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5 Essential Business Principles from the Bible

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5 Essential Business Principles From The BibleThe Bible is full of advice on how to handle money. Every business owner can (and should) build their business on these essential principles straight from the Word of God. As you read through these Bible verses and associated principles, ask yourself where you see room for improvement in your own business dealings.

1. Conduct your business with humility.

Be realistic about your human nature. Everyone makes mistakes, and I’d venture to guess you’ve made a few. Humility causes us to listen to our customers, to hear their concerns, and to address their problems. Having a large ego won’t get you anywhere and can cause your business to stumble.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. – Proverbs 16:18 NIV

Does someone not like your product? Give them a refund. Show your customers that you want to make sure they’re getting value for their dollars. In several of my eBooks, I suggest that if the buyer dislikes the book that they send me an email requesting a refund. I want my work to be worth the cost. Don’t you?

2. Be diligent and avoid laziness.

If your job is draining you of your energy, and you can’t seem to work as you should, it might be time to change jobs. Find work that you can be passionate about. But in whatever you’re doing, be diligent. Laziness won’t bring in the money – customers pay for results.

Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. – Proverbs 10:4 NIV

Some practical ways to boost your energy include getting adequate rest to avoid exhaustion, exercising regularly, and eating foods as close to their natural, God-intended state as possible.

3. Be fair and don’t cheat in your business dealings.

Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. – Deuteronomy 25:13 NIV

Standardized weights and measures were used in Biblical times to conduct business transactions. The Bible here is speaking out against cheating others in business dealings. Both parties – the buyer and the seller – should “be on the same page” regarding a transaction, each understanding exactly what they are to receive as a result of the deal. Selling a product or service? Thoroughly describe what it is that you’re selling. It’s also a good idea to “test” your description by having potential customers ask questions about the product or service before selling it to them. The less questions they have, the better job you’ve done at describing what it is you’re selling.

4. Gather little by little.

Television likes to tell the stories of people who encounter windfalls of cash: business ventures that are overnight successes, lottery tickets that bring in millions, and attic-retrieved antiques worth a decade’s worth of wages. These sudden windfalls probably won’t happen to you – the odds are very much against you. Instead, the Bible teaches to gather money little by little.

Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. – Proverbs 13:11 NIV

There are honest circumstances under which one might earn a windfall, but the Bible tells us that our focus should be on earning money little by little.

5. Don’t be timid.

Be humble and bold at the same time. The Holy Spirit can give you power to run your business and self-discipline to manage your time.

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. – 2nd Timothy 1:7 NIV

What is it that you’d love to do? In what areas of your business do you need more boldness? If you’re looking to improve your business and your life, make sure you stay rooted in the Word of God. The Bible has much more to say to those looking for help. Take these verses to heart, and seek the Lord. And if you only remember one piece of advice from this article, remember this:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. – Matthew 7:12 NIV

What are some other Biblical business principles that you think should be practiced?

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Bob is the founder of Christian Personal Finance, a website helping people make more, save more, and give more away.

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How Covetousness Affects Our Finances

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Covetousness is not only a sin that God warns us against, it’s also one that can have a profound affect on our finances.

Covetousness is an obsessive desire that drives us to chase and acquire things that aren’t good for us, or that we really can’t afford.

Covetousness

The Tenth Commandment

God considered covetousness so significant that He built an entire commandment around it:

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” ~ Exodus 20:17

As human beings, most of us may not give a whole lot of weight to this commandment. We may think one of the following:

  1. Covetousness is waaayyyy down at number ten – it must be the least important commandment, otherwise why would God put it last?
  2. Covetousness seems less like a sin and more like a heavy temptation.
  3. We all covet, don’t we? How bad can it be?
  4. Covetousness seems like a minor league offense compared to murder and worshipping false gods; God won’t be too sore if I break this one.
  5. How can covetousness be a sin if I’m not even sure what it is?

What is Covetousness?

I think the last point (#5) may be something of a legitimate issue – do we even know what covetousness is?

