’s Word is also the source of all wisdom. All of it is profitable for training in righteousness that we may be equipped for every good work. Reading the Bible can give us encouragement and hope, even when going through challenges, as it reminds us of God’s great power and promises. It also reminds us of what truly matters, so that we can focus on the most important things.

Read the full article here, including some tips for how to make Bible reading a regular discipline in your life.

Dictionary.com lists three definitions for the verb “discipline”, all of which are important in growing spiritual fruit in our lives:

1. “to train by instruction and exercise; drill.”
2. “to bring to a state of order and obedience by training and control.”
3. “to punish or penalize in order to train and control; correct; chastise.”

As Christians seeking to honor God with our lives and our businesses, spiritual disciplines are activities we regularly undertake to develop spiritual knowledge, order and obedience in our lives. We should welcome correction as we seek spiritual maturity.

In his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald Whitney defines spiritual disciplines as “those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are the habits of devotion and experiential Christianity that have been practiced by the people of God since biblical times.”

Read the full article about spiritual disciplines and the seven specific behaviors we will be writing about in the coming weeks here.

This week I published the fifth in a long series of articles on “The A,B,C,D’s of Glorifying God with Your Business.” The first five articles have been on five attitudes (the A’s) required if you’re going to glorify God with your business. The next seven will be on behaviors (the B’s) that prepare us to consistently glorify God. After that will come nine characteristics (the C’s) and finally twelve decisions (the D’s) that tangibly bring honor and glory to God.

You might be wondering why I don’t just jump to the end. You might be thinking — just tell us what decisions we can make in our businesses that will be glorifying to God! 

Jesus often used farming analogies in His teaching. I’m going to follow His lead in explaining the A,B,C,D framework:

– The five attitudes represent a mindset that puts God and neighbor first. Think of developing these attitudes within ourselves as preparing the soil for planting. We need a mindset that is “good ground” into which God’s wisdom can take root and grow. 

– The seven behaviors are spiritual disciplines we must develop and exercise in order to work the seed of God’s Word into that good soil and nurture the growth of that Biblical wisdom in our lives.

– The nine character traits are the spiritual fruit that will spring forth in our lives as Godliness grows within us.

– The twelve types of decisions are when and how we harvest that fruit.

Any farmer will tell you that there’s no shortcut to the harvest. You must prepare the soil, work it, and patiently wait for the crop to mature before you can harvest it. So stick with me as we transition from Attitudes to Behaviors. In just a few months we should be ready to reap the harvest.

Read the full article here.

As Christians, we know that our faith is integral to who we are and gets reflected in what we think, say, and do. But the world around us is skeptical. They have seen enough hypocrisy and mediocrity from within the Christian camp to not put much trust in anything we say and to be critical of everything we do. The way we operate our businesses must be consistent with the faith we profess, including love, grace, and integrity.

After Dean Burnside bought a pest control business in Florida, he worked to instill a missions-minded culture in the business. The company’s website lists their purpose as “to represent Jesus Christ to the Gulf Coast while providing peace of mind at a fair price, protecting our environment as the leader in green pest management, and serving others with excellence in all we do.” He defined the company culture around 6 HABITS: Humility; Attitude (positive); Being diligent; Integrity; Taking care of customers, community, and each other; and Sharing the good news. In time, Dean decided to rename the company Good News Pest Solutions. He tells me that not a day goes by without someone asking one of his employees “what’s the good news?” They all carry a pamphlet that shares the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ that they can share with anyone who asks.

Read my full article on what it means to operate our businesses knowing that the world is watching here.

Coaching legend John Wooden famously said “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” Sadly, many businessmen would rather live by the foolishness expressed by the TV character Al Bundy when he said “it’s only cheating if you get caught.”

The fourth attitude required for glorifying God with your business is that “God is always watching.” The world may pressure us to lie and cheat and steal and otherwise hurt our neighbors for our own gain, but that is not God’s way. God is watching. He wants what is best for us, and that best includes living by His standards.

