How do I see my business?

Psalm 101 is a psalm about David’s behavior in the palace, as leader of his government. David knows that power makes people corrupt. He has experienced this himself. After his eyes caught sight of the wife of one of his best staff members and after he had slept with her, he issued the order to kill the husband (2 Samuel 11 and 12). Despite this, David desires to be pure and behave in a good way (Psalm 51).

David starts the psalm singing praises to God’s goodness, God’s faithfulness to the covenant, and his understanding of justice and injustice (Psalm 101:1). He wants to reflect God’s authority and God’s qualities in everything he does. His work is a ‘place of worship’, and he asks God for help: ‘Oh, when will you come to me?’ (Psalm 101:2a).

My company is my place of worship.

‘"My company is my place of worship", a good business friend of mine once told me. This was an aha-experience for me. I suddenly realized that my business life should change. Before this conversation, entrepreneurship for me meant working, earning money, and being successful. Worshipping God was done in church. But now I realized that I could worship God in my business and my ordinary daily work. But how? Did I suddenly have to start converting my staff and my clients, like a friend of mine, a car dealer, actually did? This felt really uncomfortable.

When I did some research on this topic, I discovered that we also worship God when we reflect Him in who we are and what we do. We honor Him when we use our talents received from Him. For entrepreneurs this may mean constructing beautiful buildings that contribute to the well-being of people and in this way worship God; or developing products and services that contribute to solving problems of people and society, within a business culture that does justice to God’s values and principles. This was quite a mindset shift for me. From profit as goal to purpose as goal and profit as result. From tasks to people and processes. From praying ‘Lord, please bless me’, to ‘Lord, what would you have me do in this situation?’ It was a mindset shift that has led to more contentment and pleasure in my work.

I am glad that I now know that my ordinary daily work can become a song of praise to who God is, and that I may invite God into my company to shape this song of praise.

Question for the day
‘My company is my place of worship.’ How does this resonate with you?