PART 11 – KINGDOM THINKING
There are two kingdoms in this world. One kingdom is guided by the Spirit of God; the other kingdom is driven by Satan. Whose kingdom do you serve?
Psalm 10 tells us about the second kingdom. “The wicked boasts of his heart’s desire; he blesses the greedy, and renounces the Lord.” Compare this to the first kingdom, as represented in Psalm 112: “A good man deals graciously and lends, he will guide his affairs with discretion.”
The contrast is illustrated many times through the Bible, and in clear terms. We either live for the true God and behave like Him, or we follow our base nature, and reflect the repulsive qualities of the fallen angel Lucifer. As C.S. Lewis put it, at any given moment we are either changing into the likeness of Jesus, or we are changing into the likeness of a demon from hell. We cannot sit in the middle.
When it comes to running a business, we have the same two choices. We can either run things on kingdom principles, or the very opposite. We can be generous and gracious or greedy and rude. We can dodge tax, and take money ‘under the table’ or declare everything, and pay our dues, even though in hurts. The Lord knows which way we are going and which kingdom we serve.
Of course, running a business does not give us an absolute guarantee of success, because there are many factors in life which we cannot always anticipate, such as war, fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, national collapse, and so on. We live in a world which is fallen, and which bears the troubles of sin and its effects. But even in this, we should not see adverse conditions as an ‘excuse’ to give up, or as a ‘reason’ to be like everybody else. There is such a thing as personal integrity. The poor man who is forced to be a slave to a despot can still hold his head up, because he knows he is not like the despot.
A handy proverb says: “The harder I work, the luckier I get!” Ecclesiastes says “For a dream comes through much activity.” When we apply ourselves to an enterprise, and work hard and diligently, we tend to attract success. We have a “dream”, and imagine great things. We find that as we generate the energy, we draw in other people, who help and support what we are doing. A business is greatly strengthened when it has many friends.
One kingdom model presents a person who is lazy, scheming, proud, greedy, materialistic, driven. The other model presents honesty, love, graciousness, genuine interest in customers, generosity and so on. Both models are capable of great success, but only one model pleases the Lord, and generates integrity.
How to run a business using Bible principles – Introduction
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 1
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 2
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 3
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 4
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 5
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 6
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 7
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 8
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 9
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 10
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 12
How to run a business using Bible principles – Part 13