Business and The Beatitudes 

Persecuted

"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him." Philippians 1: 29

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven."

The Garden of Eden was an absolute paradise. It was without question, complete bliss. God had created the ultimate residing place with all the beauty we could imagine and filled it with all we would ever need. To top it off, God himself walked along side of HIs children as they worked and enjoyed his creation. Complete bliss, perfect harmony, and pure righteousness were forever a part of life.

God had created the perfect marketplace. He gave us the responsibility to take care of his paradise with the assurance that there would never be the slightest problem. All would be in unity and there would be no imperfect products or disgruntled employees. Everyone's motives and actions would never be questioned. It would appear that we would be willing to do anything to maintain this utopia. All we had to do was to maintain the righteousness that was created within us. 

But we saw the other side.  The apple looked better than the bliss of the perfect business environment. We said to ourselves, " surely the circumstances can't be that bad if we enter into the other side." Oh, but what we didn't see and believe. God had warned us, but we didn't believe. We didn't appreciate what we had and what was promised to us. As a result, God placed  weeds, thorns, and thistles, in the form of imperfect products, corruption and failure in the marketplace. The Garden, and now the marketplace, was filled with all the characteristics representing the complete opposite of righteousness. 

All we have to do is spend one day in todays marketplace and we get a full view of what is taking place. We can no longer fully experience the utopia of the original marketplace. We can have a brief momentary moment, but the full view can only be read about. Only the promise of what it will be one day in the future is available to us. Now, instead of God filling the marketplace with His presence, we are having to reconcile people back to God. We have to bring His Kingdom to others rather than God bringing His kingdom to us.  

We can have what God has promised. There are good and wonderful experiences in today's marketplace. There are excellent products, integrity, and people who are setting the pace in representing the kingdom of God in their business dealings. Sometimes it comes without  trouble, but at other times, it comes with sacrifice and resentment among our peers. The employee is not allowed to have a Bible on his desk. The very mention of God in the business meeting can bring ridicule and scorn. Righteousness is sacrificed for profits and bliss is sacrificed for scorn and persecution..

The Christian businessman must be willing to walk the talk. It's tough. We need to praise those who are willing to take a stand at the expense of their jobs. We need to pray for one another, support and encourage one another. It is hard to be willing to suffer as Paul has told us in Philippians. We must keep our eyes on the reward and not the persecution. Our hearts should dwell on what it was like in the original marketplace. We must ask ourselves - what price are we willing to pay in order to experience the original marketplace that will come again?  God never promised us it would be easy. In fact, Jesus told us people would hate us and would want to kill us because of Him.(John 15: 18, 16:2)  There are some who are actually giving their life for acknowledging Jesus.  Are we being persecuted today, if not, should we?