How Christian Business Owners Make the Best Use of Their Time
Today, I want to talk about how we should operate in our businesses, making the best use of our time.
If God (your CEO) came to you every hour of your business day and asked what you were doing, what would be your response? Trivial pursuits or Kingdom building actions?
Sometimes I catch myself in the middle of the day checking my social media for fun or reading the news. There's nothing wrong with the technology of catching up with friends or current events. I had to ask myself: what's my purpose for checking into these platforms? Am I going into "zombie mode" and escaping my work, or do I have a Kingdom purpose for checking into my phone?
We all have certain "time-wasting" habits that we've baked into our business days. Whether we recognize them or not, they are there. Some of us are working to eliminate them; others struggle to know where to start.
The opportunity to waste time versus making good use of our time leaves us with a choice: we could choose to disconnect from God's mission and purpose for us, or we could spend time on personal development, building our Kingdom businesses, and/or developing relationships with others.
The Bible says,
"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.(Ephesians 5:15-16)
After Paul instructs us to live a life of wisdom, he continues with a command regarding how we utilize our time. This could be thought of as "making the most of every opportunity." Paul was familiar with the perspective that each day could be his last. He had been beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, and imprisoned, not knowing if he would live to see another day. In addition, he taught Christ would return at any moment. He felt believers should live holy lives and share the gospel in preparation for our inevitable departure.
Paul also notes another purpose for believers to make the best use of time: the time he lived in was rampant in sin. Just as Noah lived a godly life before judgment, Paul urged his readers to live holy lives in obedience to the Lord, knowing the evil days they lived indicated that judgment could come soon.
In those days, invaders could have destroyed your city overnight. The brains of the people back then were in uncertainty mode. The fact that Jesus could come any day was very real because that's how life operated back then.
Today, we don't live in so much uncertainty, so our brains aren't programmed to think, "Jesus could come tomorrow, and my life on earth could end." This makes it a little more challenging for today's developed societies to "make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil."
However, despite the times changing, Paul's point is still very applicable to becoming a successful Godpreneur.
As a Kingdom business owner, you have a clear orientation to take advantage of every opportunity and use your time best. You are called to be productive with your time at the office, not with trivial things, but in the way of God and with things that are important for the Kingdom of God in your marketplace. You are called to use your business days for eternal purposes, not for the earthly nor the things which pass. You must intentionally make the most of every opportunity for God's glory and manifest His Kingdom to your employees, clients, vendors, competitors, partners, and business relationships. Your brand must be….Godpreneur….and you have to live it out full time.
Going back to wasting time on social media, I can take a different approach to the platforms. For example, I have a private group on Facebook for Godpreneurs where I interact with my followers and provide Bible-based insight and wisdom on business topics. In this case, checking my social media is a good use of my time because it's what I feel God has called me to do.
The same goes for my checking of the news. Instead of checking Fox News, I can spend time getting updated on the news from my industry, which helps me become a better branding guy and entrepreneur.
We all have the invitation from God to make the most of our business days, make the best use of our time at work, and live out the will of God for our entrepreneurial journey, in His way, for His glory!
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