Good business

Psalm 112:5 (NLT)

Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their business fairly.

This is a verse that reminds us that those who conduct their business fairly and use their profits to help others will find that good comes into their lives. It is part of the character of a good man that he will use his discretion in managing his affairs, in getting and saving, that he may have enough to share.

According to Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, the person who has had the single greatest impact on addressing global poverty in the past twenty-five years is a largely-unknown World Vision staffer named Steve Reynolds. In 1985, a young Steve Reynolds was working in Ethiopia, during what was the worst famine of a generation. Steve spent many dreary days in the relief camps as an eyewitness to the horrors of massive starvation and death, gathering information that he hoped would provoke people to notice and respond.

One day he got a call from headquarters asking if he would host a young European couple, Ali and Paul Hewson, who wanted to visit and learn firsthand what was happening. Steve was willing to help. Ali and Paul stayed almost a month, rolling up their sleeves to help and showing tireless compassion. Paul was a musician, so he entertained the kids by writing little songs. Paul and Ali finally went home but not before they had committed to do whatever they could to help. You may know Paul better by his nickname, Bono.

Since that trip in 1985, Bono, the lead singer of the phenomenal Irish rock group U2, has traveled the globe as an advocate for the poorest of the poor. He has met with kings and queens, presidents, prime ministers, and the pope. He has lobbied members of parliaments and congresses. He has persuaded governments to appropriate billions of dollars of aid to the poor.

But in a later interview with Christianity Today, Bono specifically mentioned the key influence of Steve Reynolds. Bono said, "All of this started for me in Ethiopia in the mid-'80s, when my darling wife and I went out there as children, really, to see and to work in Africa."

Twenty-seven years later Steve Reynolds still works for World Vision. He has served in numerous jobs, working behind the scenes on behalf of the world's poorest people. Steve has been willing and available to be used however God wanted to use him. [Condensed from Richard Stearns, Unfinished (Thomas Nelson, 2013), pp. 152-154]     

God puts people in places where He can use them to benefit others. He will take the good deeds of a business person and wisely put them to use.