The A,B,C,D’s of Glorifying God with Your Business
How your attitudes, behaviors, character, and decisions can make a difference
As one historic document put it, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.¹ As Christians in business, most of the time we enjoy the work that God has given us, but one of the biggest questions we face is how we can glorify Him with our businesses. I believe that we can glorify God through the decisions we make in our work. That includes the big decisions (e.g. what customers to serve and what products to sell) and the seemingly small decisions we make every day (e.g. how do I respond to this e-mail from an unhappy customer?).
Although many business decisions seemingly involve logical analysis, decision making that consistently glorifies God flows from having a Godly character. And that character is developed through a set of habitual behaviors (or disciplines) intentionally focused on glorifying God and growing in Christlikeness. All of these things only happen if we have a mindset (i.e. attitudes) that values Biblical truths.
A New Series
Every week I get a report telling me which ClearPurpose stories are getting read. Almost every week, one of the top three stories is “How Do I Involve God in My Business?”, an article from November 2022. Apparently this is a topic that deserves more attention. So today’s article kicks off a new series where I plan to write about the:
- Five Attitudes,
- Seven Behaviors,
- Nine Character Traits, and
- Twelve Impact-Defining Decisions
that business owners can focus on in glorifying God with their business. In the coming weeks I plan on writing an article on each of these 33 different aspects of growing in your ability to lead your business in a God honoring way. I reserve the right to modify these lists as I go (as God teaches me through the process), but for now, below are each of the four lists.
Five Attitudes
Honoring and glorifying God with your business begins with the right mindset. Here are five attitudes that set the stage for everything that follows:
- God owns my business (and everything else). I am just a steward.
- I am here to love others.
- I do my work as for the Lord.
- God is always watching.
- The world is also watching.
Seven Behaviors
Being a leader that naturally does the right thing doesn’t just happen. It requires developing the spiritual disciplines that embed God’s way of operating in your heart and mind. Developing these habits makes doing the right thing almost like the “muscle memory” that enables great athletes to react impressively to any situation. Here are seven consistent behaviors that train you to be a leader after God’s own heart:
- Reading God’s Word
- Implanting God’s Word (meditating on and memorizing it)
- Praying
- Worship
- Learning
- Actively Participating in Church (regularity, membership, service)
- Being Coachable
Nine Character Traits
These attitudes and disciplines will bear spiritual fruit. The fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5 reflects the character of God and displays the sanctification God is working in a leader who seeks to honor Him:
Twelve Decisions
As you approach your work with the right attitude, and God uses your spiritual disciplines to develop His sanctified character in you, you will naturally approach all kinds of decisions differently — with a focus on honoring God and loving your neighbor. But there are twelve specific types of decisions that will especially define the impact your business has for God’s glory:
- Mission/Vision
- Culture
- Brand/Marketing
- Recruiting and Hiring
- Evaluation and Advancement
- Compensation
- Terminating Employees
- Operating Hours
- Customers
- Suppliers
- Partners
- Giving and Serving
I will update this introductory article with links to each article as it gets published. Stay tuned!
References:
¹ “Question 1”. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, (London, 1647). Available at https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-shorter-catechism
