Everyday!
Yep, somehow even during a pandemic, everyday there is seems to be something in the news about somebody or some corporation that has gotten away with figurative (and sometimes literal) financial murder. To say the least it is frustrating to see people with no morals, standards or belief systems sin against God and man day after day. How can they get away with hurting the humble, ignoring the plight of the working poor and stomping down on the so-called middle class? Especially during a historical and critical time such as this. Retirement funds are still being raided, jobs have been eliminated and the minimum wage is more like a minimum tip. Yet some of these business leaders have managed to give themselves record salaries and bonuses, along with stock by-backs and “reinvestment into the company infrastructure” (that’s money-speak for “We’re not giving our employees a dime extra.”).
Here’s the worst part: some of those individuals and companies maintain a very public persona that they actually believe in god or are a Christian based company. I can’t tell if they believe in God because it seems their god has a different Name than the God I serve. And it’s name seems to be Mammon (the god of money). They say they are Christian in the annual report and in advertisements but in actual practice they are not being good corporate citizens. My opinion is this: As a Christian company, I would make sure that not one of my employees would ever have to rely on a food bank, housing assistance or other social security nets in order to make everyday ends meet. It would be an embarrassment to me as a CEO or corporate leader if I knew a person who worked for my company, through no fault of their own, couldn’t make their paycheck stretch from week to week. As a believer, it would keep me up at night. However, I’ve yet to hear of some of these corporate big-wigs taking a pay cut so their employees (who make them and their companies billions of dollars) could have a decent wage.
I used to get myself all in a twist because of the corporate irresponsibility and outright greed we see daily. I’ve witnessed firsthand the selfishness and ego of so-called corporate giants. Because of corporate greed during an unprecedented time of national crisis, I lost my entire pension. I could have wrung the neck of my employer at the time. No. Literally. I had the chance to meet him in person. But instead of murderizing him or calling him out of his name, God had me to ask him for forgiveness and ask if I could pray for him and his family. WHAT God? What??? The Lord humbled me and asked me to have compassion for a soul that was completely lost in the game of “Get more.” When I asked him how his family was doing during the crisis (the attacks on 9/11), he looked at me with a funny face and said I was the first person in the entire company to ask how he, his wife and children were coping during that stressful time. As a result of me showing compassion to him on that day, he kept in regular correspondence with me, even sending me a personal card of sympathy when my baby brother passed. I had to plant a seed rather than pull a weed.
Yep. When I could have let my flesh, emotions and fists do the talking for me. God opened my mouth and let me speak grace. For all the evil and unkind things these people have done to our financial well being, we cannot allow it to bring us down to their level. Don’t get me wrong, I like nice things. I want financial success and the ability to have more than enough to pay bills, give to others and treat myself too. But I will put Father first, seek His righteousness and all the other material things will be added to me. When I find myself getting angry and jealous of the mansions, Bentley’s and designer clothes I know they have because of financial deceit and mismanagement, I declare two things:
Psalm 37:1-4 “Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
And
Proverbs 23: 17-18, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.”
I strive to live my life as if I know where my treasure lies. The bible says for me to not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” My concentration can’t be on obtaining wealth and the Kingdom of Heaven at the same time. That’s a divided loyalty. Plus, the love of money truly is the root of all evil. If I want an inheritance that lasts an eternity. It’s not worth it to pursue ill-gotten gains like those of those corporate barrons, that lasts only for a lifetime.
So, I don’t worry about how pretty their manicured, designer grass lawns might be on the other side of the fence. One eternal eon, I’ll be sitting on the veranda of my many-roomed manision in my Father’s house and I will all hear the sound of God’s mighty, rushing Lawn Mower. And all the money in the world won’t stop my Father from cutting down their lush, green grass.
