What Does Love have To Do With Business - Love's Focus
"Each One should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in various forms. If he speaks , he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4: 10-11.
One can have all sorts of gifts, but God's word teaches us if love is not in them, these gifts have little significance. Human relationships are very important in todays marketplace. It is through people that we get things done. Yet, real Christian love does not begin with a focus on others, it begins with a focus on God. The only way we can exhibit real Godly love in a dog eat dog marketplace is to get into the heart of God and have Him get into our hearts.
The apostle Paul starts out in the fourth verse of chapter thirteen of 1 Corinthians with a laundry list of characteristics that describe how love is manifested in any persons life and in any environment. The business world should be an excellent place to demonstrate God's love.
Love is patient. I have always thought that when God was sprinkling out patience from Heaven, I must have had my umbrella up. Patience is not an easy thing for most business people. One way patience in business can be demonstrated is in our willingness to overlook a few mistakes of a person and give them time to grow. One of the hardest lessons for me to learn, even today, is not to act on impulse, but to take the time to think, gather the facts, and to seek what is right. We are in an instant action world, a world that wants what we want and we don't have time to wait. The project can't move forward until we get results from a subordinate or supplies from a supplier. It is a waiting game and we don't have time to wait. Unfortunately when this happens, many times we react in ways that do not represent Godly love.
Patience also means we are willing to wait for success. I had a friend in the early days of our careers who loved the good life. He wanted success and all the trappings now. His dad owned a local automotive dealership and my friend persuaded his dad to open another dealership in a nearby town. It wasn't long before my friend had taken some unethical and illegal steps in order to make himself more successful. This eventually caught up with him and it cost he and his dad their car business. This same pattern continued with him in other endeavors all his life until finally he ended up in prison. What a penalty to pay for a lack of patience on waiting for God to provide whatever success He desires for us.
Love is kind. There is an architectural firm here in Charlotte that I had the pleasure of working with on some of our office projects. The owner of the firm was one of the nicest, most gentle and considerate people with whom I have ever had the privilege of working. He was always very thoughtful of others opinions and never exhibit a critical spirit. Kindness was a gift and it was spread throughout relationships with all the firms clients.
I recently read where the Chick-fil-A president, Dan Cathy, spoke about how they had built their business around 1 Peter 4: 10. He stated: " we have the gift of selling chicken. We want to do as well as we can for the glory of God. Tonight, we have 600 new recruits coming in for training. I am going to tell them about how we have the gift of selling chicken. That mans we will treat our customers with kindness. We are selling chicken for the glory of God."
We will achieve the significance and pece we so desire in life when we know we are doing what God has gifted us to do. No matter what our profession may be, we must do it to the glory of God. The marketplace is a big field ripe for harvest. People are searching for someone to give then the answers to a fulfilled life. Our patience with where they are in their work relationship with God will give us opportunity to demonstrate the kindness of God.