Dictionary.com defines it as 1. inordinately or wrongly desirous of wealth or possessions; greedy. 2. eagerly desirous. Synonyms include words like grasping, rapacious and avaricious. The definition makes the point that covetousness is a wicked thing.

We all want things that we don’t have – a house of our own, a car to drive, a retirement plan to rely on in old age – is it wrong to want them? Probably not. A certain amount of financial stability can even make us better witnesses of the Gospel.

But covetousness goes beyond simply wanting better for ourselves and doing what’s necessary to get there. Covetousness can turn the pursuit of even noble goals into an obsession, and idol. People end up deep in debt, or chasing a lifestyle they can’t afford. At the extreme, it can play out through deception and theft. At any of those points we’ve crossed a line in which we’ve moved from the desire to have or to accomplish something healthy into an outright sin.

It’s a fine line. Charles Stanley preached an excellent sermon on the topic a few years back, using your neighbor’s wife as an example. Admiring the wife from afar isn’t covetousness, it’s a temptation. Purposing to put yourself in places and situations where you’ll cross paths is a sin.

Unholy desire + action = covetousness.

Covetousness – the Media’s Favorite Vice

One thing we have today that didn’t exist in Biblical times is the media. You know, ads, TV programs, ads, web content and more ads. We already want what we don’t have, and don’t need. Slick advertisements take us right where our flesh wants to go. That’s really good for the vendors behind the ads, and really bad for us.

It feeds our covetousness.

The mass media make covetousness look and feel good, or at least normal. This is bad because it makes sin seem like it isn’t really sin.

Humans Tend to Conform

Most people conform to their peers, which means we want what everyone else has. In fact, we come to believe that what everyone else has is what is normal to have. We deserve at least as much.

Little thought goes into whether we need these things or not. We might, for example, buy a house just because it’s what others do. We might buy a new car every five years, not because we need to, but because that’s what every one else seems to be doing.

We may even come to believe it’s our “right” to have certain possessions, at which point the possessions become idols.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, millions of people bought houses using “liar loans” – so called because you declared a certain income level that was never actually verified by the lender. Millions lost those houses because they could not afford them.

Dare to be Different

One of the best ways to overcome covetousness in a society saturated by media messages and mass conformity is to be different. As Christians, we’re called to come out from among them and be different (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).

That’s a major part of our witness to the world.

It takes confidence, courage, and strength in our convictions to be different. It also takes a willingness to step out of the herd, recognize unbiblical messages, and reject them.

That’s why so few ever do it. But that’s also why it’s such a powerful witness.

Did I mention it’s a less expensive way to live?

Freeing up Money for Giving and Investing

One of the biggest problems with covetousness are its opportunity costs. While we’re out chasing after wants (posing as needs) we spend time, attention and money to get them. That means resources are squandered on immediate desires meant to make us look good in the eyes of others.

If we stop chasing after vanity, we have more time, energy and money for worthy pursuits – the kind that honor our Father in Heaven rather than men.

The more we’re able to avoid the sin of covetousness, the more money we’ll have available for giving, saving, and investing. We’ll also free ourselves from want and pave a path of financial independence that can help us live a life of higher purpose.

Have you ever thought about the true depth of the sin of covetousness and its effect on our lives?

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photo credit: Brett Jordan

My Testimony to the Tithe

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My Testimony to the Tithe“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”  Malachi 3:10

God’s promises

Those are strong promises the Lord gives us if only we are obedient to His commandment to tithe to His church.  Please join me today in the sharing of my testimony to the faithfulness of God’s Word regarding these promises made.

In 1999 I bent the knee of my will to the Lord Jesus Christ and was born again!

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  John 3:3 – Jesus to Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, and a ruler of the Jews.

Thanks be to God for His mercy, grace, long suffering and especially His death on the cross for my sin.  Since 1999 I have been walking this earth as an alien no longer feeling at home in this world, but longing to be home with my Lord in heaven.  My purpose on this earth is now solely to yield my body a vessel of honor to the Lord for the work of His church.

