A life of growing a successful business can often be exhausting. It’s filled with long nights and even longer days of managing staff and allocating financial resources. Yet, for many business owners, that daily grind is worth it to feel the sense of pride and accomplishment when you reach success or see others benefit from a product you offer. Many of us are wired to strive for this kind of success, to always be planning ahead for what the next big thing is that will take you and your business to the next level.
However, for Christian business owners, there’s more to be considered than simply reaching for success. While our earthly desires may find some level of fulfillment in our striving, our ultimate work here on earth will only be fulfilled by abiding in Christ. What does that look like, though? What does abiding in Christ mean for your business?
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 ESV
Hard work, education, and experience are all elements that may have helped you get to where you are today. You’ve probably also experienced hardships on your way to success. As people, we are created with a drive to succeed, often looking one step ahead toward what comes next. In the business world, this can be a helpful mindset. However, it can also be a dangerous mindset if striving for success is at the cost of finding rest in Christ.
Take the story of Tom Ferguson, for example. After 25 years of striving for success in his business, he finally decided it was time to retire. He sent an email out to his 11,000 employees to make the announcement, in which he mentioned that he was a Christian. Thousands of employees responded with their surprise and joy that he was a believer. All of a sudden, those years of striving for success felt less meaningful when the most important part of who he had remained a mystery to most of his employees. Since then, he has embraced what it looks like to abide in Christ in his next opportunity.
Abiding in Christ in the workplace does not mean that you ignore opportunities to be successful. It does mean, though, that you trust Christ to bring the right opportunities at the right times. How many times have you pushed yourself to the limit to create an opportunity that you never took the time to pray about? Our tendency is to look for a new path when God wants us to stay put or to look for ways to escape from circumstances when God wants us to learn from them. It can be so easy to get caught up in your desire to evolve your business that you forget God has a plan for you exactly where you are. Christ is the vine holding fast to your branch that fluctuates in the wind. When you hold fast to him, he will keep you steady as you follow his plan.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” - Galatians 2:20
When you abide in Christ, your work becomes focused on doing less of what you think is best and more on where he is leading you to go. Maybe instead of you starting a new division of your company because you see a chance to make more money, God is using that idea to help you see that the current employees you have are already stretched thin and need your support. Or perhaps, like the story of Tyson Foods, by abiding in Christ, it becomes clear that he is calling you to focus on giving your people someone to talk to about what’s happening in their lives. While they chose to bring chaplaincy into their facility, for you, it may be caring for your people by a different means.
Abiding in Christ in your workplace can take many different forms:
All of these things can completely change the way your business functions. You can experience both spiritual fruitfulness and fruitfulness in your business by simply being faithful to do what Christ is calling you to do: fulfill the need for people to feel connected, engaged, valued and appreciated in their workplaces. The most loving thing you can do for those around you is sharing the love of Christ with them in everything that you do.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace…” - 1 Peter 4:10
You have been given unique gifts and been put in a unique place. Don’t take that for granted! God is calling you to worship him in the place that he has put you, and your business is no exception to that.
In 1847, Scottish cleric Henry Francis Lyte wrote the hymn “Abide With Me”. Let us remember its closing verses:
I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
Let us use this life we have, at home and in our businesses, to bless others.
