Article July 20, 2015 Issue

How God guides us in business

Jan Duke

A business is an ideal laboratory for proving the presence and power of God. Many years ago my husband and I bought our first house and spent two years renovating it. Because we were newlyweds and fresh out of college, with no money to hire others to do the work, we spent weekends and evenings removing wallpaper, painting, laying new floors, and creating our dream house.

When we went to sell the property two years later, we realized we made more money on the sale of the house than at our jobs. A business was born! Hundreds of transactions later, having approached every aspect of running a small business through prayer, I’ve learned the underlying purpose of business activity is to demonstrate God’s government, direction, and care for each of us. We are God’s spiritual ideas, and this truth, understood, has its human evidence. God guides and supports us, and cares for every right activity, including providing us with the ideas needed to run a successful business.

As Mary Baker Eddy says in Unity of Good: “Now this self-same God is our helper. He pities us. He has mercy upon us, and guides every event of our careers” (pp. 3–4). God’s divine law governs the business, unfolding what’s right for it, guiding our thoughts into unselfish motives and an awareness of right business ethics, and giving us the wisdom and ability to understand and respond productively to financial and business trends. As we yield to God’s guidance, we make good decisions.

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