Part of my duty as a Christian is to give of my first fruits back to the Lord’s church in the form of a tithe. That is, I am to give 10% of my earnings to the church in obedience to God’s Word.  First fruits meaning we are to give 10% of our gross income, not net income.  This tithing by God’s people is one of the ways the Lord funds his ministry here on earth.  Does the Lord need our money?  No, He can do anything He wishes any time He wishes, however the tithing of His people is the system He chose to implement and work through, so as Christians we need to faithfully give in this manner.

Have I tithed faithfully since my salvation in 1999?  No, regrettably I have not.  At times I have been a faithful giver, and at other times have been disobedient to my Lord and withheld my tithe for one reason or another.  Today I want to give my readers a journal entry of my experience of both giving in obedience, and not giving in disobedience.

Looking back over the 9 years of my Christian life I can now see that the times of my greatest financially stability, regardless of how much money I was bringing in, were in direct correlation to when I was giving of my tithe to my local new testament church.  Likewise, the times when I seem to have struggled financially were always in the midst of a titheless period in my life.  Though I have always known I should tithe, the Lord has just recently revealed the utter and imminent importance of these things to me in all clarity of mind.  I began faithfully tithing again at the first of this year (January 2009) and intend to never go another month of my life without giving to the Lord in this respect.  Over these last two months I have been witness to Gods direct financial intervention in my life.  To me it is both a blessing and a miracle.  Before tithing I always seemed to be living paycheck to paycheck (sound familiar?), seemed to be slowly getting into more credit card debt, all while being unable to save much of anything. Why was this happening?  My wife & I don’t have any kids.  We don’t buy new cars.  We don’t buy expensive toys.  We don’t blow a lot of our money on frivolous purchases…so why was this happening to us?

In the Old Testament, when God’s people were not obedient in the giving of their tithe, one way or another He always seemed to part them with the money they were withholding from Him.  In my life, while disobedient, it always seemed like random things were happening that would consume any extra money I had left over leaving me wanting again until my next paycheck.  Now that the Lord has granted me repentance and has again turned me toward Him these things have changed drastically.  Before tithing I would pay my bills on the last possible day they were due, sometimes even having to pay late fees, simply because I had to wait for my next check to be deposited before I could pay the bill.  Now that I have been tithing, I am able to pay all my bills the day I get them in the mail.  To summarize, let me give you some of my financial drawbacks I experienced before tithing, and what I am realizing now that I’m giving faithfully.

Before I was giving my tithe:

  • I was living paycheck to paycheck
  • I waited until the due date of my bills before I paid them
  • Every single month I seemed to incur random expenses that consumed all my extra money and even pushed me more into debt
  • Always broke even on my tax return or owed money to the government
  • Bank fees: be they credit card over the limit, over-drawn checking account, late payments fees…you name it I paid it
  • A guilty conscience
  • A heavy heart

Now that I’m tithing, though no increase in salary this has been my experience:

  • I’m able to save at least $200 every month
  • I pay every bill the day it comes in the mail
  • Random expenses have not been a part of my life for the last few months
  • For the first time since we filed taxes Married Filing Jointly, my wife & I are receiving a sizable return of over $1,200
  • No more bank fees
  • A clear conscience and a happy countenance
  • A peace that passes all understanding – Philippians 4:7

Please believe that the things listed above are just the tip of the iceberg.  My obedience to God in my tithe opens the door to other areas of obedience and therefore more blessings of a peaceful spirit and fellowship with my God!

If you are a Christian, I strongly urge you to consider my experience and use it to transform your view upon Christ, His Church, and your tithe.  Please give joyfully and liberally and experience the blessings of the Lord!  He is challenging you today to prove Him now, how will you respond?  If you are not born again, please consider Christ and His death on the cross for your sin.  Look to Him and live.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”  Romans 5:6-11

What is your giving testimony?

Share your experience with giving in the comments below. God bless.

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