Life Is Business

  

“Life is business”, this was the thought that cropped up in my mind while meditating on some scriptures yesterday morning. It got me thinking and the more I thought on it, the more the truth about it dawns me.

Life is business and until we understand this to be the case, we may not really make the most of it. No matter what you do, you are involved in one sort of business or another.  Entrepreneurs are not the only ones in business, we all are- whether students, athletes, employees, civil servants or politicians.

I am aware that many definitions exist for business.In the midst of this multitude of definitions, they all seem to agree on some fundamentals- that business is about meeting needs whether through buying and selling or through the provision of services with the aim of making profit.To the conventional and myopic mind, profit is all about money. So when you tell them about life being business, they see you as being materialistic, money conscious and carnally minded. What they don’t know is that some profit (rewards) come in terms of satisfaction derived from meeting needs or experience gained from rendering services, others come as greater opportunities for jobs well done and yet some others come as recognitions (awards) for services rendered. In other words, profit could mean different things to different persons. However, whatever profit means, it comes in response to the activities you have engaged in. In other words, “profit” is the consequence, wages, rewards, gain (or loss), recompense, result, or outcome of the (business) activities one has engaged in and how those activities were done.

Personally, I define business as harnessing resources to achieve set goals, targets or objectives. You are in business if you know how to harness available resources (time, money, people, materials) to achieve set objectives. If as a student you know how to harness your time, money, network of friends, materials to achieve academic set goals, then you are already in business. The same goes for pastors, politicians, athletes etc. The entrepreneur, whom we all know and agree to be in business,does no different! The earlier we start being business minded in our approach to whatever we do in life, the better for us. The call for business mindedness is not a call to be greedy, selfish, materialistic, capitalistic or crafty. All these are some unhealthy practices people carry into business. To view business only from such perspective, and thereby discouraging business mindedness is myopic and counter-productive. It’s like viewing life only from the prism of sin, wickedness and unrighteousness and thereby, refusing to be involved with life. To be business minded is to be serious in our approach to issues; to be result oriented; to be solution driven; to be opportunity sensitive and investment minded. It means to be creative. Whether we like it or not, so long as we are on this side of eternity we are either consciously or unconsciously buying or selling something both tangible and intangible things. Business minded mindset is what will help you plan and set goals for your life, invest your resources and seize and maximize opportunities in pursuit of these goals. It will help you reduce wastages as much as possible. Imagine what will happen if civil servants approach their work with this mindset. Whatever you don’t approach with this mindset is leisure or pass time. And I don’t think that’s how you want to approach your life. Shrewd businessmen would always tell you it’s “business before pleasure” “business instead of games” or that “time is money”. “Let’s mean business” is yet another business terminology we often employ whenever we want the other party to get serious in whatever we are doing.

It may surprise you to know that the Almighty God is business minded. HE’s always result oriented and HE expects us to be as well. HE never does anything just for the fun of it. When HE sent HIS Son to the earth, it was with the specific objective of harvesting souls. HE “invested” HIM as it were, and harvested (and still harvesting) millions in souls.When God calls a man, HE sets out objectives the man must endeavor to achieve. As it is with the Father, so it is with the Son- HE was business minded (result oriented) while on earth. No wonder as a child, HE asked HIS earthly parents when they came looking for Him if they knew not that HE must be about HIS Father’s business?( Luke 2:49). He further declared, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work” (John 4: 34).In another place HE said, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”.  That was HIS approach to HIS Father’s business and no wonder HE was very productive ‘cos HE never joked with it. HE expects nothing less from us. “…I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit…and every branch that beareth not fruit HE taketh away…(John 15: 16, 2) “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:9). We have been called to a life of productivity. One scripture amongst othersthat really underscores this fact is the parable of the talents in Matthew 25: 14-30. Those servants who traded with their talents and gained other talents were commended and rewarded by the master. On the other hand, the servant who refused to invest and utilize his was condemned.  

Life indeed is business and God is interested in how you run the business of your life. HE is not pleased when you not productive. “He spake also this parable; a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and south fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” (Luke 13: 6-7). 

Your life is business and in fact, a serious one for that matter. Please don’t let it fail. Be serious about this business- Learn, plan, strategize, and act-because in the final analysis, you shall be rewarded both here and in eternity on how well (or badly) you’ve handled this business of life. To live otherwise is to live a frivolous and wasteful life. Selah!

Thanks for your time and please let me know what you think about this article.