If our businesses are going to grow, if we’re going to flourish in life, and if our communities are going to prosper, we must depend on God to shape our thinking (and therefore our behavior).
Too often, we make intentional choices that lead to unprofitable consequences. We must know his divine intention to align our lives with God’s will.
I don’t mean unprofitable in the financial sense. I mean unprofitable in the meaningful sense. Our choices often lead us down paths and into roads that lead nowhere. The only time it’s acceptable to follow a road to nowhere is when you live on a cul-de-sac.
Sometimes, we follow our ego; at other times, our pride leads the way through thick and thin despite every indication that we are headed in the wrong direction.
Entrepreneurs and owners tend to be proud, independent thinkers. The problem with independent thinking is that it may lead you to nowhere — a destination that could be avoided by asking for directions.
Doing things the same old way and expecting different results is dead-end thinking. We must be willing to put our pride aside every moment to let God love us and let others help us.
God challenges us to go beyond dead-end thinking. If our businesses are going to grow and if we’re going to flourish personally and professionally, we must be dependent on God to shape our thinking (and therefore our behavior).
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Roman believers challenges us to “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” These are compelling words that hold the promise of consequential outcomes.
Let God Change Your Mindset
For nearly 40 years, I’ve relied on my creative talents, business insight, and personal drive to build a branding and marketing business. I look back and think about my mistakes and how asking others for their wisdom and foresight would have helped me through many decisions.
Had I relied more on God and the wisdom of others, I’m sure the business would be far more successful. You don’t have to go it alone in business, life, and faith. Yet, stubborn as we are, we insist on muddling through life by relying on our capabilities instead of relying on the power of the Holy Spirit and the community of faith in God with which God surrounds us.
Author Kenneth Bailey points out in Seeing Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes the distinction between Western thinking and Middle-Eastern thinking:
The seventeenth-century philosopher Descartes observed, “I think, therefore I am.”
African theologians reply, “I am, because we are.”
We belong in a community. We live, work, and worship collectively. We must go together if we want to go far, especially in business.
If we want to go far in life, we must trust God and rely on him to guide us, provide for us, and equip us to act with foresight.
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Let God Get Rid of the Head Trash You Carry
Do you know what weighs a lot?
Head trash.
We carry tons of head trash inside our minds, weighing down our hearts.
A consultant once told me, “You’ll struggle to succeed in that sector, because you’re not in a big enough market.” I fought for a decade to prove him wrong, and while I experienced moderate success, I did not live up to the false expectations that I foolishly allowed that consultant to set for me.
Then I asked God which way I should go, and the results dramatically differed. He answered with the right clients, higher profits, and more fulfillment.
Head trash is the words and ideas that shape your thinking because an individual you respect told you:
You’re not good enough,
You’ll never succeed in that endeavor,
You are not worthy.
God has a different view of you: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLTSE)
God made you who you are. God created, equips, and empowers you to do the good works he planned for you. Don’t let anybody tell you the way God prepares you isn’t sufficient for what God calls you to.
Great leaders, like Jesus, always see more in us than what we see in ourselves and draw it out of us. —Rob Hartman
Let God Open Your Eyes to Your Blind Spots
After a few days in Tanzania during the summer of 2021, I realized Tanzanian pastors effectively share the Good News because they remember where they came from and are familiar with the Muslim community they want to reach.
In the West, we view who we are now as better than who we want to reach. We do that in the church, and we do it in business. We separate ourselves from the people God calls us to serve because we confuse being holy with not associating with people like us.
Our differences shouldn’t divide when they should help us find ways to unite. Biases keep us from sharing the message of reconciliation. We aren’t Christian in our title but by the condition of our hearts.
It doesn’t matter what faith tradition you grew up in, if at all. When we are biased, we are blinded by beliefs, attitudes, and ideas that aren’t true. When we live and work with assumptions or because we were told to do something a certain way, we miss the opportunity to reframe our assumptions and see things differently.
Who we were is a bridge back to people who don’t know Jesus. Our shared experiences allow us to reach people with the Good News through our businesses, even though we are different.
Let God Help You Avoid Roadblocks and Dead Ends
My journal contains a brief prayer:
“Lord, help me make choices that allow your Holy Spirit to work through me. Point out the choices I make that grieve and block your Holy Spirit’s work.”
The book of Ephesians teaches that people who believe in Christ Jesus are reconciled to God, but our relationship with God breaks when we sin (when our choices, words, and actions don’t please God). We can conditionally be in a relationship with God, but when we disobey, the connection breaks, and we must repent.
You can avoid the dead-end thinking by asking God to know your mind:
Examine me, O God, and know my mind.
Test me, and know my thoughts.
See whether I am on an evil path.
Then lead me on the everlasting path. (Psalms 139:23-24 (GW)
Follow God Closely and Look for the Hidden Paths
I’ve walked on some of the ancient paths where Jesus may have walked, from the Wadi Qelt (The road from Jericho to Jerusalem) to the southern steps of Jerusalem.
Of course, we can’t be 100% certain of where Jesus walked, but we do know where he walked is not essential, but Who he followed.
God’s path is not always evident or visible (think about the Exodus). We can’t always see his footprints!
When the enemy is behind us, and an impassable way is before us, we can only turn to God, who reminds us of how he delivered Israel:
“Your road went through the sea.
Your path went through raging water,
but your footprints could not be seen.”
Psalms 77:19 (GW)
You might be feeling this way now. Instead of panicking when you don’t see a way forward in our fragile economy and can’t go back, ask God to reveal the hidden path through the sea of doubt and trouble. Trust the Lord to lead you on the best pathway for your life, career, and business.
Ask him to advise and counsel you.
By avoiding dead-end thinking, you’ll see God actively at work to show you the way through life and career.
Then, you can avoid roadblocks and be confident that what lies ahead is what God planned for you, that he is present and will show you which path to take.