Christians, Fear, and Starting a Business

I’ve previously written on Faith and Finance about Christian Business Leaders, and their place in the world. I believe that not only is there room for Christian Business Leaders, but I believe there is a shortage of Christian business leaders who will not only run their business with the utmost integrity, but will also stand firmly in the public eye in their conviction and love for Jesus Christ.

Being an unabashed Christian requires a lot of courage. It takes many people a very good portion of their life to publicly declare their allegiance without shame or doubt. There is also a certain fear that permeates the idea of starting a business.

The Fear of Starting a Business

This fear can be founded in many reasons, such as:

• Fear of failure.
• Fear of discomfort.
• Fear of the unknown
• As a good friend of mine pointed out, Zig Ziglar says a common fear is success.

Whatever the fear may be, many allow it to paralyze them into never realizing their dream of owning a business. This isn’t acceptable for your average person, but this is also not acceptable for Christians. We need Christians running businesses with integrity, honesty, and the values that they maintain in their personal lives.

A Word of Courage

The Bible has a lot to say about courage, but one amazing verse for what I’m talking about:

Matthew 17:20

“And Jesus said unto them … , If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to younder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.”

Think of what you could do with just the faith the size of a mustard seed! I don’t know what my level of faith would be sized as, but I’m sure it has to be bigger than a mustard seed!

Take courage, have faith, and prayerfully consider what you should do. Don’t be scared to start a business. If the business doesn’t make sense, or you know deep down it just won’t work, that is one thing, but don’t let blind fear of the unknown be your reason.

God Wants You To Invest

The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) demonstrates that God wants us to invest money, and not fear. This is for a number of reasons: the first one being that it will improve your life if done properly. Secondly, the bible is quite clear about God’s view on money, it is a tool to be used. If you covet this tool, and keep it close to your heart for fear that it might break, then which master are you serving?

Investing, in some ways, can be thought of a test in faith. Obviously, I don’t mean that as a blank check to just toss your money at anything and say “it’s all up to you God!” but you also shouldn’t covet money to the point of being deathly afraid of losing it on risk.

What good is a hammer if you don’t use it? If you buy a brand new hammer and lock it away, it will always look pretty, but you will have gotten nothing out of it as an investment. Take the courage the Bible offers you, pray, and objectively, and intelligently make a decision. There is no room for fear when considering starting a business.

What fears have kept you from starting a business? OR What fears have you overcome after starting your business?