God’s Idea of a Godly Businessman: Psalm 112
“Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in His commandments!
His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generations of the upright will be blessed.”
Psalm 112:1,2(ESV)
The priority of a godly businessman is to stay
focused on those policies and practices that reflect a
trust, respect and regard for what is right in God’s
eyes. The word used as fear in the Hebrew context is used to refer to a respect with awe and wonder for
the might, majesty and involvement of God for
mankind. God guards the minds and the actions of
those who follow His ways with love and joy. The test
of a righteous man is not in the trials and struggles to
get ahead in the world but if he can maintain an attitude of respect and love of doing it in a manner
that pleases God and provides for his fellow man.
When a businessman places the principles of the
Word of God into his dealings with his clients and
deals with them as God has dealt with him, he will
not use unjust ways. The actions of a truly godly man will not overcharge, do shoddy work or use his
“religion” to gain trust. The very heart of God will be
sufficient to gain trust and to guarantee good
workmanship.
The godly man will treat all customers with respect,
especially those who are not of the same faith so that they will see that God is in thier lives. Paul tells the
Roman Christians, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what
is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another
with brotherly affection. Out do each other in
showing honor…Repay no one evil for evil, but give
thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.” (Romans 12:9,10,17). Good business practices
demand that we deal fairly with each other. As honor
is taught by fathers and elders in the business world
to their children, so shall the offspring deal fairly and
justly with their business interests. It is when the
duties of enterprise cause them to defer or disregard the blessings of Godly work that greed, selfishness
and injustice begin to rule the work ethnic. Then is
when the children are not blessed but are cursed.
“Wealth and riches are in his house,
and the his righteousness endures forever.
Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious,merciful and righteous.”
Psalm 112:3-4(ESV)
The New Living Translation reads: “…their good
deeds will never be forgotten. When darkness
overtakes the godly, light will come busting in.” In
today’s cut-throat world of business, to many “Christian” businessmen have left their faith at the
church door and entered into the work place with the
zeal of a demon. Their interests do not lie in the goal
of fairness, compassion or generosity but in “getting
ahead of the “other guy.” The one question they
never ask themselves is whether or not it is in the interest of Christ to behave like this. The Godly man
sees the brightness of a good deed and a just dealing
as a offering to God for His mercy upon us in his
every action. the true wealth of a man is not in the
bank but in the treasures stored in heaven. when a
man goes out of his way to do a kind thing for another, there is a light that warms the soul.
Proverbs speaks of godly wisdom as; “Long life is in
her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honer.
Her ways are the ways of pleasantness, and all her
paths are peace.” (Proverbs 3:16-17). Those who seek to do their jobs and bless others with the grace of the Father, receive for themselves blessing from on High.
James warns us to watch out for the destructive
attitudes. He says, “..If you are bitterly jealous and
there is selfish ambitions in your hearts, don’t brag
about being wise. That is the worse kind of lie.”
(James 3:14). Paul tells us not be unequally yoked, “For what partnership has righteousness with
lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with
darkness.” (2Cor 6:14) when men of powerful
positions deal with ungodly people and accept their
practices and actions as normal, they yoke
themselves to darkness. And their Children will suffer from it. they will not learn what it is to be godly men.
Our children need to know that the parents live the
walk of Jesus in their business.
“It is well with the man who deals generously and
lends (freely);
who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved;
he will be remembered forever.”
Psalm 112:5-6(ESV)
There are several verses that tell us not to charge
outlandish interest on loans. There was a time that
the laws in America put limits on interest charged but as of late, it seems that the market has passed up
fairness and godliness. As people become more
desperate to have enough to survive, those who are
the weakest, must pay the most. there is no
generosity in the lending. I know of a man who
qualified for a low interest loan backed by the government yet the bank refused to lend him the
money and took away his home. Another person, a
elderly lady, also lost her home because the lender
would not give her an extension on her loan, even
though they were aware that she was in the hospital.
As a man of God, I refuse to yoke myself with such banks. Because they do not deal fairly with the weak,
I will not deal with them. The righteous must stand
up and rebuke the unrighteous. We must be moved
to avoid the dealing with the ungodly. As a christian, I
can not understand how those who call themselves
lovers of God can work for them or be a part of shady businesses. Even in these economic times, if I
worked for them, I would resign and offer my
services to some other enterprise.
