A new thing
Recently studying entrepreneurialism. The more I learn, the more I am convinced that it is a better way to reflect the character of God. Working for someone else is exemplifying slavery. As a husband and father, I am mandated to reflect the character of God. Throughout scripture, God is called our Father, and Christ is called the Bridegroom. Hence, God has established these offices (husband and father) as an example of who He is. If I leave my family every day to work for another man, this is contrary to God's nature as all sufficient. He is not subservient to anyone. He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the ultimate Producer, Procurer and Perpetuator of systems. In other words, The Cosmic Entrepreneur!
You'll probably hear a lot about this in the coming weeks. Still absorbing...still processing. Pray for my openness to Father's teaching. Let me know how I can pray for you and in what ways the Lord is leading you to reflect His character.
posted by Jeff C @ 9:17 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
To be entrepreneurial is one of our biggest reasons for homeschooling. Not that public school makes entrepreneuring impossible, but almost like you become one in SPITE of it, you know? Whereas we figure we can (hopefully) educate our children to think OUTSIDE the box, to only go "work for the man" if they feel God leading them to do so, NOT becuase they think of that as their only option.
My thoughts on it being God's will or not have to include the Christian's call to be a part of the Body... This, to me, says that some level of interdependancy (including the possibility of working "for" someone) is not always a negative thing. What I view as negative is the mindset that cannot see BEYOND working for someone.
To think that way, to think that "in order to make money, I must work for someone else's vision" without ever considering whether or not God has a vision for you to work for BEYOND/BESIDES someone else's, is only slightly removed from slavery.
Okay, enough rambling/blabbing... :)
If I may clarify and add to your thoughts.... before you came to the place that you are at right now, there was simply a time of understanding that the new thing the Lord was calling us to, was for the purpose of putting yourself under His authority alone. (In the realm of work, I mean) We both clearly felt that the very thing that the Lord was calling us to, was to lay down our dependency on man (the wkly pay check) and embrace, instead a deeper dependency on Father.
ARE WE NUTS??!!! LOL
"The more I learn, the more I am convinced that it is a better way to reflect the character of God." - Hm... you might want to be careful with that statement. Different? New? Faith stretching? Yes, it could be all those things for you ... if you are called to it. But I don't know about it being better, certainly not better for everybody. Joseph found working for "the man" to provide plenty of opportunity to display the character of God.
I think, like most everything in life, its a heart issue.
Jeff,
Maybe instead of 'better' you could say that entrepreneurialship is ONE of the BIGGIE ways God is revealing Himself through Christians in our culture today. It is an amazing thing to be free from all the things the world tells us we should be slaves to, from our mortgages to our employers to depending upon social security, and people who live free from such things are certainly a testimony to the goodness of living by biblical principles. Now, at this point in our lives, our family IS in slavery to our mortgage and my husband's employer. God is good and full of grace and reveals Himself through us anyway! But, he has put a desire in our hearts for freedom in Him. Perhaps we are just “called” the same way you are.
But there is something to be said for the principles behind the matter – wanting to take priority in the things God has said to take priority in. For husbands and fathers, this is clearly leading their wives and children. And the more a father is separated from his family, the harder it will be to lead them. Just because this is a no-brainer connection doesn’t mean leading one’s family CANNOT be done with a father in a full-time away-from-home job, or even on a military stint somewhere – God is so gracious to us and can work in spite of our circumstances. The truth is though, from my experience, most men that work many hours away from home have not thought this through. They haven’t looked at the very best ways for themselves to personally lead their families. They also have not felt personally convicted of the need for their hearts to be home, and this conviction must come first, then a thinking-through of things.
I think it is the same with wives that work outside of the home. God never says it is a sin to work outside of the home. He does, however, tell us wives to be about the business of loving husbands and children, and to be keepers of home. I, for one, cannot do this and hold down an outside job. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t someone out there who can’t do it all -- certainly there is. The fact remains that MOST of the women I know who work outside of the home do so out of fear or out of wanting more material goods or wanting to be recognized as “more” than a wife and mom. Of course, this is not true for EVERY working mom, and I can’t make blanket statements about how things should work out practically. Every situation is different, but I can point back to the principles behind the matter and then make practical suggestions out of wisdom (if someone wants a practical suggestion, that is!).
