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One of the most important lessons I have learned as a business owner is that people are not problems—they are opportunities. Too often, the relationship between business owners and employees becomes strained because employees are viewed primarily as problems to manage. When that happens, we can lose sight of the individual person and the potential God has placed within them.

Every person has unique talents, experiences, strengths, and struggles. As Christian business owners and leaders, we have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to recognize those qualities and help people grow. Investing in people means taking the time to listen, encourage, teach, and provide opportunities. It also means being patient when someone makes a mistake and helping that person learn from it. People will not always meet every expectation, but that does not make them a problem. It makes them human and often gives us an opportunity to lead.

As believers, our mission in business should ultimately be about people, not simply about what they produce. Production, profitability, and performance are necessary for a healthy business, but they should not become more important than the people doing the work. A successful business can produce excellent results, but a meaningful business also develops better employees, stronger families, and future leaders.

We invest in our people by giving them opportunities to grow personally and professionally. We want employees to learn new skills, accept greater responsibility, and understand the value of their contribution. More importantly, we want them to know that they are respected and valued as individuals. Sometimes the greatest investment we can make is simply taking the time to have a conversation, offer encouragement, provide direction, or help someone recognize potential they may not yet see in themselves.

I have been blessed throughout my life and career to have faithful, God-fearing men who invested in me. They did more than teach me about business. Through their actions, they demonstrated integrity, humility, accountability, generosity, and compassion. They showed me that leadership is not primarily about authority; it is about service and the example we set for others.

Those men helped shape the business owner and leader I am today. Their influence reminds me that we may never fully understand the impact we have on another person’s life. A conversation, an opportunity, or a consistent example of faith can leave a lasting impression.

God willing, I can continue living by the example those men set for me. My hope is to invest in others as they invested in me—to help people discover their abilities, grow into leaders, support their families, and understand that their value reaches far beyond what they produce. If we lead with faith and genuinely care for people, our businesses can become more than places of employment. They can become places where lives are strengthened, relationships are built, and God is honored through the way we serve one another.

Where is our security? How does one begin walking in faith? Finding that which steadies us in every aspect of life begins with beholding the One who has made our faith possible. We find our solid ground when we consider Christ. Considering our Lord calls us to surrender — a chance to come to the end of ourselves, which is a choice to trust. Christ is more present and applicable than we allow Him to be. We reorient our thoughts and actions by first focusing them on Him.

Our hope is in Him who delivers. When we consider His sacrifice, we can confidently go through life knowing that we walk in victory. Our shame is covered by His blood. The future glory of the end of our time on earth is secured in Him. Our identity as believers began with His sacrifice. His grace opened the door to our faith. Who is this glorious King who alone can keep us from stumbling and present us blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy? (Jude 1:24). 

Consider His goodness. How great that we get to call our Creator good. The God of all the universe — being goodness itself. When the heaviness of sin takes its toll, recall our omnipotent Creator, the source of goodness and redemption. He is the Good Shepherd who knows His own and knows our every need.

Consider His sovereignty. He has established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom rules over all (Psalms 103:19). His omniscient eye is always on us (Proverbs 15:3). Cultivate the habit of beholding the One who beholds you. In doing so, consider His love for you. He is committed to His children; we persevere because of His commitment to us. The Lord’s will shall not be deterred. Know that He will one day make all manner of things well.

Certitude is found in considering His promises. Rest in the promise that nothing can separate us from His love. We can trust in His divine security. He promises mercy and grace (Matt. 11:28-29). He promises never to leave (Deut. 31:8). He promises that He is coming soon (Rev. 22:20). God’s promises find their fulfillment in Christ and are sealed by His Spirit. The Lord’s promises become real for us when we consider the Holy Spirit. He is with you (Romans 8:11). What joy it is to know that when we feel uneasy, we have the privilege of calling upon His name. How quickly He responds, how ready He is to restore, how loving He is to always be nearby.

