Biblical Business Radical: Crisis, Faith, Stewardship

Do you really believe God will give you what you need?

Tony Dungy in his Uncommon Life daily devotional relates a time when his father was willing to pay for the $3.99 K-Mart version of the $7.99 Converse (r) Chuck Taylors, showing they were exactly the same shoe and Tony's performance in them would be exactly the same. Unfortunately, like many of us business leaders today, young Tony placed more importance on his reputation among his peers; wearing the K-Mart version wouldn't provide him the same popularity, prestige and invitations to the "cool" social circles.

Aren't we like this too? We dedicate our companies to the Lord, saying the company is His. We commit ourselves to being His stewards of His resources. Then we complain when He doesn't give us the Converse version of the company; He gives us the lower cost version. The company may not grow. It may even shrink.

We think we can handle more, a bigger company, and the Lord says, "You are the servant to whom I've given one talent. Another servant may have been given more and that's not your concern. Remember what I told Peter when he was concerned about the fate of another disciple. Their success or failure is not your concern. They are My companies, My resources."

We pray the Lord's/Disciple's Prayer: "...Give us this day our daily bread..." and we forget the verses around it. Christ declares our Father in heaven knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6.8) so it doesn't matter how many words you use, how fervently you pray, that you remind the Lord of the specific promise in the Bible, that you pray in public. That's what the pagans do. Christ goes on to teach that He knows what we need so don't worry about our needs. Instead focus on serving, loving, doing justice, making peace, being spiritually thirsty and hungry, taking care of the least/last/lost...[my amplification of seeking the kingdom in Matthew 6.33]. Our responsibility is to "pray" our fealty, our loyalty to His kingdom, which is coming, is here--His will be done. His will is better than anything we could desire, right?

When we ask the Lord to expand our company--help it survive in these days of COVID-19--are we asking for our sake or His sake? Are we, like Moses, suggesting to the Lord that it will reflect on His reputation if His people perish in the wilderness? How much of that is really the outcome that His people will perish, and how much is just our reputation decreasing?