One of the things I am learning as I get older is that people can fit into two very distinct categories. I’ve seen them evident during the recent flood in our city. It’s the “work-for-the-man” mentality, and the “mind-your-own-business” mentality.
I was raised with the “work-for-the-man” mentality which basically says you show up, you put in time, and people pay you whatever they think you’re worth.
So the worth of your life, the worth of your work was set by the market forces outside of you. Most of the people with the “work-for-the-man” mentality think they are underpaid. And sometimes they are. But oftentimes they are not because they just show up without the desire to produce anything, create anything, or generate any wealth.
There’s another mentality that says that I should mind my own business. And I don’t mean just to not meddle in someone else’s affairs, but that I work for myself. As a person of faith of course I believe I work for and serve God. But that having been said, I work for myself. That’s why as a young pastor I’ve never been good at working for deacon boards and other out of date committee structures. And that’s why when threatened to conform or be fired, I of course chose to be fired.
Having gone through the ups and downs of being in business for myself, I’ll tell you that I will choose being in business over working for someone else. It’s the exhilaration that comes from knowing that you get up every day and add value, that you help people, or you die.
I think more Christians should adopt a mind-my-own-business mentality. That is to start something important and significant, to meet big needs, to create companies that hire people and pay taxes and help lift society.
It’s not the preachers in the pulpits or the singers in the band; it’s the business men and women motivated for the right reasons: to build something of their lives, to make something of themselves that will save our world.