How to serve God in your business

We are all mandated to work in some way. The Bible says that God put Adam and Eve in the garden to ‘tend it’ (Genesis 2:15). What does TEND mean?

In Hebrew, the word is translated as ‘to work at.’

In modern times we can even see that TEND means: maintain, cultivate, dress, keep, preserve, control, and direct. Lots of types of work, right?

Today I want to chat about how to serve God and how you and I should work so that we tend our businesses in a way that truly SERVES God and others.

Tend to the specifics

You know, you don’t have a business if it doesn’t solve a problem for someone specific. I have seen it over and over. You create a product or service, spend money to manufacture it, write it, get a website, and then launch it only to hear crickets.

WHY? Maybe you. . .

1. Did not build it with God
2. Did not have the right motivation
3. Did not do the research
4. Did not consider opportunities to grow
5. Did not want to do the hard work

Let’s break down these FIVE ‘did nots’ and show you how to serve God and HOW you can ‘do’ things differently so you are serving God and your ideal clients in your business.

Tend to your business

Build your Business with God because there is no striving when He is involved.

Psalm 127:1-2 says this,

Unless the Lord builds a house,
    the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
    guarding it with sentries will do no good.

It is useless for you to work so hard
    from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
    for God gives rest to his loved ones.

How can you start to build your business WITH God?

By having a relationship with Jesus and making Him the boss, the Lord, overall in your life. This includes your business. He has a place for you in His overall PLAN, and you have such a specific part to play in His Story.

Only when you are close to God can you have the understanding and wisdom to follow that PLAN. God is there to guide you every step of the way. By reading His Word, journaling, and through prayer, you can align yourself with Him and cooperate with His PLAN for your success.

Tend to your heart

Keep your motivation pure because God has placed this pull in your heart to make a bigger impact.

Colossians 3:23-24 says this,

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.

Colossians 3:23-24 NLT

God has orchestrated your life so you have acquired skills, experience, abilities, and knowledge about your areas of interest. He created you to be satisfied when you work in certain sectors and industries.

There is no need to do business in the way everyone else is doing it. We need to keep in check that we are doing business for the right reasons (a.k.a., to serve God) or if we are allowing the world’s definition of success (a.k.a., money, power, prestige) to motivate us. God does not call us to strive so hard that we give up doing other things that are important to us. He asks us to trust Him.

Tend to your focus

Do the research and be diligent in doing the work.

Proverbs 10:4 says this,

Lazy people are soon poor;
    hard workers get rich.

The ESV version says,

A slack hand causes poverty,
    but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

In God’s economy, He wants you to be RICH in a variety of ways: friends, connections, influence, clients, and impact for Him.

Your business needs to be uniquely suited to you, how God created you. There is no one else who can bring your part of God’s PLAN into the world. He has reserved it for you.

Create a business that will energize you each day. One that will give you the stamina to do the work required to run your business. You will attract your ideal clients by working hard to find them through the message God has given you for them so you can solve their specific problems.

Tend to your learning

Consider opportunities to grow in your business because it moves you forward.

Proverbs 20:4 says this,

Those too lazy to plow in the right season
    will have no food at the harvest.

I love how the ESV says,

The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;
    he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

As an entrepreneur, we need to be reading, taking courses, following mentors, finding programs, hiring coaches, and joining communities to advance our knowledge and connections.

When you are aligned with God, we KNOW when a good resource comes in front of you. It will be aligned with what God is asking you to do. It may be risky (in that it may cost money or take a lot of time), but that’s where trusting God comes in.

We need these foundational things in business, and we need to build on them every day. Don’t think that you will ever know it all. There is always more to learn, and God will bring the right opportunities in front of you.

With certain ‘seasons’ come opportunities. If these opportunities are pushed aside, you might find yourself in need and not ‘reaping’ anything because you didn’t work. Remember that the fruit comes after labor.

Tend to your integrity

Act on your words and get the work done because you want to be known as a person who follows through with what they say they are going to do.  

Proverbs 14:23 (ESV) says this,

In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

The NLT version says it this way,

Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!

When there is no action on a goal, it is called a WISH. Stop making wishes and think God is going to magically make things appear in your life. This life is WORK, do it well. This is how to serve God in your business.

Write down your goals and speak them aloud to others. It makes you more accountable to those who have heard. God can use people in your life as great motivators. Don’t be the person who talks about what they are going to do and never actually makes it happen.

Do what you say you are going to do, and it will profit you. Not only in having a successful business but in building the reputation God wants for you.

Tend to your future success

In all of this, you are called to do the work to make your business successful. And it will take work.

Being diligent at work means showing you CARE. Caring about what God is asking you to do, serving Him, and caring about serving your clients.

Your business must be carefully built, and you must have the right tools (resources) to do it well. The Calling Clarity Community can give you what you need to TEND to your business. Inside the community, you will find courses and coaching to help you build connection and accountability for motivation, scripts and templates for research, networking, and masterminding to grow, and strategies and methods to help you get the work done.

God has His timing and His ways. He is using your obedience to have in your business shape you more into the image of His son.

How to serve God

Here is a bonus verse-

Mark 8:36-37 says this,

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

Yes, go out and do well in your business, make money, and have influence. But, give God glory in ALL you do by making sure to put Him first and His plan for you to grow deep in HIM.