Christian Business Review 2022: Pressing On Toward God's Goal

BIBLICAL BUSINESS GOALS
BOOK EXCERPT
but are fearful of confronting the doctors. When someone
cheats, even with the best of intentions, everyone loses. …
Clearly God’s Word says that a deception will always be
found out: “He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who
perverts his ways will be found out” (Proverbs 10:9). Total honesty
is the minimum acceptable standard for a Christian. If a
business cannot survive in total honesty, then it’s time to do
something else.
MISUSE OF COMPANY PROPERTY. Most business owners
go to great lengths to reduce and eliminate employee
misuse of company property. It is estimated that employee
theft accounts for the loss of nearly $160 billion in American
businesses each year. In total numbers it is probably less
than the employee theft but, on a per capita basis, I imagine
it is considerably higher…. Owners of businesses tend to believe
they can treat company assets as their own personal
property. Since the current laws don’t agree with that perspective,
to do so constitutes sin (missing the mark).
CONFESSION AND RESTITUTION
It’s usually far easier to avoid the temptation to lie or steal
from your company than it is to confess and make restitution,
because confession and restitution almost always
involve some unpleasant consequences. Many times Christians
think that all God requires of us is to give up the sin, but
that isn’t true. God asks that we give up the sin, confess it,
and then offer to make restitution whenever possible.
The Bible contains hundreds of examples of confession
and restitution. One that often comes to mind when I think of
this principle is that of Zaccheus: “Zaccheus stopped and said
to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give
to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will
give back four times as much’” (Luke 19:8). When he came
face-to-face with the truth, he repented of his sins of cheating
people, confessed, and offered to make restitution above
what Jewish law required, which was double the amount.
Some years ago I met with a Christian businessman who
could have profited by following Zaccheus’ example. This
man, who operated a large cosmetics packaging company,
was having some financial problems because of investments
in several unsuccessful businesses. It was clear that his financial
problems would clear up if he would just stop investing
in these side ventures. The packaging company itself was
profitable and had the potential of growing much larger. So
my recommendation to him was simple: Stop wasting good
money in the side ventures.
A few months later I received an urgent call from this
man. Another business he had started was in trouble to the
tune of nearly $1 million. Over the next several days we talked
many times by phone. After looking through the financial
statements on the new business, I determined that it was
hopelessly in debt and that, although a very good idea, it was
doomed to failure.
I asked, “Why in the world would you risk over a million
dollars on a venture like this? If you’ll just concentrate on
making the packaging company as efficient as possible, you’ll
make all the money you’ll ever need.”
In all honesty I thought it was the case of another small
businessman who wanted to become a conglomerate. What
puzzled me was that this man didn’t seem to have the huge
ego that normally accompanies someone with this motivation.
He seemed to be subdued and humble – in other words,
a nice guy.
A few days later he called me at home to ask if he and
his wife could fly to Atlanta the next morning for a personal
meeting. Sensing urgency in his voice, I agreed. Then I called
my secretary and asked her to adjust my schedule.
In my office the next morning, this Christian businessman
related one of the most remarkable stories of dishonesty in
business that I had ever heard.
“I inherited the business from my father,” he told me,
looking down at the table. “Dad had run it for 20 years and
was well respected in the industry, but the business never
seemed to reach its potential. So I started a shipping company
to transport raw materials and finished products to and
from the distributors. But we lacked the capital to develop a
large enough fleet, so I had to borrow against the business.
“The costs associated with the transport business were
much higher than I anticipated, and since we already had so
much invested I borrowed even more against the business.
Within a year I found myself in financial trouble, and it looked
like I could lose the business and, with it, my mother’s livelihood.
“The company we package for has never been able to
break into the discount store market because its products
are too costly. I could see a sizable potential for increase in
our packaging business if their products could be sold there.
So I hired a chemist to analyze their formulas, and we began
to manufacture their cosmetics, using less costly ingredients.
We then mixed the new formula half-and-half with
the old and marketed them to this new outlet. They were an
instant success, and our volume doubled.
CHRISTIAN BUSINESS REVIEW Fall 2022 152