Thank God For Mrs. Howard

Many people go to work every day with the question, "what is my purpose?" As Christians, this question seems even more prominent on our minds; we wonder if we should take our faith to the office. The purpose for most Christians is the same as non-Christians, to maximize profits. Profits are obviously of critical importance even for the Christian. But did God have another purpose in mind when he placed us in the marketplace? 

I came into the marketplace out of college as a Christian. I had been raised as a Christian, and I thought at the time that I stood solid on Christian values. It did not take long before the world and it's values began to override my Christian values. I lived my twenties with one foot in the world and one foot in God's Kingdom. Being a right footed man, the right foot was in the world and the left was dragging somewhere behind. I lived my life with business as my priority and possessions, pleasure, and pride ruled everything I did. 

God sent me to an elderly lady friend of the family when I was thirty one years old to try to buy her 50 acres of land. After two hours of trying to get her to sell me her land, I was no where. All this time she had been talking to me about Christ, while I tried to talk to her about her land. I left her porch that day promising her I would get serious about God, but I never intended to keep the promise. I just wanted her land. But God had other plans and a different purpose for my life. Two weeks later I re-surrendered my life to God and following Him in the marketplace became a purpose and passion in my life to this day. I praise God for Mrs. Howard, and her not selling me her land. 

Genesis 3: 17-23 tells us that man rebelled against God and, therefore, he was banished from the Garden and the presence of God. As a result, the marketplace became a place where work began to be hard, unpleasant, and things like greed, corruption, and the three "P's"(pride, possessions, pleasure), were now penetrating the marketplace. Man began to ask such things as, "Where was God?"  What was his purpose as he worked in the marketplace? 

A new journey was now set in place for man. A battle had begun - a battle that will last until Christ returns to re-establish His original workplace. The joy, significance, and completeness man had experienced naturally in the original marketplace, now had to be sought. Our physical needs, the burning desire for significance and to achieve something worthwhile, now filled every fiber of our being. Self began to rule our hearts and we relied on our own efforts to satisfy all these needs and desires. The need for God became less and less. God was okay on Sundays, but man ruled the marketplace.  We live with one foot in the marketplace and one foot in the Kingdom.