What to Do with the “Gray Areas” of Business
An X user recently asked, “Is it ethical for me to charge 15% more for my rich clients?” Though that kind of opportunism is not surprising for non-believers, Christian business owners should constantly take stock in how they operate, following the example set by the author of Hebrews, who asked for prayers for “a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.”
In a chapter published years ago entitled “Why Johnny Can’t Produce Christian Scholarship,” theologian John Stackhouse said that Christian scholars must work “more than twice as hard.” After all, they must be Christian. They must be scholars. And they must be Christian scholars.
The same framing applies to Christians in business. Christians must always be, first and foremost, Christian. Christians in business, just as in any other vocation, must be competent and excellent in their craft. And they must work hard at grounding the business with Christian assumptions about work, about people, about profit, about culture, and about ethics. Though a Christian business must involve more than merely being moral and ethical, it certainly does not require less.
The Biblical book of Proverbs offers a time-tested, God-breathed roadmap on living ethically, including speaking specifically to business practices. Chief among the qualities of wisdom are honesty and fair dealing. Proverbs 19 says that it is better to be poor with integrity than to be a crooked fool. Proverbs 16 says that it is better to live righteously with a little than to earn great revenues through injustice. It also says, “A just balance and scales are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.”
Scripture also offers the sober, comforting reminder that God is Lord over heaven and earth and that any work we have is because of Him. He is the provider, and He is just. If we orient the posture of our work around that truth, we may rest assured in his goodness and care. Thus, we need not grovel on the one end of the employment stratum nor steal for a portion on the other.
Squeezing more money from a client because we presume they will not care or notice or suffer may be “good for business;” that is unless our work is seen by One to whom we are responsible and accountable. The Christian position is that there is One by whom we are seen, from Whose presence we cannot escape. Thus, we are to model good works in all respects, as the Apostle Paul said to Titus. We must not wrong another in a sale, or bring lazy hands to work, or fail to use our God-given skills, or fall into sin by a shady deal. All life is lived, John Cavin said, coram deo, or before the face of God.
We are to be like God. He is loving. We should be loving. Christ came to serve, even as the Lord of all creation. So, should we serve. To be set apart from the world in this way is the privilege of emulating Christ. Thus, we should count it all joy.
Christians often struggle to see their work as eternally significant, in the same way as volunteering or doing “ministry.” Work is often viewed as something adults have to do, and the relationship between employees and the employer as a merely transactional one.
But our work in this world is not of this world. God gave work to Adam and Eve even in paradise, and portions of Isaiah, 2 Timothy, Revelation, and elsewhere suggest we will work in the new heavens and new earth, enjoying the labor of our hands in the presence of God. And so, our work here can also be a means to glorify God.
In his book How Then Should We Work?, Hugh Welchel framed the workplace as being the precise arena to “reweave shalom” to a broken world. It may be tempting, easier, or simply standard business practice to justify gray-area opportunism. But if Christ is Lord over everything, our work should reflect the Kingdom of God and its beckoning to us to humbly repent, be born again, and live in righteousness, peace, and joy. In our work, as in everything, the Kingdom of God will always look different than the world.
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John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
