“For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16
Most entrepreneurs, when asked why they want to start a business, respond by saying, “So I can be my own boss and make some money.” As Biblical Entrepreneurs, money should never be our motivation for being in business. We can have the same motivation that God had as He sent His Son in human form to start His business. God’s motivation was not money or a big organization, but love. He could easily maintain love as His motivation because He knew that He owned everything, and there was nothing else He needed to gain that He did not already have.
John 3:16 could be stated this way: for God so loved sinful humanity that He started a global enterprise called Operation Rescue, Inc. This enterprise had one product called the Gospel, or the Good News. He assigned His only begotten Son, Jesus, to serve as the CEO. His goal is to recruit and train men who would lead this new enterprise, and their mission is to seek and save the lost. How can a Holy God love sinful humanity? Does He not hate sin? God was able to see the potential of humanity beyond its condition. He saw what could be possible for humanity if someone was able to successfully rescue them from their current state. That possibility so excited Him that faith kicked in and embraced love in an attempt to make that potential a reality. God did that knowing that everyone would not accept His product and that among those who would, some would not appreciate it. He rejoiced knowing that if only one person accepts and appreciates His product, it would all have been worth it. He did His market research and knew that enough people would accept His product to keep the business profitable. His love compelled Him to believe in humanity more than it could believe in itself.
Our motivation is what fuels our passion for the business. It drives us and inspires us to defy logic and to move by faith to make the impossible possible. Our motivation helps us overcome the difficult times of business, while aiding us overcome fear and ensure that we will not fail. How do you know if you are motivated by love and not money?
Here are a few things to consider:
Motivated by Love:
- Patience
- Kindness
- Humbleness
- Not rude
- Seek the best for customer
- Not easily provoked
- Thinks no evil
- Rejoices in truth
- Bears all things
- Hope all things
- Goes the extra mile
Motivated by Money:
- Impatience
- Unkindness
- Pridefulness
- Obnoxious
- Seek best for company
- Easily irritated
- Thinks evil of customer
- Gossip about customer
- Unwilling to bear
- Lose hope in customer
- Unwilling to go the extra mile
In addition, remember that when you’re motivation is money, the only thing that can help you love the customer is money. The problem with that is there is never enough money to buy your love since money is temporal and you can never have enough. Consider the fact that because God owns everything, has nothing else to gain and is motivated purely by love, He entrusted you and me with all He owns. He created us to have dominion over the works of His hands and has put all things under our feet. We therefore have nothing else to gain since all things have been put under our feet. We can focus on loving our customers and not money, trusting that our God will add all things unto us.
My prayer for you today is that God will give you the motivation that He has always had: love.
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