If God has called you to business, don’t lower yourself to become a pastor! What? Can you say that? Well, we often tend to grade professions in higher or lower spiritual levels. It is quite universal.

Is it more spiritual to give to a church than to invest in business? Is it more “holy” to be a pastor than a business person? Is God really concerned about physical and economic needs? These are questions reflecting the centuries-old ingrained sacred-secular divide. It is a mental paradigm, which has practical implications.

What’s the best way to help a poor child? Give the parents a job! That is a long-term solution with dignity. Handouts never give dignity – jobs do. In Jewish tradition the highest form of charity is to provide employment, to create jobs.

There’s no place like home. The vast majority of all human beings prefer the familiar, to stay close to family, use our own language, eat familiar food, operate within our own culture and enjoy known surroundings. That is both natural and ok.

What shall we call it? Football or Handegg? 

The word ‘football’ has a different meaning to Americans versus the vast majority of people around the globe. Football is the biggest sport in the world, the one with a ball which you kick with your feet. Americans call it soccer. 

Question about global poverty: has it decreased, stayed the same, or increased in our generation? Answer: Global poverty has decreased, dramatically, from 1 of 3 being poor in 1990, to now only 1 in 10. The biggest lift out of poverty, in the history of mankind, has happened in our generation, not through aid but through trade.

Work and business are deeply divine and deeply human. Doing business reflects who God is, and who we are. God is the Creator, full of creativity. He created good things for himself and others.  

Dr. John Piper’s “Look at the Book” series has been a treasure to my wife and me over the years – A pearl of great value! Recently, as I revisited his expository teaching on Philippians, I found myself challenged to apply the mindset of Philippians 2:3-4 to all areas of life—including our financial decisions and investments! 

You probably have recommended a restaurant to someone, or a favorite tourist destination. We do this all the time; it is part of a human interaction.

We need to live and work with three perspectives, all valid and important. They should not be played against each other. All have value and contribute to the common good. These three aspects are also essential as we invest and grow businesses.

The prospects were not good. Actually really bad, even disastrous. The city was under siege, and everything pointed towards a defeat. People would be assaulted, hurt and killed; houses burnt down and the remaining citizens of Jerusalem would be deported to a foreign land.

She was amazed and perplexed at the same time. She was treated with respect and dignity. She was a woman challenged with disabilities. But her life had changed.