Taking Care of Business

It doesn't take very long watching the morning or evening news to get frustrated with the idiocy of how people think and behave. Both news features and commercials remind us of the depravity of human nature and the desperate need for a Savior. In James 4, the writer tells us that "friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (vs. 4) So, we are supposed to remove ourselves from interaction with the secular world, have only Christian friends, buy Christian's goods and services, work for Christian employers, etc. right? I am not so sure that is what this verse is instructing.

I began reading the second Chronicle of the history of Israel and Judah this morning. It is a familiar passage to those who have grown up in Sunday School. Solomon is now King and God, in a vision, tells him in chapter 1 to ask whatever he wants. As the story goes, Solomon requests wisdom to govern well, and a pleased God blesses him in every other area in addition to great understanding. Solomon then seeks to complete the task his father David has entrusted to him: to build the temple for worship of the LORD.

Now remember, God is still a Holy God expecting His people to be a holy people. The definition of holiness is being set apart. If this is true, why is it that one of the first decisions that this wise king did was to seek alignment with the King of Tyre a pagan man? Shouldn't he have gone to the people of Israel, the holy people of God to build the holy temple for the Name of the LORD? I believe that Solomon in fact did the wise thing. One, he wanted to honor God with excellence. He wanted the best for God (there is a lesson in there too, but we won't go there today).

He contracts with this pagan King and two good things happens. One, using the best skilled workers in the area, he has built a temple for the Most High that has no parallel in all history. The other, we see in chapter 2. "Then Huram, king of Tyre, answered in a letter sent to Solomon: 'Because the LORD loves His people, He has made you king over them.' Then Huram continued, 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has made heaven and earth,'" (vs 11-12). Huram honors the one true God. Now granted, there is no record that Huram then becomes a follower of God, but because of a respectful relationship, Solomon earns the right to be heard.

This is a lesson we would do well to heed. Peter writes of this same lesson in one of his letters. He urges the readers to keep from being influenced by the world, but not to be removed from the world. In Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17, the Messiah prays that His disciples would be in an amongst the world but protected from its influence. If we are not to be around people that believe just like us, how do we influence them?

We should not rush to get out of the world, but rather, to be Salt and Light as we have been commissioned. How can we do this if we aren't around the world? So, before you quit your secular job, before you stop doing business with those who don't care about the things of the Lord, keep in mind, you may the only godly influence in those people's lives. Perhaps, God will grant you wisdom and people will honor God as a result of your life. Hang in there.

"'You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;'" (Matt. 5:14)