I recently asked the people who are members of my Xi Community to articulate one benefit to closely aligning their business and their careers with a more visible alignment with God.
Their response? The most common benefit?
Peace. Calm in the face of adversity. Assurance when all around us our society and our life seem to be disintegrating. Tranquility in the face of a scary and unsure future. When it seems like people are screaming irrationally all around us; when the politicians are more intent on childish games of payback than meaningful discourse; when the institutions we have relied on seem full of
people with narrow agendas and deceitful practices; when the economy and our best efforts seem totally dependent on forces outside of our control; when it looks darkest, the greatest benefit is peace.
While we can all understand a personal sense of peace, these marketplace Christians are reflecting on their position in the marketplace – their careers and businesses.
It’s the kind of marketplace peace that arises out of the visible acknowledgment that we are His, that He not only cares for us but that He owns and cares for our businesses. It is our relationship with the Creator that oozes through us, calming fears, easing anxieties, and blessing our efforts. It’s what the disciples must have felt when, after a hard day on the job with little success in their fishing
business, Jesus told them to put their nets on the other side of the boat and reap a harvest beyond anything they could wish for.
It is a peace that bubbles out of the promises:
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32, 33)
It is peace based on the knowledge that God has our back. That he has a plan for us that is better than what we can imagine. That He can, in an instant, multiply a handful of fish and bread to feed thousands of people.
It is a peace that believes Him when he said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NIV)
The greatest benefit to more visibly embracing Christianity in the marketplace, according to those who do, is “Peace.”