Faith and Business

I love Jesus, he and I are buddies who met when I was a 17-year-old punk kid.

We have had a relationship full of successes and sometimes disappointments but we have always loved each other.

I think the thing that works best for He and I is that we both meet each other where we are, and except each other while at the same time, still maintaining an eye on truth and growth in our relationship.

We love each other, but are certainly not afraid to say what needs to be said to each other.
 

I had a HUGE “ah ha” moment with regards to my pal Jesus and this business this past summer, at an event we attended for our business actually.

See, I had become very open about using the term “we don’t need to make any more money” in various chats I had been taking part in.

I used this term, well honestly, because I felt that way.

We were being blessed beyond my wildest imagination and were making more money than I ever dreamed. I really felt like we did not “need” any more money than what we had coming in at that time.

I came from very little, and therefore was perfectly comfortable surviving in a world of modesty when it comes to income.

We made fine money and lived fine by most standards.

What I was not aware of, is how my past had shaped my view of money, success, and Jesus….Big time.

See, I truly believed we did not need to make a dime more, we were fine before, we were fine now, and we will be fine down the road.

See, I know my Pal Jesus has a plan for me.

What I know most about that plan….Is that he expects me to use the talents he has given me to the fullest.

To press on and work harder, be more, go more, do more, grow more and guess what……MAKE MORE.

What I realized this summer when I watched one of our business mentors almost come across the table after I mistakenly said to her, “we don’t need to make any more money”, was that I had allowed various worldviews to shape my perspective of success and money.

I had almost allowed success and money to be vilified, to take on an image of evil…largely from my modest upbringing in a family without Christ.

Then, when I did find my pal Jesus, I was indoctrinated with the belief that making money was selfish, or bad in some way.

It was not necessarily evil, but it was on the wrong side of “good”, let’s just say that.

Maybe this sounds crazy, but my worldview had been shaped to believe that people who had success and/or money were the bad guys….

Yeah, I did think that actually.

So guess what that meant in my mind….I did not want to be the bad guy, yep!

See a problem here??

Then this happened: We were all at this event, all successful people standing in a room being lead in prayer, talkin’ to my pal Jesus.

After the Prayer ended, there were a few words shared by the leadership council and one of those words hit me hard….very hard.

A gentleman stood up and challenged us….He challenged us to make the most money we could, to have the most success we could.

To work hard, grow hard, and earn hard.

Yikes….did he want me to be even more of the “bad guy”???

And then the Bomb came….

Do you know why the people in that room needed to be challenged in such a way?

 Because Of the people in that room, the ones who know my Pal Jesus , if they did not do those things…..someone else would!!!!!

 Yep, back up and read that line again.

See, that money and success is going to be had by someone, why on earth would we not want it to be in the hands of those who know my Pal Jesus?

Those are the ones I trust to do good, to make change, to give in a way that honors.

Those people who will instill hard work values in their children. Who will set an example for their kids about what the true American Dream was and is all about.

THOSE are the people we want that money and success in the hands of, isn’t it??

WOW……let me say that again, WOW!!!

This slapped my worldview right in the face and woke me up big time.

See what happens sometimes is people use their faith to build a shield in front of them.

It’s easy to do, in fact I would bet we have all done it at some point.

If we fall back to that shield, use our faith to defend our actions or lack of actions, it’s a tough one to attack right?

I mean who wants to attack someone’s stance of faith?

Well I am here to tell you that we all believe in the same Jesus.

The beautiful thing about that fella is that we all have a very personal relationship to work through with Him.

I would challenge all of your thinking about the tools, talents and abilities that he has given you to use in a wide variety of ways.

Every one of us is different, differently equipped and differently challenged in our faith.

One is not better than the other and I would argue the parts work best together for the whole.

So while our gifts may sometimes seem challenging to others, we need to also be mindful that often, our Pal Jesus puts people in our lives for reasons we do not see at first.

Sometimes, we completely resist them all together.

We want to see the world from our own eyes only, and not be open to the challenges before us.

We sit there and take comfort in the notion that God will take care of us, yet we pay little attention to the abilities we have to go out and make the changes needed to take care of ourselves.

You are fully equipped for success if you just let go and make use of the resources provided to you!!

God has fully equipped you to rock and roll on this thing called life..

When you find yourself struggling, its uncomfortably true that we need to evaluate how we are using the resources provided to us.

Be open to the people you have around you, I guarantee they are there for a reason.

Grab ahold of all the success and money you can, I trust it in your hands way more than most!

Get out there and WORK IT!

~Quintin