JUST BUSINESS
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2006
Do you live out your Christian walk with Jesus during the week the same way you live it out in church on Sunday morning? If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence amongst your business peers, to convict you? ---My answer was no to both questions.
In the spring of 1975 at the ripe old age of 30 I opened for business. Having worked previously for a man who trained me to run a business in the ways of the world. His training was thorough and I was an attentive student. Along with learning the ropes of being a small businessman I also learned very well how to cheat.
Here is the premise. You are a small businessman and the deck is stacked against you. Taxes are too high. Employees are too expensive, landlords don't give you a fair shake and suppliers only provide deep discounts to volume buyers. Of all of those statements only the last one is essentially true. All of the others are reasons to cheat. Once the cheating begins it is quickly applied to every area. The first and most obvious is what is famously known as "two sets of books." In my case this wasn't true, I had one set of books and I entered only the information that I wanted to be known. The rest of the information and money was unaccounted for. That seemed the safest to me. No record, no case.
Cash was king. I worshiped cash. It made the whole enterprise worthwhile and gave me a sense of power that my cleverness was triumphing over the world. I ran my business this way for 21 years.
In the last half of 1995 I was under great conviction about how I was handling the money that the Lord had entrusted me with. By this time I had been saved for 4 years and my declaration to God, about how I wasn't going to give His church any money until I died, was wearing thin. The problem was I was simply too scared to make any changes. What I had been doing for the last 21 years was wrong, yes wrong, but it paid the bills and left me with spending money. Doing anything to upset that system gave me the willies.
In the last quarter of 1995, with my wife's encouragement, I decided that in January of 1996 I was going to surrender the business to the Lord. That's it. Lock, Stock and Barrel. It was going to be His and I would go on salary. Along with all of the dramatic financial changes that were going to be taking place, I was also going to tithe 10% of all the before tax profits.
It was a surrender second only to giving my heart to Jesus. On January 2nd 1996 I arrived at work and felt as though I was stepping straight off a cliff. I had made all these promises to the Lord. No more cheating---period. My employees would no longer receive cash bonuses. We would declare exactly where every penny was and where it was going. We would start all our company meetings with prayer. We would do all these things in the name of the Lord and with His help. Unfortunately I didn't lay out a plan to succeed financially in this new climate. The only thing I did was project out how long I could last. My calculations told me we would be out of business by the 3rd quarter of 1996. On that happy note I began the most daring journey of my Christian life.
In the spring of 1975 at the ripe old age of 30 I opened for business. Having worked previously for a man who trained me to run a business in the ways of the world. His training was thorough and I was an attentive student. Along with learning the ropes of being a small businessman I also learned very well how to cheat.
Here is the premise. You are a small businessman and the deck is stacked against you. Taxes are too high. Employees are too expensive, landlords don't give you a fair shake and suppliers only provide deep discounts to volume buyers. Of all of those statements only the last one is essentially true. All of the others are reasons to cheat. Once the cheating begins it is quickly applied to every area. The first and most obvious is what is famously known as "two sets of books." In my case this wasn't true, I had one set of books and I entered only the information that I wanted to be known. The rest of the information and money was unaccounted for. That seemed the safest to me. No record, no case.
Cash was king. I worshiped cash. It made the whole enterprise worthwhile and gave me a sense of power that my cleverness was triumphing over the world. I ran my business this way for 21 years.
In the last half of 1995 I was under great conviction about how I was handling the money that the Lord had entrusted me with. By this time I had been saved for 4 years and my declaration to God, about how I wasn't going to give His church any money until I died, was wearing thin. The problem was I was simply too scared to make any changes. What I had been doing for the last 21 years was wrong, yes wrong, but it paid the bills and left me with spending money. Doing anything to upset that system gave me the willies.
In the last quarter of 1995, with my wife's encouragement, I decided that in January of 1996 I was going to surrender the business to the Lord. That's it. Lock, Stock and Barrel. It was going to be His and I would go on salary. Along with all of the dramatic financial changes that were going to be taking place, I was also going to tithe 10% of all the before tax profits.
It was a surrender second only to giving my heart to Jesus. On January 2nd 1996 I arrived at work and felt as though I was stepping straight off a cliff. I had made all these promises to the Lord. No more cheating---period. My employees would no longer receive cash bonuses. We would declare exactly where every penny was and where it was going. We would start all our company meetings with prayer. We would do all these things in the name of the Lord and with His help. Unfortunately I didn't lay out a plan to succeed financially in this new climate. The only thing I did was project out how long I could last. My calculations told me we would be out of business by the 3rd quarter of 1996. On that happy note I began the most daring journey of my Christian life.
Thank you brother for your posts,
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