Understanding How Business Works

We all interact with the world of business on a daily basis. Understanding how business works and how we can relate to and operate within this world can have great benefit for us. In this class we will explore various aspects of business and discover how we can integrate our spiritual lives with our business lives so that it will benefit us and others. The more we understand the world of business, the better prepared we will be to operate in this world from a spiritual perspective and use business to benefit us and those around us. Lester Dekoster (2010) writes: “[W]ork gives meaning to life because work is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others” (p. 9).[1]The book of Genesis relates the story of creation and Adam and Eve.  In the above Scripture, God gave Adam the job of working the garden (verse 15), and later the job of giving names to all the animals and also the birds of the air.  God designed man to work. Scripture is full of examples of people working in some form of business.  Jesus worked as a carpenter before beginning his ministry, the apostle Paul was a maker of tents, and David was a shepherd before he became king. God has designed life here on earth to include work and we serve him and others as we strive to do our work well. Many of us work in some form of business and the better we understand how business works from a Christian perspective the more successful we will be and the more we can be useful to others.   In the next few weeks, we will explore the work of business and we will learn how we can do our work better and thus be of greater use to God and those with whom we come in contact. How do you see your work as related to God’s Kingdom?