The world is watching

The fifth attitude required for glorifying God with your business

We live and operate our businesses in a culture that rejects the concept of ultimate truth.

The 17th Century Enlightenment’s focus on rationalism, scientific progress, and liberty gave way to the 19th century’s Modernity. In the modern world, industrialization and technology advances provided a sense of human control and destiny, but modernity eventually succumbed to the 20th century’s Postmodernism. Postmodern thought rejects objective truth and embraces subjectivism, relativism, and individualism.

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In this postmodern world, the only ones who care to hear our values or beliefs are those already aligned with us. When we share Biblical truths, there’s a high risk of offending others, and a very low likelihood that we’ll change anyone’s mind. For the most part, people have developed highly effective filters to eliminate what they consider to be “noise” and only tune-in the “signals” that affirm what they already believe.

Unfortunately, our society has entered what some call “the Age of Outrage.” Some people are looking for opportunities to lash out at “the system” and what they view as injustice. Examples include the Black Lives Matter, Stop the Steal, Reproductive Rights, Anti-Mandate, LBGTQ+ Rights, Alt-Right, Free Palestine, and #MeToo movements. In a 2023 article in Harvard Business Review, Oxford professor Karthik Ramanna explained that this outrage is fueled by a “perfect storm” of three factors: people feeling unhopeful about the future, feeling that the “game is rigged” and they’ve been treated unfairly, and being drawn into ideologies of “othering” — an us vs. them mentality.

The Christian’s Attitude

As Christians, we know that our faith is integral to who we are and gets reflected in what we think, say, and do. Whenever we suppress what we know to be true in our thoughts, words, or actions, it’s like a self-inflicted injury to our soul. We need to guard against what Paul called “searing the conscience” (1 Timothy 4:2) or else we will become numb to that pain and become ineffective in our Christian walk.

The world around us is skeptical, at the least, of our faith claims. They have seen enough hypocrisy and mediocrity from within the Christian camp to not put much trust in anything we say and to be critical of everything we do. Whether it be the ministry leader caught in sexual sin, or the contractor with a fish symbol on his truck doing shoddy work, or the substandard quality of Christian media and products, ungodly professing believers have given all of us a bad name.

When we present ourselves as Christians and say or do anything that is inconsistent with what we say that we stand for, the world will immediately see it and accept it as further proof of our hypocrisy. When we do or say anything that is consistent with Biblical teaching, those around us might notice, but will likely consider it an anomaly until they witness consistent behavior from us over a long period of time.

Years ago when I started Seek First Networks LLC to help churches and ministries leverage the web, I ordered a license plate frame for the back of my car with the company logo and our tagline “For His Kingdom and To His Glory”. My wife warned me that I had better not be an aggressive driver while sporting that license plate, but I rather had to demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. She was right. I wish I could say that it was easy and that I always consistently demonstrated those characteristics in my driving.

If our words and our actions do reflect Biblical teaching then, over time, as customers get to know us, like us as people, and trust us as businessmen, we may have the opportunity to explain what makes us different. We need to be ready to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15).

After Dean Burnside bought a pest control business in Florida, he worked to instill a missions-minded culture in the business. The company’s website lists their purpose as “to represent Jesus Christ to the Gulf Coast while providing peace of mind at a fair price, protecting our environment as the leader in green pest management, and serving others with excellence in all we do.” He defined the company culture around 6 HABITS: Humility; Attitude (positive); Being diligent; Integrity; Taking care of customers, community, and each other; and Sharing the good news. In time, Dean decided to rename the company Good News Pest Solutions. He tells me that not a day goes by without someone asking one of his employees “what’s the good news?” They all carry a pamphlet that shares the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ that they can share with anyone who asks.

When our faith leads us to demonstrate love and grace to our neighbors, there’s a chance that they might begin to view us favorably. But when our faith keeps us from calling evil good or calling good evil (Isaiah 5:20), we run the risk of triggering an intolerant outrage from the lost around us, and even, in some places, from the civil government. We know that we aren’t to fear those that can destroy our businesses, take our property through fines, and put us in jail, but rather fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell (Matthew 10:28). Healthy fear of the Lord is more than terror of his wrath, but also includes awe and wonder and trust.

