In 2007 I was working at a big bank in New York City when something occurred to me.
I hated it.
It wasn’t an instantaneous revelation. It creeped up on me over a period of time as I commuted in and out of the city going to work at a job that I simply did not care about. “But this was what I was supposed to do”, I thought to myself. I had gone to college, graduated and now I was supposed to fall into the ranks of the life-long career path, going to work at other people’s companies and continuing this for the next 40 years or so. That’s what my dad did. That’s what his dad did. That’s what all the dads did before me.
Accepting this path in life was a challenging thing for me to accept. I simply couldn’t do it.
In 2008 the financial markets crashed and I saw my opportunity to get out. I gave notice to the bank I was working at and I quit. I did not have another job lined up. I dove head first into figuring out what I wanted to do next with my life. I prayerfully considered the next step and over the next two weeks I hunted for a new career opportunity in an area that truly interested me. I ended up in digital technology and I never looked back. Since taking the leap, I have built a fruitful career working with companies that I care about and building businesses of my own, as an entrepreneur, which I believe is my God-given purpose in life.
I have learned many things over the last ten years since leaving a job that I hated, but the most important revelation that I have taken with me from that day is: humans are created to create.
God, the first entrepreneur
In Genesis chapter 1, the Bible begins with an account of the very creative nature of God, the creator of the universe.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.?The earth was without form, and void; and darkness?was?on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:1-2
Later on in Genesis 1:27, we see that God then created man and woman in the image of God.
So God created man in His?own?image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27
The very first introduction we have into the nature of God, as revealed through scripture, is that God is creative. The Bible doesn’t open with accounts of God’s grace, love, power, holiness, or any of the most common characteristics we know and love about our heavenly Father. The Bible opens with the story of how God created something from nothing. Then, in the same chapter, scripture describes how God creates man in His own image.
What is an entrepreneur?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “entrepreneur” as: one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.
When God created the heavens and the earth, scripture indicates that the earth was without form and void. Essentially, God brought organization and order to emptiness and chaos. He created something out of nothing. The Lord’s enterprise is the world he created; the world in which we and all of humanity lives. Based on the fact that God created the entire universe, I’d say God certainly qualifies as the first entrepreneur.
As humans, created in the image of God, we share the creative abilities and attributes of our creator. Simply put, we are created to also create. At creation, God imparted to us the ability to create, build, dream, invent, organize, among many other valuable abilities. Creating something from nothing is the very embodiment of what it means to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs build things that haven’t existed before. That’s what God did when He created you and me, and the rest of creation.
It is time for the body of Christ to grab hold of this!
Don’t stay at a job you hate!
Steve Jobs once said, “For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ?If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?? And whenever the answer has been ?No? for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
These words have resonated with me since the first moment I read them. Life is too short to do anything other than what you absolutely love.? If you can’t find a job you love, build something that you love! There is no reason why, as Christians, we should continue with a job we don’t like. We have the creative nature of God dwelling within us. We should be the ones creating and building the greatest companies of the modern world. Having God as our business partner is the greatest competitive advantage an entrepreneur or business person could possibly ask for!
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you love your current job?
- Are you utilizing all of the gifts, abilities and talents that God gave you when He created you?
- If you were to die today would you feel like you have accomplished all that you set out to do?
If you answered NO to any or all of the questions above, it ‘s time to make a change! We invite you to be creators and start building a business of your own. The world needs more Christian entrepreneurs. Build something!
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ?If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?? And whenever the answer has been ?No? for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.