Be An EntrepreneurНамуна

After a week of “Sean’s Mobile Hot Cocoa,” Sean and his employees were selling hot cocoa all over town. The soccer players bought cups too in celebration after the game.

But Sean noticed one player who never bought cocoa. He stood apart from the other kids, looking embarrassed. 

“Want a drink?” Sean asked.

The boy looked at the ground. “I don’t have any money.”

Sean asked his stepfather about this later. “Isn’t that unfair?”

“Yes it’s unfair, but some people don’t have enough money for the things they want or need.”

“Should I give him a free cup of cocoa? He’d be happy, but the other kids would complain.”

“I have an idea, why don’t you hire him? Then he can buy cocoa, or anything else, with the money you pay him.”

“Hire him? But I don’t know him at all. What if he drinks all the cocoa himself? Or doesn’t give me the money?”

“Hmm. I guess that’s the risk of hiring anybody. But entrepreneurs often take risks. Especially if it’s the right thing to do.”

One of the best things a business can do is give jobs to people who can’t otherwise support themselves. The Bible even has a law about this. Leviticus 19:9-10 tells landowners to leave the edges of their fields unplowed so the poor and foreigners can harvest them. Any harvest that falls on the ground is free too. This gave disadvantaged people productive work that brought them dignity, income, and future job skills.

It can feel uncomfortable to take a risk on someone who is different from you. Perhaps that’s why God repeats over and over again this command to give work opportunities to the poor and foreigners. The rule appears in Leviticus 23:22, Exodus 23:10–11, and Deuteronomy 24:19–22 which says, “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” 

Try this: Is there a business in your city that hires people who wouldn’t have jobs otherwise? Visit them, and ask how it’s worked out.

Prayer: God, care for people who are poor and help me do your work in the world. Amen.

More: Read about God’s intent for the gleaning laws.