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"Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right." (Proverbs 16:8, KJV)

"Study to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you; That you walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing." (I Thessalonians 4:11-12, KJV)

"I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35, KJV)

	"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." (Matthew 6:26, NAS)
	Businessmen serving Christ - Christ in the Workplace

"The American boy of 1854 stood nearer the year 1 than to the year 1900" (Historian Henry Adams)

The Good in Labor

Have you ever wondered how God views our individual ethics and morals in America's businesses and professions? The best way to judge this and understand how we are today is to go to the library and look at articles and advertisements in newspapers and magazines as far back as they go and move forward until you reach about 1960.

You will find that the spiritual and moral values held by business men in these articles and advertisements were slowly eroded as time went by, and in very general terms the erosion can be summarized over the years in the following way:

From 1800 to 1860 - Business and labor existed to serve God in observance of the 4th commandment. Owners and the businesses were usually one and the same. Work was "unto God" and reward was "from God". They honored God by closing on the sabbath day.

From 1860 to 1960 - Business and labor existed to serve others. Products were to make life better for people. Business was guided by the "golden rule". Ownership interests were offered to employees. Advertisements abounded such as Dupont's, "Better things for better living through chemistry". The slogan for Sears, Roebuck & Company was, "We cannot afford to lose a customer". A business was only as good as its employees, the customer was king and the employees were there to serve them. "The customer is always right" was recognized by both the customer and the employees of the business.

From 1960 to present - Business exists for the big, outside investors. Stock in businesses are widely traded by "institutional" investors. Technology replaces many employees. Customers become objects to increase profits. Serving God and the golden rule fade into the past.

The "industrial revolution" invaded America in 1850 and it caused a great migration from the rural areas to the cities where industrial jobs promised more money and opportunity. The "age of technology" invaded America in the 1960's, promising more profits for investors as businesses replace workers.

The current goal of every Christian business and professional owner and employee should be to go back to the principles in the Bible and to the moral and ethical values that existed in America before 1860, when people tried to be guided by God's word and the time when God blessed and guarded our nation.

May the Lord find us so doing when He returns.