Week 8—Monday 1 Corinthians 6:12-15
Week 8—MONDAY
THE KINGDOM OF GOD BUILT INTO BUSINESS
We are looking at the fact of the Christian way as the Way. An ancient papyrus has a supposed saying of Jesus on it: “Raise the stone and thou shalt find Me, cleave the wood and I am there.” Uncover the facts of Nature and you shall find him; cleave the tissues of your body and he is there.
In Sweden, I quoted from The Way the statement of a great surgeon when he said to me, “I’ve discovered the kingdom of God at the end of my scalpel—it is in the tissues. The right thing morally, the Christian thing, is always the healthy thing physically.” And the comment of a leading economist who said, “I would like to put it this way: ‘The right thing morally, the Christian thing, is always the healthy thing economically.’” A Swedish industrial chemist commented, “You’re right. In South Africa they put up a chemical plant, investing 100,000,000 pounds in it. They were going to manufacture chemicals and undercut the world in price because they were going to base it on cheap African labor. At the basis of the project was an injustice—an exploitation. In ten years it has never really gotten off the ground—it is fouled up at each turn. It is running afoul a moral law.” The wrong thing morally is the unhealthy thing economically. I know that many assume that you can succeed in business if you are crooked. Yes, today and tomorrow, but the third day? No, for the moral universe closes in on the situation and has the last word. I was told by a Japanese businessman that the Japanese have a saying, “Business is like a folding screen—it won’t stand unless it is crooked.” But he added, “We are finding to our sorrow that is false and we are substituting ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself,’ or you cannot get along with him.” The improved trade of Japan is based on the improved morality in business.
O Father, we thank you that you have not left us adrift—your laws are our liberties, our protection against self-destruction. So, Father, give us sense, common sense, that we may see your ways and walk in them. Then we shall be free—free indeed. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: If the kingdom of God is “within” it must be in the total me.