Fascinating Piece on “Business in the Way of Jesus”

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:34 pm by Mark D. Roberts

Fascinating Piece on “Business in the Way of Jesus” 2015-03-13T15:34:37-05:00 Mark D. Roberts

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Dr. Uli Chi

I just finished a fascinating article on “Business in the Way of Jesus.” It was originally a chapel presentation by Uli Chi at Seattle Pacific University’s chapel service. Dr. Chi is the founder and CEO of Computer Human Interaction, LLC.

I highly recommend that you read this whole article. Here are some tantalizing excerpts:

On God’s Purpose for Creation

As the whole biblical narrative and our recent celebration of Jesus’ resurrection reminds us, God’s purpose and creation’s destiny is the coming together – the uniting – of heaven and earth where we will recover our fully human identity and vocation, to use the biblical metaphor, of being priests and stewards of creation. In the meantime, we are called live in light of that future – to have our lives, in the present, become a place and time of intersection between heaven and earth.

On Business as Vocation

To begin with, business is often viewed with suspicion as a “godly vocation”. This is deeply unfortunate for it has lead to the alienation of many in business whose life in business is viewed as a “means to an end” in the context of God’s work. “We have to do work in business so that we have money and time to give to the God’s real work in ministry and mission.” It is a wholesale abdication of our Christian responsibility and mission to reclaim all of life for God’s kingdom.

On Humility

From personal experience, I know that actual business success creates innumerable possibilities for pride – living in an economically luxurious and isolated world without meaningful connection to human needs and suffering; having the world revolve around our needs, wants and desires; the almost “godlike” ability to tell people and whole organizations what to do and have them go do it; the list goes on… A good friend of mine who is a New Testament scholar reminds me that there are more biblical texts on money and humility than there are on sex and alcohol. Those texts all remind us of the importance of staying rooted in a life of humility – to remain at “the bottom of the ladder” (where, remember, God and Jesus are in today’s texts!) no matter where success in our vocation takes us.

I want to say one more thing on humility, particularly to those of you who are, or aspire to be, in leadership in business, academia or elsewhere. Speaking from personal observation and experience, the practice of humility in leadership as one of the radical Christian virtues – even among those of us who are Christian leaders in business, academic and other institutions – is quite rare and difficult. We have a need to be right and to have our own way that runs surprisingly deep and is remarkably pervasive in each of us. And, only the grace and virtue of humility can save us and those whom we lead from ourselves. Perhaps the most difficult lesson of humility is discovering – as the apostle Paul once did on the road to Damascus – that the way in which we are carrying out what we think is our God-given vocation can be, in fact, deeply misguided.

I had the privilege of meeting Uli Chi at Laity Lodge last year. He is a warm, fascinating, faithful man. I’m thankful for his reflections of faith and business. We need this sort of thinking now more than ever.

Previous Post

January 17, 2012

When Tim Tebow Loses, Does God Lose Too? On the Contrary!

Next Post

January 20, 2012 Is It Okay to Grieve? Or Should You Just Be Quiet?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Advent Calendar Alissa Wilkinson Archeology Art and Faith Ash Wednesday Bible Books Business Business and Faith Christian Year (Liturgical or Church Year) Christmas Christmas according to Dickens Christmas, Culture, and Christ Christmas: Keeping Christmas Well Church and Culture Church and Ministry Church and Technology Church Life Church: What is a Church? Cities Code of Ethics for Pastors Contentment Creativity Cultural Commentary Culture Daily Reflections Dallas Willard Deliberating on Digital Dignity Easter Education Ephesus and the New Testament Ethics Eugene Peterson Evangelical Existential Questions Faith Faith and Work Family Food Friendship Fun Good Reads Gospel Centered Christianity Grace Handel's Messiah Harvard University Health High Calling History Holidays Holy Spirit Holy Week Hospitality How Does God Guide Us? Hunger Games Insights for Leaders - De Pree Center Inspiration from the High Calling Jesus Jesus: Following Him as a Disciple Jesus: Seven Last Words Jesus: Was Jesus Married? Jesus: What Was His Message? Jesus: Why Did He Have to Die? Laity Lodge Leadership Leadership Conversation Lent Les Miserables Life for Leaders Linda's Advent Doodles Linda's Lenten Doodles Living Well Loving Neighbors Max De Pree Center for Leadership Mental Health Mission of God and Missional Church Money Moral Dilemmas Mormonism Movies Nature New York City Pastors and Churches Pentecost Photos to Share Poetry Police Blotter Politics Prayer Preachers Portal Preaching Presbyterian Church Quotations Reading the Times Recommendations Reflecting on Technology Religion and Culture Ruminations Sabbath Science Seven Last Words Sexual Harassment Social Media Something to Think About Spiritual Warfare Sports Stations of the Cross Stephen Hawking: Heaven and Faith Stories Technology and Culture Technology and Education Technology and Mental Health Technology Bits Texas Thanksgiving The High Calling Thin Places Uncategorized Vocation Women Words Work Worship

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 April 2015 March 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 November 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Revelation, what is the correct order of the first four seals opened by the Lamb?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pale horse, red horse, white horse, black horse Red horse, white horse, pale horse, black horse White horse, red horse, black horse, pale horse White horse, black horse, red horse, pale horse