Hollow men

“Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart” God told Samuel when choosing the first king of Israel. This is an important theme in the bible. God values more highly the internal than the external and we should value the same. It is easy to be seduced by the external and it is easy for the external to seduce. But it’s the internal that has real lasting power and it’s the internal which is of great worth. Let’s be more than hollow men.

I’ve been working in companies including the operation of my own for 20 years. In all of that time I have consistently (not perfectly) acted in accordance with the principles embodied in the teachings of Jesus. Throughout this time I have attached greater value to the health of my inter life than I have the appearance of my outer life; which seems superficial and temporary. The quality of my relationship with God has been paramount and for the most part I have put the care of others above the achievement of my own ambitions (of which there have been many). It’s all about the long game; laying down the foundations for righteousness.

The first fallacy I would like to dispel is that career ambition and faith are incompatible, if fact a career can benefit greatly as can a spiritual man in a career. I have often been surprised that this idea is not more broadly accepted. Most people spend the majority of their time thinking about and engaging in career-related activities, much more time than any spiritual activity. Yet we believe the small matter of the soul is of the highest importance in the light of eternity. Surely then, the balance is wrong. Our lives are short, take it from a mid-life man, and they can be easily overwhelmed by the opportunities and distractions that present themselves. As most of us must work hard to meet our basic needs why not then submit our work, as we do more personal matters, to God’s oversight? Should we do this then amazing things will start to happen.

Here then there is no compartmentalisation of our life but instead unity and consistency. We are no longer hollow men. Should we do this, we have promises that the blessings of God will provide for our every need and even, according to his good nature, some of our wants. If we keep separate our faith-life from our career-life we not only miss out on the blessings but we are in danger of being swallowed alive. I’ve seen it happen! A career is progressing prima facie well and then his wife just leaves. He talks about spiritual matters after the church service but there is nothing substantially spiritual evident anywhere in his life. She talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk and then it all falls apart surprising everyone. If you give credence verbally to that which you believe but have no other transforming practice you spiritual growth will be stunted and the inner-life will wither and die. It all unravels from the inside taking quite a while to appear on the outside. These then are the hollow men among us having everything except, on closer inspection, that which is important. The beauty we aspire to should be that of the inner self which is of great worth in God’s sight. It must be carefully tended and encouraged if it is to survive.

There is another way to work and though I can’t say I have mastered it, I am certain that it may be mastered. If you subjugate your career-life to God he will become master of it. Your job will no longer be just an economic necessity but rather a means of spiritual growth. If you subjugate your work ambitions to God then they will no longer be just a means of paying the bills but rather they will become a beachhead through which the blessing of God will flow.

There is a spiritual principle at work here. Whatever is brought under the jurisdiction of God, will become the possession and tool of God to extend his kingdom in the world. Though we may not always see it, the world is a battlefield of our own making. In Christ we have the power to win every battle not by taking on but by giving up. Surrender, then, and brokenness, and humility (those things that make the inner-life beautiful) describe the attitude through which God’s power is liberated into the world. The man, says Jesus, who would take up his life will lose it but the man who would give up his life will find it. The first will be last, said Jesus, and last first. Blessed are the meek in spirit, said Jesus, for they will inherit the Earth. This of course goes against all common sense but what is foolishness to the world is wisdom to those being redeemed. We understand intrinsically this attitude of the heart because of the spirit he gave as a deposit what is to come.

I think a business, like an individual, can be a spiritual entity in its own right. The idea that the institutional church is the only organisation which can claim to be God’s workhorse in the world is naive. Para church organisations have been active in the Western world for hundreds of years caring for the poor and spreading the message of the gospel with great effect. It is not much of an extension then to think about the potential of a business, guided along different lines, to be a spiritual entity. Think about a business actually being part of God’s church rather than just a means of accumulating wealth. It is actively engaged in the world, reaching territory inaccessible to the institutional church. If we believe that the institutional church, full of faithful believers, is God’s instrument in the world how much more so a busy business full of faithful believers or one with a kingdom centred agenda. Let’s then sanctify and commission our business leaders and their businesses and encourage them to take up the mantle of spiritual responsibility that results from this shifted paradigm.

If you can accept this then you may also be able to accept that when Jesus said seek first his kingdom and his righteousness then all else will be added unto to you, the promise of provision might be extended to include your business or career. If this is true, and you were to accept it, I bet it would transform your business practice. It has transformed mine.

I wonder what would happen if you prayed for your staff, colleagues, customers and suppliers daily. I wonder what would happen if you made decisions according to faith and hope rather than just profit and growth.

The small taste I have had of this, I’m pleased to say, reminds me of home. Oh, but what a ride!