God judges us on how we treat each other. If we deal
with one another as robbers and thieves, he will
judge us accordingly. If we treat each other as beloved children, He will regard us as His Beloved
children. We as a people of God are to be the
examples of godly, blameless and holy dealings. The
Word of God refutes those who practice usury,
swindle their neighbors or causes them harm. To god
they are not among the redeemed, but listed as the cursed. Their names are not in the Book of Life nor
do they possess the mark of Salvation (see Ezekiel
9:3-9). The righteous are spared, they shall see the
Glory of the God because they live, work and pray in
righteousness.
“He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.”
Psalm112:7-8 (NIV)
Just today I read a essay in TIME magazine by Andrea
Sachs on the success of Amish small business. (April 19,2010). In it the explanation of the the work ethic of
the Amish community is based on the “Golden Rule”
rather than on golden calf. They do not worry about
how much money they can make or if they can
compete on the “world market” but on the needs of their employees, family and the usefulness of the work. Plain and simple lives and plain and simple
livelihoods. Because of this attitude, they do not fear
hostile takeovers, market lose or strikes.
When our business ventures are done with integrity
and honestly, they will prevail. When we work with
the joy of the LORD in our efforts, even if all else fails, we win. As we practice godly principles in our work
place, we are spiritually secure. “‘Be just and fair to
all,’ says the LORD. ‘do what is right and good, for
I am coming soon to rescue you’.” (Isaiah 56:1 NLT).
As we have seen in the last few years, those men who
took advantage of customers who put millions of people out of work. Who caused many people to lose
their homes and then took money from the
government. Yet they failed to compensate those they
hurt and lost our trust. Even as they wallow in illearned profits, they are losers to the rest of us. The
saddest thing is that many claimed to belong to Christ. even as they sang hymns in church, their
hearts revealed themselves as villains of justice and
foes of righteousness. In the end, they are defeated.
Those whose hearts are steadfast in the mercies of
Chirst, rejoice in the presence of the Most High God.
Those who live in integrity, do not fear the lose of mere money, because they are rich in the graces of
God. They have placed their priorities on the Word of
God and the hearts of the people. what is of the
world, stays in the world, while that which is in God,
returns to us and remains in us even to eternity. The
great verse of Micah 6:8 tells it all: “He [GOD] has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the
LORD require of you but to do justice, to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” In
all our dealings we are to walk WITH GOD! Not just
on Sunday, but every day, Mondays through Fridays
from our rising up in the morning to our laying down at night.
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the
poor;
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn is exalted in honor.”
Psalm 112:9 (ESV) Not only is the godly man an honest man, a fair man;
he is a generous man who helps those who are in
need freely. His heart is always extended to those
who can not fend for themselves. He looks out for the
widows, the orphans and those strangers in his midst
who come to him seeking protection, food or clothing. He treats his employees as family, providing
for their future, medical needs and the welfare of
their families. That is the lesson of Scrooge in “A
Christmas Carol.”
And the godly business man does not need to “toot
his own horn,” because his actions are done quietly, privately so as to give glory to God rather than to
himself. In my childhood, there was an old man who
let us kids play in his yard anytime we wanted to
because he loved children. He was the richest man I
knew, owning several high end department stores yet
he wanted to enjoy children playing among his very expensive manicured yard more than all the money
he had obtained. When he died, most of his estate
went to charities because his children where “rich
enough without any more of this money.”
He was remembered not for his business practices
as much as for his generosity and kind heart. This is the horn of dignity and respect that is raised in every
corner of society. Many of us have similar memories
of someone who went out of their way to be kind with
no thought of reward for themselves. Their reward is
recorded in the Book of Life.
The final verse of the Psalm is what is contained in the heart of the unrighteous businessman. The
contempt of greed, the vileness of corruption and the
disregard of righteousness toward others will end in
spiritual ruin.
“The wicked man sees it and is angry;
he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked will perish!”
Psalm 112:10 (ESV)
I get visions of the Wicked Witch of the West from the
Wizard of Oz when I read this passage. Evil can not
stand the pleasures of goodness. The cruel,
selfishness of greed can not comprehend the joy and peace that is found in dealing honestly with others.
They never find happiness because they can not
grasp the meaning of sharing. The wicked only see
power, wealth and destruction as rewards. Yet in the
end, before the Judgement Seat of the Most High
God, the will melt away into the eternal nothingness. The many lessons of Jesus repeat this theme; do
what is right before God and love your neighbor or
suffer the consequences of damnation. Those who
fail to do right in the eyes of God will fall into the pit
of fire with gnashing of teeth and with total despair.
The Godliness of good business and a heart of God toward others is a two fold reward. It makes you feel
good as you do it and the blessings of God will be
with you even into eternity. Let the principles of
Godly behavior rule the practices of good business
and let Christ guide you in every business venture.
Let that be your reward and you will be blessed greatly.