This is why I think it is good to have people think through why they do what they do and what they could do differently.
One of my husband’s favorite books is A Father’s Stew by Stephen Beck. Stephen talks about how most men in the U.S. live lives that are compartmentalized like T.V. dinners. A big spot for work right here, another for family over here, and another little side dish spot for ministry over there. He says that God’s word never encourages this type of compartmentalizing, that instead of a T.V. dinner, men should strive to live their lives like a “stew,” mixing up things as much as possible, all for the glory of God. We spoke to Stephen at a recent conference, and he made it clear that he isn’t telling dads to leave their jobs with IBM and let their kids starve! He even mentions years where he was his own boss as a building contractor and paid little attention to leading his family. Instead, he is simply trying to get men to think outside of the box, to think about what is important to God, and to start living life in a way that honors God, according to their own situation.
I definitely think Entrepreneurialship is one vehicle God using to call men to honor Himself. Chris Davis from the Elijah Company thinks of this this way: First the men left home (industrial revolution), then the kids left home (mandatory schooling), then the wives left home (women’s career movement). Then, the wives began turning their hearts toward home as a stay-home mom backlash began to occur. Next, the kids began to come back home as homeschooling took off and parents began other family-friendly movements. Now dads are coming back home, as can be seen in the massive entrepreneurial movement happening in Christian circles today. From the amazing amount of Christians scattered around the world having the same thoughts without even meeting each other or getting ideas from each other, I tend to see this movement as a movement of God.
Chris Davis also pointed out that something like 70% of homeschoolers grow up to become their own boss! Like Molly said, homeschooling certainly gets one used to not having to fit in the typical mold or calendar, and being free to listen to God’s particular callings in our lives. I want my kids to be prepared to be Entrepreneurs, and not feel stuck in the employee/employer system we have going on now (I see my parents stuck in this system). If God leads my children to more “slavery” type of job, I trust Him to use them -- like Miroslav mentioned God using Joseph. And I promise now not to be disappointed but to wonder in any way God shows Himself through them (Dawn can call me on this in 12 years or so if I don't stay true).
God is way bigger than what we can figure out, that’s for sure.
Wow! Great comments, everyone. Thanks! Much for all of us to mentally chew on.
Miroslav, thank you for calling me to choose my words carefully. "Better" sounds like, "Ha ha,I'm closer to God than you are, because I homeschool/homechurch/entrepreneurialize/fill-in-your-own-issue." My thought was not that those who are entrpreneurs are on a higher spiritual plane, but that they are called to another opportunity to reflect the character of God. None of us are called to reflect His full character (nor could we), so He gives to some the gift of Fatherhood, to some Pastoring, to some Farming, to some Government, to some Doctoring, to some Militarism, to some Peacemaking, etc. What I wanted to convey was this revelation: that the spirit of entrepreneurialism reflects God's character in the creation, cultivation, and employment processes. Whereas, as an employee (which I am for now and the foreseeable future) I cannot reflect the same aspects of God, because He works for no-one and is dependent on no-one for His sustenance. I can (and should) still exemplify His character in faithfulness, diligence, loyalty and ministry to my fellow workers.
Deborah, I have not read Steven Beck's book, but I heard a similar analogy regarding the difference between the way men and women think. Our brains are like dressers. Men's dressers have several drawers. One is labelled "work", one "kids", one "wife", one "golf", one "house projects", etc. When we are at work, we open the Work drawer and the others remain shut. On the drive home, we shut the Work drawer and open the Home drawer. When the kids go to bed, we shut the Kids drawer and open the Wife drawer. Women's dressers, on the other hand, have one big drawer labelled "LIFE". Inside, everything is all mixed together, because everything in their lives affects everything else. This doesn't mean that one way of thinking is right and the other wrong, but it has been one of the most helpful analogies for our marriage's communication skills.
Hey Deborah - One kick in the pants promised.... :) If you'll do the same. :D
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