Many academics say that the answer to improving business ethics is to help business leaders become fully rational in their decision making “in order to better align our behavior with our goals.”  It seems this will naturally lead to unethical behavior, not the opposite.

With society’s rejection of moral absolutes, the problem is getting worse. According to the 2024 American Worldview Inventory, 40% of Gen Xers, 55% of Millenials, and 66% of Gen Zers believe it is morally acceptable to do anything you desire as long as it doesn’t hurt another. “No harm, no foul,” their attitudes seem to say. For too many in business, right and wrong are defined by what best meets their personal needs.

Christians know that morality isn’t a relative personal choice depending on the situation, it is defined by God’s unchanging standards. God is always watching over us, but not as a “cosmic killjoy”. Yes, He is grieved by our sins, but He is also watching over us for our good. He cares, He loves, He protects, and He provides. 

To the sinner, God’s omnipresence (He is everywhere), omnipotence (all powerful) and omniscience (all knowing) should be terrifying. To the redeemed, there’s no greater comfort than knowing that God is always with us, is all powerful, and is working all things to our good.

Read the full story here.

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)

Read my full explanation of this attitude here.

How to Grow Your Small Business by Donald Miller provides a comprehensive architecture for building a business designed for growth. Every chapter introduces a new tool or framework to implement that architecture. (Regular readers know that I like tools and frameworks!) The author provides well written explanations of how to use the tools/frameworks with plenty of examples. 

You may not choose to implement all the tools, frameworks, and playbooks in How to Grow Your Small Business, but you’ll probably take something away from each one that will make you and your business more successful. I strongly recommend this book for any business leader.

Read my full review here.

The Friedman Doctrine, which says the greatest responsibility of business is to satisfy the business’ owners, has guided how companies operate for more than half a century. There’s some logic to this. The owners are the ones who have taken the greatest financial risk and therefore should reap the greatest financial reward. Especially when the business owner is active in a small business, this mindset is natural. If I’m in control, why would I sacrifice some of the benefit to myself for the benefit of another? From the world’s perspective, that would be foolishness.

But the Bible teaches us that God’s two greatest commands are to love Him and to love our neighbor. Loving our neighbors, in a Christ-like manner, requires an others-first mindset in our businesses. God not only requires this of us, but He promises that our sacrificial love will be rewarded. Those rewards might or might not come in a form that the world values, but they are precious rewards that are beyond measure.

Read my full article here on this tension and how we can deal with it in our businesses.

The definition of the phrase “business owner” is pretty obvious. It means “the person who owns a business”. By the world’s standards it seems foolish for a business owner to have the attitude that God, not them, owns their business. 

As Christians we are called to embrace the “unnatural” way of thinking, even if the world calls us foolish for it. We know that every good thing that we have is a gift from God and that we can accomplish nothing without God’s grace and favor. We publicly acknowledge our dependence on God, knowing that doing otherwise steals glory from God. We recognize that ultimately God owns everything, including our businesses. 

Living the reality that God owns it all, including my business, challenges me (in a good way) to think and act focused on God’s glory and my neighbor’s good. Doing so brings great freedom, peace of mind, and ultimately reward. What business owner could ask for more?

Read the full article here on what it means to embrace the attitude that God owns my business.

As one historic document put it, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. As Christians in business, most of the time we enjoy the work that God has given us, but one of the biggest questions we face is how we can glorify Him with our businesses. I believe that we can glorify God through the decisions we make in our work. That includes the big decisions (e.g. what customers to serve and what products to sell) and the seemingly small decisions we make every day (e.g. how do I respond to this e-mail from an unhappy customer?).

Although many business decisions seemingly involve logical analysis, decision making that consistently glorifies God flows from having a Godly character. And that character is developed through a set of habitual behaviors (or disciplines) intentionally focused on glorifying God and growing in Christlikeness. All of these things only happen if we have a mindset (i.e. attitudes) that values Biblical truths.

The article linked below kicks off a new series where I plan to write about the five attitudes, seven behaviors, nine character traits, and twelve impact-defining decisions that business owners can focus on in glorifying God with their business.

Read what these 33 different aspects are and my plans for the series here.