Counter Loneliness of Entrepreneurship with Joy in the Lord
— by J.D. Greear
Entrepreneurship can be incredibly lonely. Investing for kingdom purposes may confuse peers in the industry and further isolate FDEs and FDIs. Jesus calls us to count the cost of following him and sometimes that cost includes seasons of loneliness. It can be easy to wonder if the risk is worth it, even if the success of an investment or venture seems clear. So how can FDEs and FDIs find joy in their work, in the loneliness, in the risk, in attempting to measure the seemingly immeasurable? JD Greear points to lessons from the wise King Solomon, found in the book of Ecclesiastes, to address some of the pitfalls and potential for faith driven work—especially the tension of finding joy in the Lord in the midst of a temporary and fallen world.
Happiness, Solomon says, is a gift of God for the present. You should look for it now, not later. If you're not happy, it's not a problem with your circumstances or how much money you make or don't make. The problem is with your relationship with God right now. The philosopher, Blaise Pascal, said that the tragedy of many successful people is they never actually learned to enjoy life because they're always living to enjoy it later. Here's how he says it: “We never live. We only hope to live. We're always preparing to be happy. But we never actually are.”
I’ve had a privileged last couple of years of serving as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. And when I when that was offered to me a few years ago, you know, my firm, my ambition kind of kicked in and I really decided that I wanted to do it. My wife looked at me and she said, “I need you to understand that this is not going to make you any happier. It's back to really, if anything, it'll decrease your quality of life.” She said, “Our happiness right now isn't found by how many people know your name or how successful you are. The earthly quotient of our happiness is in the quality of your relationships with your family and your church with your friends.” She had this great statement: “Fame is making yourself accessible to a bunch of people you don't really care about at the expense of those few that you do.”
What she was trying to help me see—and she did help me see it—is that happiness is not something that comes from a certain accomplished matter, getting my church to a certain size, or selling a certain amount of books. Happiness is something that comes from the quality of the relationships I'm in right now. Right. Even in earthly terms, Solomon says happiness comes from the presence, not the quantity, of exploits in the future. I point this out because I fear, having seen this, that a lot of entrepreneurs look around at their lives many years later in the future and realize you gave away the greatest moments of your life to get some elusive future that just didn't deliver what it offered.
The apostle Paul says godliness with contentment is great gain. The greatest gain that God can give you is not more stuff. The greatest gain that God can give you is contentment and the ability to enjoy what you have in the present. Alexander the Great is said to have died unhappy. The greatest conqueror that the world has ever known got unhappy wishing for another world. John D.. Rockefeller was asked at the height of his career, the height of his earnings, “How much money is enough? What do you need to make life feel complete?” And his answer, very famously, was “one more dollar.” You don't want that to be you. You don't want to, no matter what you accomplish, always feel like happiness and fulfillment is in the next kingdom that you've got to conquer, the next dollar you’ve got to make. That's a miserable way to live. The point is, be excellent at your work, but don't turn your work into a God. Don't serve your work but use your work to serve God.
As FDEs and FDIs, we know that the goal—the ultimate goal to which we have all been called—is to be in deep relationship with the Lord. When we operate from that motivation, knowing that our identity is secure in a relationship with Jesus, our happiness, contentment, and joy are also secure. They are not contingent on our businesses or financial success. Our purpose is not to “do” for God, but to “be” with Him. From that, all else flows.
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[ Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash ]
God wants a relationship with you, so it’s not just about solving problems! And, as you deepen your relationship with God through prayer, it becomes easier and easier to know His will for your life and your life and your entrepreneurship.