Financial Discipleship @ Work Part 1Sample

Accountability

Managers are often strong, independent personalities. At the core of financial discipleship is ‘accountability’, the need to be accountable/responsible to God and to fellow man. Our accountability to God is a model of the need for accountability in our own affairs. The standard is very high – God’s holiness. “Walk before me, faithfully, and be blameless,” says God.

Paul urges us not to conform to the standards of the world, but to let our thinking and decisions be formed by His standards as revealed in the Bible. The Lord will hold us fully accountable for our actions.

Accountability to our superiors equals and those under us, help us to live out an authentic faith in the marketplace, and to protect us from taking a wrong path.

The Bible says that being accountable is essential in applying Jesus’ teachings in our workplace. The Proverbs tell us that heading advice provides protection and raises the effectiveness of the business in honouring God through all our decisions.

I have been in business for more than 40 years, and all that time, I have been a member of groups of Christian businesspeople. In these groups, we discuss business dilemmas and discover together what counsel and guidance the Bible gives. We then pray over our difficulties and our challenges, asking the Lord to reveal His wisdom to us. I have found that there has never been a problem in business that I have faced, that someone else in the group has not already been through! Advice from fellow Christians in business has helped to prevent me from making wrong choices! Getting help to work through my dilemmas has saved me a lot of money, by preventing making wrong choices! It is a rewarding investment in time and money to belong to such Christian business accountability groups!

Would Jesus be pleased with your choices in accounting, operations, sales, purchasing, and human resource management? He will hold you accountable to make your choices – Biblically. Do you have friends at work or church who can give you godly counsel and help you work through your problems? God often works through other believers to communicate His will to us!