vladimirgrebenar 
In addition to the three general and always necessary criteria by which we discern and recognize God’s calls (peace of heart, rational clarity and faith in success), when it comes to business initiatives, it is necessary to reconsider the business idea in the Spirit through four additional business criteria that Jesus stated in the synoptic gospels. Jesus gave a very clear answer to Peter’s question about what those who gave up everything they had in life for the sake of the kingdom of heaven will get: “there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother of father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecution, and eternal life in the age to come” (Mk 10, 29 –30).
At that time, the Jews were engaged in agriculture, i.e. cultivating the land and raising livestock, the fields and pastures were real business ventures. Jesus put fields, i.e. business initiatives, in the last place among important life choices. The Lord, contrary to the principles of the world, states an order of values that has a direct impact on the initiation and success of business initiatives. Science does not know or accept Jesus’ value system for entrepreneurship, but science cannot even challenge Jesus’ value system for starting business initiatives. Jesus sees entrepreneurship as inseparable from spreading the Good News.
The Lord lets us know that the purpose of life is not business success, but the purpose of life is to spread the Good News and contribute to the kingdom of heaven on earth, and all life choices should be adapted to this. Therefore, work must be a means of spreading the kingdom of heaven, not an idol to be worshiped and for which everything else in life should be subordinated or ignored. That is why those who call God into their decisions by prayer are very wrong, because the Pharisees and scribes did the same, whose decisions God would have turned his head away from and who finally had Jesus crucified. Apostle Jacob gives us a wonderful lesson about this in his epistle: “For it anyone is hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does” (James 1, 23-25).
For many, work and career are idols they worship and do not see how much damage they are doing to themselves and their families because of it. That is why Jesus placed work in the last place among the most important human vocations, behind spreading the Good News, family, parents, brothers and sisters. So, Jesus placed the spread of the Good News in the first and most important place in every person’s life, and he subordinated all other life values to that imperative! That’s why starting a business should be viewed from Jesus’ perspective, with his eyes with which the Lord observes what we plan.
Jesus’ criteria for true business success:
- contribution to the expansion of the kingdom of heaven,
- peace in the family,
- peace in relations with stakeholders, and
- profit.
Contribution to the expansion of the kingdom of heaven through work is possible in many ways. It is a priority for the business to deliver excellent products or services to the market that contribute to a better life for customers. An authentic witness for the Lord cannot be given if products and services do not meet customer expectations. What testimony for God can an entrepreneur give if customers are harmed by poor product quality, employees by minimum wages, partners by breach of business contracts, the state by non-payment of taxes? No one should testify for the Lord if he has not met this criterion, because he cannot give another a testimony for works that he does not have: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (…) Do you want proof, your ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?” (James 2, 14-20).
When this requirement is fulfilled and customers buy products or services of their own free will, and stakeholders achieve fair business interests, only then the entrepreneur can and must publicly testify for the Lord. You should testify in front of employees in your company and publicly in front of other stakeholders whenever the opportunity arises: “proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4, 2).
We need to witness what God has done for the business venture and what He is doing in all other areas of life. An entrepreneur can support through donations initiatives prompted by the Holy Spirit, introduce weekly or daily collective prayer in the company, organize pilgrimages with employees, get involved in the work of the parish as a parish associate, join a prayer community, start some own evangelization initiative for the Lord… Holy The Spirit will reveal the directions of evangelization and determine the right measure for the balance between all the activities necessary for witnessing, family and work.
Peace in the family of an entrepreneur when considering and discussing the launch and management of a business venture is Jesus’ indication that business is for the glory of God and that it contributes to the expansion of the kingdom of heaven. This criterion refers to families that are experienced in living in faith, i.e. where all members live their faith. Where some family members have not yet believed in Jesus Christ, there will be unrest under the same roof because of some who live by faith and others who are in darkness of heart. The situation in such divided families will become increasingly tense until the final decision on conversion or divided among family members: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household” (Mt 10, 34 – 35).
An entrepreneur should not compromise his faith with family members because of their hardness of heart in order to achieve false peace, balance in relationships and maintain reputation among people. The result is constant unrest, spiritual imbalance and probable mental and physical illnesses. Anyone who makes compromises in faith is actually crucifying righteousness, as Pilate and the Pharisees did, because Jesus warns us: “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (Mk 8, 15). Jesus is not ambiguous and does not tolerate competition with those who are not in the faith, even if they were family members: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10, 37).
Loving others more than Jesus means listening to others and doing what they want rather than doing what God wants. Love is proven by works, and if there are no works for God’s kingdom on earth, then there is no faith either. Listening to and doing rather the will of parents, spouse or children and observing strict piety is not faith, but an increasingly serious sin at ever greater levels of knowledge: “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more” (Lk 12, 48). Jesus did not fall under the influence of human consideration and stop speaking to the people, i.e. stop doing the will of God when they wanted to stop him from speaking, because his closest relatives have arrived and they urgently need him. Jesus answered them: “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? (…) For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Mt 12, 48-50). When Christians call each other brothers and sisters, it is because they are doing the will of the heavenly Father. Christian brotherhood and sisterhood within the Church family is stronger than blood brotherhood and sisterhood within one family. Whoever does and believes otherwise is in sin!
Peace in relations with stakeholders is the third important criterion for knowing that a business idea is the will of God. The company is a system that has a public mission and contributes to the development of society by delivering quality products and services that make customers’ lives better, employs people, pays taxes, pays suppliers, pays profits to owners, supports the education system by cooperating with high schools and colleges, sponsors social initiatives such as donations sports clubs, etc. All those parties interested in the company’s business results are called stakeholders, and without them the company would not achieve success.
It is the sacred duty of an entrepreneur not to deprive stakeholders of their just demands and for the company not to create products or services that harm the just interests of stakeholders. Peace of mind when considering a business idea and business relationships with stakeholders will be an indication that the idea came from the Lord and will contribute to the kingdom of heaven on earth. Restlessness will be an indicator that it is about the selfish interests of the initiator, and perhaps the selfish interest of one of the stakeholders.
Profit is an indicator of business success and it is not possible to achieve market sustainability of a company in the long term without profitability. For many, profit is the only indicator of success, so the consequence of such an approach is that low-quality products and services are delivered, workers are delayed in their salaries, suppliers do not pay, tax obligations are concealed, etc. God recognizes profit as an indicator of success, but always in addition to other indicators that were previously clarified. Business ventures initiated by God’s inspiration make great profits.
God is rich in every kind of blessing and grace and will give a hundredfold, if the entrepreneur patiently does his will in great humility. God wants to be glorified through the growth and development of the business organization so that the entrepreneur can publicly witness what God has done in his life. This is the most important reason why God gives a great blessing and top business efficiency to entrepreneurs who do his will: “Blessed is the servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so!” (Lk 12, 43).