There are three facets to belief. If you are a Christian business owner, you must take these three things seriously in order to truly be successful in business and in life. These are foundational to who we are as Christians and as entrepreneurs.
Belief comes from an old German word that means “to hold dear, esteem and trust.” There is a lot of power in belief if we understand the belief pyramid. The three kinds of belief for Christian business owners are: belief in God, believe in self and belief in business.
Belief in God
I was talking to a multi-millionaire this weekend. We started talking about faith and he shared a great concept with me. He said, “I don’t know how people do it without faith. They have nothing above them to keep them from being dishonest.” He went on to explain that when people don’t have some sort of faith, they can do whatever they want. In business, that could mean taking advantage of others and running a business with little or no ethics. (It happens!)
Starting with a foundation that there is a God and He is bigger than us helps us get perspective about our place in the universe. We are part of something God is doing here on earth, and because of that, we want to help people and honor God with all of our decisions.
Belief in self
After we have a strong foundation in God, we must have a strong belief in ourselves. This one may be harder for some of us depending on what kind of family we come from. See, if we have been told we are worthless or that we will never amount to anything, those seeds of doubt can still grow even when our business is successful.
We must look at the belief in God first and build who we are based on what He says about our lives. Think about it for a moment. You may have had someone in your life tell you that you are not good enough, but our value does not come from people. Our value comes from God.
God calls us His children. He sent Jesus to earth for us. He loves us even when we were stuck in stupidity and sin. That means the God of the universe, who created us and everything in it, says we are good enough. We should revel in the fact that we are more than good enough for this world.
Belief in business
I know a lot of articles that would start with the belief in business, but I have found that other two must be foundational to what we do as Christian entrepreneurs. We must have a strong belief in God, which tells us who we are in this world, which informs what we do for our business.
In business, we are here to help others. We find a product or service that can benefit another person and offer it to them at a valuable price. Business is that simple. Yet, at the core of what we do in business, we must think about how God wants to impact the world and how our lives touches others.
Putting our beliefs together
I have talked to many people who want to start a certain business ‘because it will make good money.’ They jump on the bandwagon only to find it is a lot harder than they think and since they are focused on the money, they are never fulfilled in their business. They jump from business to business never really finding their place in the world.
I don’t want that to happen to you. I want you to have a strong core belief that God wants you to be in business. I want you to see that God created you with a strong purpose in this world to touch lives. And, God, the creator of everything, gave you the blessings and opportunities to be in business for Him.
Taking action
Do a quick evaluation for your life.
Start with God. What is your core belief in God? Is it based on a strong knowledge of scripture? If so, keep it up. If not, jump into some biblical studies and dig into God’s word.
Check on self. What is your purpose? Do you really believe that God put you on earth for a purpose? He did! If you are having trouble with your identity find a good friend, pastor or counselor. Really dig into who you are and find the truth of who God created you to be.
Evaluate your business. Why did God put you in your business? How does God want you to impact the world and share His love through your business? If you are not sure, dig into scriptures, join a Christian entrepreneur group, or just talk to a solid Christian mentor in your life.
Conclusion
I could write thousands of words, but none of it means anything if we don’t take action on our beliefs. We must take action on our belief in God, self and business if we truly want to be successful. God has placed His hand on your life, I know because you are reading these words and I am praying for you. You are called to be in business and you did not find this article by accident.
I’m Lyle H. and I want to invite you to dig a little deeper with your faith and how it fits into business. If you need a confidence boost, check out: http://www.christianbusinessrevolution.com/faith-fit-business/
I also shared about how business is your mission, just look at what this famous missionary did with business in the Bible: http://www.christianbusinessrevolution.com/god-want-us-business/
