Financial Discipleship @ Work Part 1预览

Giving from the business

If God is the Owner of the company, and I am His designated manager, then He will want to use some of the profits from the business to achieve his own objectives. The Biblical norm is that the first tenth of the profits should be for His use. Alongside continuity for the business, He wants to use a share of the profits for other activities that He has on His heart. Giving out the profits of the business is proof that we have relinquished ownership and are fulfilling the role of manager of God's business. Malachi says that giving the tenth honours God and will protect the business.

Giving is an act of worship. Out of gratitude for His provision, we can freely set apart His share of the company’s assets for His purposes. David pronounced, when offering resources to the Lord to build the Temple, that he was merely returning to the Lord that which God had initially, Himself, provided! Therefore, we do not give the ten percent, the tithe, but we return these assets to their rightful Owner.

Moses encourages us to “be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.” This is being applied by many Christian businesses today.

In our business, we made our faith financial plan each year to include the profit we could reasonably expect to make, based on the Lord’s revelation through prayer and counsel. From this profit plan, we included setting aside a tenth of the profits for His use each month. This was really a step of faith, not knowing exactly how much profit would be made. At the end of one year, our profit was less than planned, but we had given more than ten percent. At first, we were concerned, but realized that the business belongs to God, and He should be able to take more if He wishes! This made us thankful for the opportunity to increase our giving.

Later, we donated a tenth of our shares to a non-profit Christian foundation, so that there would be no arguments about who gets the share of the profits!

How do you plan for giving from the business? Is the first part going to the advancement of His Kingdom?

Want to read more? Buy the book "Financial Discipleship@ Work" by Peter J. Briscoe.