In Every Business, There are 3 Stakeholders - One Servant and Two Masters
Some things exist in business by default. They do not come by choice. One of those things is that there is the presence of a servant and two masters in every business. Unfortunately for the business owners, they serve either of the two masters in business, consciously or unconsciously. This makes the business owner a servant of sorts. A master has control or authority over someone. Whoever is in charge of a business is the master. So, to whomsoever, an entrepreneur subject himself becomes his master. The way and manner an entrepreneur conducts his business demonstrate who the master is.
No entrepreneur is ever exempted from being a servant. We are all servants to one thing or person in our businesses. No one can toggle between two masters, unfortunately.
Jesus says to us,
“You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24 GNB).
God and money are critical stakeholders in every business, and they are the masters Jesus talked about, while the entrepreneur is the servant stakeholder. It is no longer news that all we do in business is to offer services. God has called us to the business ministry to serve His kingdom’s purpose, and we must choose to do this in obedience. Money should be meant to serve its purpose as a tool and not the master.
Ideally, Christian entrepreneurs should be subject or loyal to the One who called them into this ministry and gives them the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). However, this is not true for many. Some have bowed their knees and sold their souls to the devil for riches that would fade away. The devil gives money (Matthew 4:9), though at a very high price. He tries to replicate what God does. Unfortunately for all of us, we don’t have the option of serving two masters at a time. Jesus said, “we cannot.” Both masters are jealous of the loyalty of the servant. It is either God the master in our businesses or money is. To the one you yield your life, business and loyalty become your master. You serve, and that is constant.
When someone gives priority to money over God, he becomes a slave to money and forthwith controlled by it. But, when one serves God in and through his business, money becomes his servant. Someone said, “Money is a good servant but a bad master.” Indeed! It is never wrong for one to have money, but it is wrong for money to have one as a slave.
When God is the Master, He becomes responsible for your life and business. The same is the case when one is a slave to money. You don’t want money to control your life, do you? When money is in charge, it makes one hate and despises God. There is no pretense about that. Further to this, the person will love money automatically, which leads to diverse temptations, traps, harmful desires that lead to death and destruction and forms the root of all evils (1 Timothy 6:9-10). The person will want to be rich at all costs, not minding the attendant negative consequences (Proverbs 28:20). You heard earlier that money is a bad master, right?
Dear God’s entrepreneur, you only decide who becomes the master in your business. Without your permission, neither God nor money would become the master. So you are a significant stakeholder, frankly speaking. You are also the one that harvests and enjoys the consequences, sweet or bitter. When you choose God as the master in your business, the consequences are sweet. You will have unlimited goodness, lovingkindness, pleasure, peace, preservation, and progress of God. The list is endless. At the end of it all, you will leave a legacy of righteousness and peace and glorifying the LORD of Hosts ultimately.
We can determine to preach our loyalty to the Spirit of God in the marketplace, changing one life per time. We can change our little world to understand that it is God who gives riches and not the devil. It will be great to see people switching their loyalty to God alone.