What Does Love Have To Do With Business- Love's Standards 

"The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by their evil desires." Proverbs 11:6

"Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth." In todays culture, we constantly hear and experience things that we could never have imagined just a few short years ago. Television today is full of both real and acting situations that inform  and promote an agenda that should not be pleasing to any moral person. In todays media, we can live through the horrible evil acts committed in families and businesses. 

The marketplace is no exception to the forces of evil. We live in a business culture where greed and dishonesty are a part of every day life. We don't know when to trust  what people say, or look for what they don't say. We give our money over to trusted financial advisors only to be scammed. We trust people to stand behind their products, only to be disappointed. God hates this kind of evil. As a businessman, we will either love the acts of evil, or, we will love the acts of righteousness. What we love will show up in our actions. "Love must be sincere, Hate what is evil, cling to what is good." Romans 12: 9   

 A few years ago, I had lunch with a friend and CEO of one of the largest public companies located here in Charlotte. Our conversation, as a direct purpose on my part, centered around ethics in business. I wanted to get a perspective from someone who was a Christian in the "big world" of business. After some great positive observations on both his and my part, I gave him the following illustration. A company had a large order to manufacture and deliver a product on a strict deadline. The profit and potential for future production of this product was enormous. After production was complete on 80% of the product and only a few days left in the scheduled delivery, a major defect was discovered that would show up in a few years and hinder the full use of the product. My question was, what do you think the company would do?  Would the company advise the customer of the defect and suffer a severe financial loss, or, would the company go ahead and deliver the product without advising the customer and avoid the substantial loss? 

My friend became very quiet. After several moments of uneasiness, he responded that his conclusion was he believed the marketplace in general was very ethical. But he added, he was afraid that this type situation where the company would choose profits over ethics was becoming alarming..

What is truth? The truth is that God's ways are perfect, that His Word is an appropriate and reliable source of moral and ethical principles upon which we can rely in all our business situations. Sure, His ways may be costly at times, but our mission has an eternal purpose. Our reward is far greater than temporal profits and success. The truth of righteousness in the marketplace can easily be found when sincere love is guiding the way.

When King David was to build an alter to the Lord , he approached Araunah to buy the threshing floor as material for the alter. In an act of generosity, Araunah offered to give the necessary materials to David. However, David replied, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord which cost me nothing." (11 Samuel 24: 24) We can worship God freely when we wish and how we wish. But it is when we worship Him when it cost us something that real truth is revealed. 

We are faced with succumbing to the trends of evil in our culture every day. The marketplace is no exception to the numbing down of ethical and moral principles.           

"Dear friends I urge you as aliens and strangers in this world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." 1 Peter 2: 11-12.