How Does Being a Christian Interact With Business? Let's Look at What Christ Said

As someone who has run a number of businesses in the collection and fundraising industries, I am no stranger to the struggle to balance profit-making techniques with the love, mercy, honestly, and dignity in which we are called to live as Christians. In this article I certainly do not have the time to go into a lot of detail; however, like much of Christianity a few simple thoughts can guide are actions. In the words of Christ himself the law can be summed up as such:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the Second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)

For us in the modern-day business world it is easy to try to separate our "faith life" from out "business life." This is a sad scenario considering most of us have contact with many more people in our work than in our personal life. We have an obligation as Christians to be Christ to world. So how do we balance this? What does this mean for Christians involved in business today? I believe a little thoughtful contemplation of the above statement from Christ can lead us in all our daily and momentary decisions. It can be broken down into two areas:

Put God (his laws of justice and truth) before making money. If you do this as an act of faith you will be trusting in God's providence in your business and life.

We all want Christ to be our savior, but not all of us want him to be our lord. Christ said "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (Jn 14:15) We all have a tendency to try to justify our actions will judging others. When making decisions always put the decision to the following litmus test: Does this decision follow the basic Christian principles?

1. Honesty
2. Justice
3. Compassion
4. Patience
5. Humility

Put your neighbor's (your customer's, prospect's, employees', business partner's) feelings, needs, and desires on an equal footing with yours.

Taking a few moments to considering your motivation and how your decisions will affect others is something that every Christian must do. A child could paraphrase this commandment as "Don't take something that belongs to someone else, or do something that hurts them!" Below are a few questions that will guide you. Post them somewhere on your desk and review them with each decision. You will be amazed how asking the right questions can lead you into ethical business practices.

1. What exactly is this action going to do? What are the likely and possible outcomes of it?
2. Is taking this action going to break any of God's commandments. (Especially the above mentioned one)- If so, what other avenue can I take to get the desired result without offence?
3. If my action will break a commandment it is because it will "hurt" someone. Could it lead others into doing something unethical? Is there any way I can take this action and not potentially hurt people in the process?
4. Is there alternative action I can take that will get the desired result without hurting anyone?

I am currently writing a series of articles which will dive into some of the most pressing Christian issues concerning modern business practices and the use of technology (the internet etc) to effectively and ethically promote business products and services. As an internet marketer I have found that too many small business owners are uniformed concerning the power of the internet and do not utilize the many free ways to promote any product or service on the net. This is a huge disadvantage now days and can spell failure for any small business or startup.