Bible on Businessናሙና

On Profit

Far too often, there is an undertone I hear from Christian business people positioning profit as a bad thing or a sign they have somehow been corrupted. This passage reminds us, primarily, all things are of God and from God.

The manna the people of Israel ate was a direct gift from the hand of God. They did nothing to earn it and did nothing to produce it. The bread and the grain were also gifts from God, but from Him through the hands of the people.

In the same way, profit comes to us as a blessing. I have argued that profit is not the purpose of business, with clients for years; it is the beneficial result of work well done.

If we focus on profit alone, we are likely to have a very short-term focus and make some very poor decisions. So, like the people of Israel as they cross the Jordan and enter Canaan, we as business people are to be co-laborers with God and deliver excellence and quality at every turn.

If we engage in business in this way, and really understand our clients, we will earn a profit – just as God plans it. Profit allows us to grow the business, hire more people, and generally advance the full range of our objectives: spiritual, economic, social and environmental.

Pray to God, not for profit per se, but for the wisdom and drive to run your business well and merit the financial increase.

Peter Dickens is an entrepreneur, author of Leading in Disorienting Times and Director of the Tyndale Leadership Centre in Toronto, Ontario.