What the Bible Says

• “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
• “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 see also Colossians 4:6; James 3:13; Galatians 6:9)
• “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.’” (Mark 16:15–16)
• “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)
• “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.” (Psalm 1:1–3)
• “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)
• “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9, see also John 13:35; 14:21)
• “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
• “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.” (1 John 3:13, see also John 15:19; 2 Timothy 3:12; Psalm 31:15)
• “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
• “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44,45, see also Romans 12:14, 17–21)
• “‘These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’” (John 16:33)
• “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. ‘And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.’ But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:14–17, see also Matthew 5:10–12; 1 Peter 4:12–14, 16, 19)
• “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” (Acts 5:41,42)

Why It Matters

In How Should We Then Live, Francis Schaeffer explains the two-story model of truth that the world has developed through the Enlightenment and Modern eras. In this model, rational truth occupies the first floor. This truth is scientific fact. It is public and widely accepted. The second floor is where non-rational truth resides — subjective values which are personal — and everyone’s truths are different.

The two types of truth are separate and not integrated. The modern world wants us to put our faith in a box that doesn’t have any impact on our rational view of the world and how we practically live. For business owners, that would mean that our faith should have no impact on how we operate our business. That is inconsistent with what the Bible teaches and what we experience in our own lives (unless we have a seared conscience).

In her book, Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey describes how we must fight against this perspective in our hearts and in society:

We must let go of the worldly motivations that drive us, praying to be motivated solely by a genuine desire to submit our minds to God’s Word — and then to use that knowledge in service to others.

We may do a great job of arguing that Christianity is total truth, but others will not find our message persuasive unless we give a visible demonstration of that truth in action. Outsiders must be able to see for themselves, in the day-to-day pattern of our lives, that we do not treat Christianity as just a private retreat, a comfort blanket, a castle of fairy-tale beliefs that merely make us feel better.

It is all but impossible for people to accept new ideas purely in the abstract, without seeing a concrete illustration of what they look like when lived out in practice. Sociologists call this a “plausability structure” — the practical context in which ideas are fleshied out. … When people see a supernatural dimension of love, power, and goodness in the way Christians live and treat one another, then our message of biblical truth becomes plausible.

When my co-founders and I launched VisuALS Technology Solutions, we said that our purpose was to “love our neighbors by restoring independence, dignity and hope through affordable assistive technology solutions.” We set love as our differentiator. We were compassionate in our product design. Our pricing was set at what families could afford, not what insurance was willing to pay. Our customer care was focused on helping customers, even if that meant helping them get the product they had already bought from a competitor working rather than selling them one of ours. We didn’t hide our faith, even including the Lord’s Prayer as the sample file in the product to demonstrate how customers could pre-compose a message for the system to “speak” for them when selected with their eyes. But we also didn’t discriminate, loving unconditionally all who needed our help. We earned the ALS community’s trust and were welcomed in to demonstrate and speak of Christ’s love.

So, what do we do when our faithfulness is met with outrage? In his article Dr. Ramanna provides a five-step framework for responding to outrage against your business. Although not developed from a Biblical perspective, the general approach does reflect Godly attributes of love, wisdom, gentleness, and patience:

1. Turn down the temperature: Create an environment and processes conducive to rational rather than emotional discussion.
2. Analyze the outrage: Seek to deeply understand the background causes and the immediate triggers of the outrage.
3. Shape and bound your responses: Given your position in the community, expectations based on your previous commitments, and the impact of the situation, find the balance between doing too little and doing too much in response to the outrage.
4. Understand your power to mobilize others: Identify how you can mobilize others in your response and how your use of other voices will evolve over time.
5. Renew resilience: Build (and rebuild) your company’s ability to identify the risk of, prepare for, and respond to outrage against your business.

Sadly, in today’s environment, often those attacking Christian businesses are not looking for a satisfying resolution, but only to destroy. And even more sad, the institutions that should protect us from these attacks are often as strongly opposed to our values as those attacking us.

In these instances, we can pray that God would use our witness to change hearts, that He would sustain us through the persecution, and that He will provide for us, our employees, and our customers even if our business suffers or fails. And if we are faithfully serving Christ in humility and love, like Peter and the apostles, we should rejoice when we are counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s name (Acts 5:41).

Bottom line: Many in the world don’t trust Christians in business. They are watching with skepticism. The way we operate our businesses must be consistent with the faith we profess, including love, grace, and integrity. When we do, we might earn their trust and the opportunity to share the greatest love of all, the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, our faithfulness to God’s truth may be offensive to those that have rejected the very concept of truth, sparking outrage, wrath, and persecution. In all things we are to trust God and to be faithful to Him.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.