It can be difficult to remember the security we have when our minds are clouded by the distractions of the world. Consider His word and find clarity in Him. The effectiveness of Scripture speaks to every matter. As we navigate life, we have a true north. Meditation on biblical truth exposes us to our innermost thoughts and refocuses our mind on Him. His word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). When we guard our minds according to His word (Psalm 119:9), we find His character, His promises, His faithfulness. We learn about those who have witnessed His faithfulness, opening opportunity for us to consider His faithfulness in our own lives. 

Building small habits of beholding Christ throughout the day peacefully guides every thought and decision. As we consistently think about Jesus, we abound in knowledge of Him. There is no limit to the aspects of Christ that we may behold. Consider His mercy, forgiveness, justice, relentlessness, character, and all the countless ways He reveals Himself to us. Focusing our minds on Him is the catalyst for trusting the One who promises us forgiveness, redemption, serenity, and eternal life. It is He who keeps us in perfect peace when our minds are stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3). Behold Him today, rest in His steadfastness, and let Him guide your step as you walk in faith with eyes fixed on Him.

Sometimes I feel like I might be a student forever. If I have it my way, I’m signing up for as much school as any person can attend in their life. I’ve already been a student for 17 years, so although I don’t know everything, I have some experience in the crazy and sometimes erratic phase of “studenthood.”

I know the feeling of waiting for your life to start, thinking school is just a bunch of hoops to jump through so you can finally do what you want.

I know the seduction and danger of a mindset that says “I don’t have to work on growing spiritually until I’m an adult. What could I do now anyway?”

These attitudes grab ahold of us, they infect us and have consequences that last far beyond the date of our high school or college graduation. But you don’t have to believe that, those ideas only define you if you let them.

School can and should be a time when we prepare ourselves for a lifetime of serving God.

In order to do so, we have to watch out for the lies Satan’s dying for us to believe. If I kept count of the phrases I heard most going through school, I think the one used most frequently by students would have been, “when will I ever use this (referring to the Pythagorean theorem, the Bill of Rights, or whatever we’re learning at the time) in real life?” I know I’ve said that more than my fair share of times. And let’s face it, I haven’t used the Pythagorean theorem since 10^th grade! So there’s that.

But more importantly, hidden in the heart of that phrase is a dangerous implication. Who says your years in school aren’t “real life”? What’s less “real” about your school day than your parents work day? This idea feeds into the lie that your life really starts when your formal education ends, and anything that happens before that doesn’t really matter. That’s an awfully dangerous mindset.

The truth is: What you do now matters!

If you think your years in school are a waste of time, you’re going to waste the time you spend in them. As hard as it is to believe, school is most likely the phase of your life during which you’ll have the most “free time,” you’re going to use that time on something, you might as well use it for God. What you do today establishes habits that last your whole life.

Also, students are still learning what they believe and who they are. It’s one of the most effective times to share the gospel. With every day that passes, people get more set in the paths they’re going to follow, and most of these paths lead away from the path of life.

Satan would love to render you ineffective by saying your life doesn’t matter yet, but God loves using the uneducated, the underqualified and the unprepared.

In other words, God loves using students.

It’s our job to make ourselves available to Him, and let Him work out the rest.

Are you a student, or do you know who would like to attend a youth ministry? MCC has two great Youth Ministry programs: Fire and Ice is a Mid-High Youth Ministry and The Hang-Out is a High-School Youth Ministry. 

“Marvin, I’ve never had a boss who dressed as nice as you do or talked down to his employees like you do.” 

I looked across the table at Evelyn, not knowing what to think or say.  I wondered, “should I be angry, embarrassed, or offended?”

Evelyn worked for me in one of my early forays into business and pointed out something I was obviously missing. While I had made it a point to let everyone at the office know that I was a follower of Christ it was not nearly as clear as I believed?  I thought being a Christian witness to others in the office meant not stealing company pencils, not swearing or telling gross jokes. But obviously, something was absent.  In my enthusiasm to obey Him and to tell coworkers I followed Him, I failed to show what being a Christ follower really meant.

