Book: Business For The Glory of God
Synopsis:
Can business activity in itself be morally good and pleasing to God? Sometimes business can seem so shady-manipulating the “bottom line,” deceiving the consumer, or gaining promotions because of whom you know.
But Wayne Grudem introduces a novel concept: business itself glorifies God when it is conducted in a way that imitates God’s character and creation. He shows that all aspects of business, including ownership, profit, money, competition, and borrowing and lending, glorify God because they are reflective of God’s nature. Though Grudem isn’t naïve about the easy ways these activities can be perverted and used as a means to sin, he knows that Christians can be about the business of business.
This biblically based book is a thoughtful guide to imitating God during interactions with customers, coworkers, employees, and other businesses. See how your business, and your life in business, can be dedicated to God’s glory. – Amazon
Review: It’s important to note that Wayne Grudem wrote a tome of a book for Systematic Theology. If anyone can rightly divide the Word on a strong theological foundation when it comes to money, this is probably a solid candidate for doing it.
Rating:
Notes:
Chapter 1 – Ownership
Grudem believes we have an almost biological desire to take ownership in things. We see it in little kids when they claim things to be their own. He believes God gave us this desire because it reflects his nature of taking care of the entire universe. We are designed to reflect his nature and be good stewards of things we own because we are his image bearers.
What should we do with the things that we own?
- One is to give it away.
- But we don’t have to give it all away. He can use the money to buy tools and resources to create other things.
- We could also use
money for our own enjoyment with thanksgiving to God. (1 Tim. 6:17) - Save for future use
What should we not do?
- Use our possessions to turn people away from the Gospel and attack the church (James 2: 6-7)
- Advance our own pride (Matthew 6:19)
- Become greedy and accumulate wealth for its own sake. (Luke 12:13-21)
- Take wrongful security in riches (James 5:3)
- Use our possessions foolishly and wastefully, abounding in luxury and self-indulgence while neglecting the needs of others (James 5:5; 1 John 3:17)
“Ownership can be abused, but the distortions of something good must not cause us to think that the thing itself is evil. Possessions are not evil in themselves, and the ownership of possessions is not wrong in itself. Nor is ownership something morally neutral. In itself, the ownership of possessions is something that is created by God, and very good. Ownership provides multiple opportunities for glorifying God, and we should be thankful or it.”