What Does Love Have To Do With Business - Love's Power
'Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." 1 Corinthians 8: 1
I have a good friend in Atlanta who was Vice President of sales with a national company for a number of years. While visiting them a few years back, my friend received a call that one of his sales people had to take his daughter to the hospital unexpectedly. The call came in around eleven at night. My friend asked me if I would ride with him to the hospital which was about 45 minutes away. Upon arriving there, we found the Dad and Mom outside the room of their little girl. We talked with the parents for about half an hour and then my friend prayed with the couple and we left. In our conversation on the way back, I realized my friend did not make that trip at midnight out of duty, but out of genuine love for an employee.
A solid Biblical principle is that we are to strive to be like God and to exemplify his character. God is all about love and our goal should be to conform to His image. A friend relayed to me while discussing this idea that you can find great Christians who exemplify the image of Christ, but not in the marketplace. In business we want to focus on what is on the outside, our image and possessions, rather than what is on the inside. In this passage in 1st Corinthians, Paul presents some gifts that we as businessmen should possess. Not displaying this kind of love may be one of the the reasons people don't see Christians in the marketplace.
In verse one, Paul states that though we may have the "tongues of men and of angels", it is nothing if we don't have love. To have the gift of speaking would be a powerful gift in the business world. We have all heard very effective people who have the gift to motivate and persuade others to do great things. Think about it, suppose you could move people in such a way that you could create the most successful company in the world. Paul is saying it is all futile without love exemplified. My friend in Atlanta was very successful with his company, partly because he demonstrated love to his people.
In verse two, Paul relays another gift that would be extremely beneficial in business. If we had all knowledge, able to solve any problem, able to predict where the market would be, invent the next great product to revolutionize the industry, yet did not have the love of God, we have served in vain. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have both brought tremendous progress to the world. Yet their products and services are miniscule compared to the gift of love.
I guess most people desire to have more faith. If we had the faith to remove all obstacles in reaching the highest goals and building the number one company in the world, it would not compare to what love could do. If we have the faith that could create the greatest positive energy and could accomplish amazing feats, without love we are nothing.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be able to give away enough money to solve all the hunger in the world. Yet, Paul says that if we gave away everything we had, even our lives, for the greatest cause in the world, we have profited nothing unless we do it with the love of Christ. For all the money that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett give away, does it introduce anyone to Christ?
I can't think of anything more powerful or beneficial than to be able to speak and have the world change. To be able to have the knowledge to solve all problems, to have unconquerable faith, and to be able to give even to the point of giving my life, are all great, yet to love you is more powerful. If love is more powerful, more effective, and more beneficial than all other gifts, then how do we demonstrate it in our business?
