Business for the Glory of God
Essay Preview: Business for the Glory of God
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The book Business for the Glory of God by Wayne Grudem is based on biblical teachings. Throughout the book topics were discussed such as ownership, productivity, employment, commercial transactions, profit, money, borrowing and lending. From a biblical standpoint, each are “fundamentally good and provides many opportunities for glorifying God but also many temptations to sin” (Grudem, 2003, p. 19). Grudem expresses that business can glorify God and shares the following: “I am going to argue that many aspects of business activity are morally good in themselves, and that in themselves they bring glory to God–though they also have great potential for misuse and wrongdoing” (Grudem, 2003, p. 12). In reading this book, Grudem was consistent in how he expressed that business can be used to glorify God, and how it can be misused and sinful in nature.
One of the many things Grudem addressed was the ownership of property, also known as stewardship. Stewardship is “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to ones care” (Merriam Webster, 2012). Everything that belongs to us it is because God gave it to us. As stewards, we are to take care of everything that is in our possession no matter how small or how big, after all it belongs to him. The bible says is Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lords, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Thomas Nelson, 1982). In all that we do we want Gods sovereignty to rein in our lives. The best way to do that is to take care of the possessions he allows us to have. God put us here on earth to be productive. Genesis 1:28 says: Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Thomas Nelson, 1982). The more we are productive, the more we glorify God. God didnt give us resources to sit on them. As God gives us the desire to have material possessions, he gives us the desire to produce them. As the scripture says, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Thomas Nelson, 1982). We have to continuously work to maintain the harvest.
From the beginning of the bible days, people worked. In todays world when we work we are expecting to be paid. There is a scripture in the bible that backs this up in 1 Timothy 5:17, “the laborer is worthy of his wages” (Thomas Nelson, 1982). When an arrangement between an employer and an employee is within each others interest then God can be glorified by the outcome. The employee and employer work together to bring goods and services to -others. If good business practices and ethics are practiced in the workplace, God truly can be glorified. I own a residential and commercial cleaning business. It is my duty as the employer to take care of my employees and it is my responsibility to pay them for their labor. If I cheated my employees and didnt pay them what they were owed my actions would present a sinful nature. My actions of not paying my employees properly would make a cheater, and give me the reputation of not being a good reliable truthful business woman. It is my duty to do right with my business, and with my employees. I agree with what Grudem said, “We should be thankful to God for money and profit, but we should never love money or profit. We are to love God and our neighbor instead” (Grudem, 2003, p. 76). Employees in the workplace are often cheated through pay. As employers God has given us the task and responsibility to pay fairly and honestly. As employees we must understand that our education and experience determines our pay.
According to Grudem the buying and selling of goods and services provides an opportunity to glorify God. God intended for us to purchase goods and services from one another as long as it was done in a good way. The scripture use to support this is Leviticus 25:14, “And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbors hand, you shall not oppress one another” (Thomas Nelson, 1982). God simply wants the sales and payments to be fair, and it is not his desire for anyone to be cheated in the process. As Grudem states “commercial transactions are in themselves good because through them we do good to other people”.
Profit refers to money earned. The bible tells us in 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil” (Thomas Nelson, 1982). We as humans have a sinful nature. This is not how God intended for us to be when he created Adam and Eve. Money is a source of evilness and there is no getting around that. Grudem says “The ability to earn a profit thus results in multiplying our resources while helping other people. It is a wonderful ability that God gave us and it is not evil or morally neutral, but it is fundamentally good” (Grudem, 2003, p. 45). Money in itself is not evil it is what we do with it that may be evil. God is supposed to come first in our lives. He tells us in his word, “You shall have no other Gods