"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth, keep corrupt talk far from your lips; Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; keep your foot from evil. Proverbs 4: 23-27
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." If we dig deep into the words Jesus is using here when He talks about pure, we come away with an overwhelming feeling of impossible. When Jesus says pure, He is talking about absolute undefiled in our thoughts, feelings and actions. Our mission, our motives, our plans, and our dealings with others, are to be clean and pure.
This is a tall order- a powerful principle. Every thought, word, purpose, and action, must be of the purest nature. Our first reaction is to ask - Is this what Jesus is really saying? Does He also mean that this is the only way we will actually see God?
Proverbs states that we must guard our heart above all else. In order to do this, there needs to be some kind of filter placed over our hearts to keep the trash out. If possible, that would be one way to guard our hearts. Another way would be discipline ourselves to stay focused on the right things. This can act as the spiritual filter on our hearts. But, no filter can keep all the trash out, and consequently, it is impossible to be absolutely pure in this life we now live. Striving to focus on the right things certainly prevents a lot of trash from affecting our hearts. But in order to do that, we must think on the right things.
It is so easy to get distracted in the world of business. Someone once stated that what we think determines our action, our actions determine our character, and our character determines our destiny. Jesus says that our destiny is to see God, therefore, the kinds of thoughts we allow to build a foundation in our hearts, will determine if we see God.
In the marketplace, our mission should be to exemplify Christ in all we do. Tim owns a utility construction business here in Charlotte. Tim is a good example of what it means to use our business as a platform for building the Kingdom of God. His mission statement states that his purpose is to bring glory to God and it is on everything representing the company. Tim is so committed to his mission that he refers to his business as his "ministry." He will be the first to tell you of his struggles to remain pure in all he does. But, you cannot be around him long that you will no doubt be aware of his mission and focus for his company. It radiates internally with his employees and on the outside with his customers and associates.
We understand that no one can visibly see God. But we can experience His presence. Charles Stanley once said there is no feeling like the feeling of knowing that God is involved in what we are doing. There is also no feeling like being able to trust in those people and companies in whom we do business. We trust in them knowing they are not perfect, but at the same time, we know their motive is to try and practice purity in all their business activities.
When we practice this kind of business model, it does allow us to see God in the marketplace. But to do so, God must be involved in our negotiations, our products and services, our debts, and how we treat employees and customers. When He is, we will see His will, we will experience His guidance, and the marketplace will bear fruit for his Kingdom.
Some have said that the next great revival will take place in the marketplace. It can, it will, if we stay focused on remaining pure. We will see God in our lives and that will have an impact on everyone around us. But we need to guard our hearts, stay focused on God, and be pure in all our dealings with others. People will look forward to doing business with us because they know we can be trusted.
