A Curse
You may have read recently that David Green, the 80-year-old owner and founder of Hobby Lobby gave his company away. He is putting it all into a trust and will not be handing it down to his children or grandchildren.
“Wealth can be a curse and, in most cases, if you drill down on it, wealth is a curse in terms of marriage, children and things of that nature,” Green said. “So we’re stewarding our company and, therefore, our children come to work, and they get what they earn… it’s a paradigm change from ownership that can really wreck a family.”
“Well-meaning attorneys and accountants advised me to simply pass ownership down to my children and grandchildren.” Green added: “It didn’t seem fair to me that I might change or even ruin the future of grandchildren who had not even been born yet.”
Now he ALREADY gives away 50% of the profits that he makes. That’s right, 50%! He and a handful of his family take in numerous requests each week and decide who is going to be given money from their profits. He has mentioned that is the hardest part of his job these last several years – not running Hobby Lobby but deciding whom to give his wealth away to!
Then he makes this decision about giving away his company, reminding us that he is only the steward of the business, God owns it all, and he is just the overseer.
Wow!
Do we approach what we do for a living in the same way as David Green or as the Bible teaches us to do? Do we look at the jobs we do or the businesses we own as vehicles to see how much money we can get, so that we can fill our coffers, store up our barns, and spend a bunch of money on ourselves… or how it can be used to glorify God?
A Real Christian Businessman acts differently when it comes to how we handle our job, our business, and our wealth. We look at it all as being stewards of what God has given us – Using our time, talents and treasures to glorify God instead of glorifying ourselves.
It’s not easy though as the culture wants us to think in “me” terms! I struggle with it all myself – In this world of me, me, me – seeing how much can I earn for myself and then post about it so others can see too.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (ESV 1 Pet 4:10)
Let’s take a cue from Mr. Green and the Bible and see how much of it we can give away and how much of the glory we can give back to God.
Besides, he’s the owner of it all anyway, isn’t he?