I told everyone I followed Christ but misunderstood how to show that I stood for Him at work too. 

In my life and my work, I really have two responsibilities; first to love the Lord with all my heart, mind, soul and strength and second to love my neighbor (read co-worker, boss, customer, the UPS guy) as myself (Matt 22:36-40). 

In my zeal for morality in the office I had missed the most important thing; to love Evelyn, my co-workers and everyone else I came into contact with, as Jesus loved them. 

It was less about rules and more about the heart.

All over the world His followers are standing in for Him in the workplace. Placed there to love as He loves. This is true in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in La Paz, Bolivia and every place in between.  La Paz is a hard place to work and a hard place to own a business.

But it is also a place where His light shines especially brightly when its unleashed through those standing in for Him. It’s a place that desperately needs the gospel to be shared.

MCC is sponsoring a Business as Mission workshop in La Paz on March 24^th that will equip business people and workers to love like Him in their workplaces, to foster generosity in the community and, Lord willing, to launch a business accelerator in La Paz that will lead to more new businesses, economic growth and restoration in Bolivia. 

That night we will be inviting local business owners to join a group of peers who will work together to transform the business community and as a result, the city of La Paz. 

God gave work as a blessing, it should be life giving and restorative. 

As those in the workplace love as He loves, people are changed, the poor prosper and reconciliation happens through Christ.  Please pray that He will do more than we dare ask or think in completing His purpose in La Paz on March 24^th.

When asked to write about how my faith had influenced my work life, my initial reaction was, "how did it not"?  My approach was not to try to bring God into the workplace, but rather to use my work to honor God and serve him.  Through 40 years of work, I found that I could magnify God in everything I did; as a printing office clerk, teacher, researcher or analyst. The workplace also extended beyond just my desk…it is everywhere I do things including my office, home and school.

Even in heaven, I expect to be working; albeit with a different atmosphere.  For me, work here on earth is just a preview of my eternal life in heaven. I expect that Jesus will give me tasks I can accomplish with joy and grace, working peacefully with others as we eternally praise God in all we do. 

Here are some approaches to consider for whatever workplace you find yourself in.

Enthusiasm: In whatever you do, be enthusiastic, and put your whole heart into the work.  Pursue your passion, for that is an effective tool reflecting Christ.  1 Cor. 10:31 tells us to “... do everything that way, heartily and freely to God's glory.”  

Relationships:  Hold out the love of Christ to all you encounter. Serve others as Jesus did.  Listen to the hardship and hurts others encounter, and show both your own care, and point toward the One who cares divinely. Be of service and take a genuine interest in the lives of others. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Joy:  Let your life reflect the joy of the Lord in your heart.  Don’t be a complainer but draw out the good in all people and situations.  Live out James 1:2-3, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.  You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.”

Trust:  In all things, remember that it is not you, but God who has control.  Be diligent in all that you do but remember that you are utterly dependent on God for everything as Proverbs 3:5-6 notes: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Integrity:  Our world often encourages people to “get away” with things.  Instead, let’s act in such a way that everyone can see that you are cognizant of the ultimate Judge, and that you rely on Him. Matthew 5: 16 says, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Money:  Work as a steward of God’s money and treat money as a reminder of our ultimate treasure.  Don’t be a slave to the dollar but use it as the tool it is to forward the kingdom of Christ.

Grace:  Just as you received undeserved grace and salvation, treat all others as what they really are: Human beings made in the image and likeness of God. Be a reflection of the love of God.  1 Pet. 3:5 says, “You must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.”

So as you go about your work, whether in an office, your home or somewhere else, remember the words of Proverbs 8:18-19 telling us what happens when we bring our work to God, “Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.”

Now get to work and take God with you!