There is nothing new in saying that love is a central ingredient in a healthy and balanced Christian life—but in the area of business and the marketplace, it is not usually something that is emphasized. I have read most of the books and articles on the topic, and have seen very few references to love as part of a workplace minister’s basic and essential arsenal.

The significance of love was brought home to me afresh recently as I was reading 1 Corinthians 13—the Bible’s great chapter on love. Many a wedding is graced by readings from this Scripture, but unfortunately, not many a business meeting (at least not that I have experienced).

It was as I read verses four to eight that the practical relevance of love to the marketplace was highlighted. Having in verse two been told that “without love, I am nothing” (which was enough to get my attention!), and understanding that this is the “most excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31), we now go on to be told (NIV):

• Love is patient
• Love is kind
• It does not envy
• It does not boast
• It is not rude
• It is not self-seeking
• It is not easily angered
• It keeps no record of wrongs
• Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth
• It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres
• Love never fails

It is a list of the ideal characteristics and gifts of a successful workplace minister. We need to be patient and kind; we should not envy, boast, be rude or self-seeking, we should not be easily angered, keep record of wrongs, or delight in evil. But we should rejoice with the truth; protect, trust, hope and persevere—because, ultimately, love never fails.

To be able to operate on a daily basis with these gifts and virtues in evidence, we truly need the empowering and help of the Holy Spirit. In the face of tests and temptations, only by the grace of God can we hope to minister in the workplace with love as our main criterion.

Loving Our Way Into Balance

Writing in The Excellence of Christian Love, Dr Richard Ostella says that love is the best way to access and use the various gifts and talents that God gives us. He says: “This focus on gifts is clearly part of something greater. Something excellent—love—puts them in perspective. So Paul’s concern is not about the gifts in isolation from all else … our relationships, possessions, or our dignity.

“Thus he cites particular gifts that are scooped up by this excellence … love is like a huge ‘end loader’ that scoops up everything in its path. So if we want balance on the gifts, and moreover if we want a balanced life, then love is the way. If we want to avoid extremes and hit a meaningful centre, then we need to look again at 1 Corinthians 13. Here, an excellent way is mapped out for us.

“…With Edwards we have to say, ‘love appears to be the sum of all the virtue and duty that God requires of us, and therefore must undoubtedly be the most essential thing—the sum of all the virtue that is essential and distinguishing in real Christianity’ … the way of love is the way of excellence.”

As Rev. Sterling M. Durgy says in Things That Abide: Fulfilling the Law of Love, “One cannot read far into the New Testament without learning the importance of love. When Jesus was asked to name the most important commandment of God, He answered that all of the Law of the Old Testament could be fulfilled by loving God and loving people (Matt. 22:34-40).”

If we can do business by loving God and loving people (whether they be staff, customers, regulators, or even competitors) then we have really discovered a “more excellent way” of going about our daily affairs in the marketplace.

R. Paul Stevens in a talk entitled “What Makes a Business Christian?” says this: “What makes work Christian is not the religious character of the work, or even the fact that it is obviously a ‘people-helping’ profession, but faith, hope and love … Work is a way of practical love, since by it we provide for ourselves and for those we love, and may have a surplus to give to the needy.

“The Christian business treats every customer as a person to be loved and appreciated, whether or not business is transacted … Loving customers as oneself is ‘neighbour love’ (Matt. 22: 39).”

Bringing Love Into Business

Sonia Stojanovic, a McKinsey consultant and former “Breakout and Cultural Transformation” head with Australia’s ANZ Bank, has this to say (quoted in Soleira Green’s book TheNew Visionaries—Evolutionary Leadership for an Evolving World, (April 2006), has this to say: “My vision is to bring love into business.

“To recognize that everything is love, that business doesn’t have to be the kind of ‘dog-eat-dog,’ hard-edged, market-driven process which we see developed in its biggest extremes today. That it can return to shareholders while also contributing to the community and giving meaning to people’s lives.

“My work is about getting people and organizations to have the courage and energy to look at and accept that the whole person has a place in the workplace, as opposed to the historical perspective … that the person who turns up for work is part of a machine as a human resource. It’s about having the recognition that the whole person has a whole life and that we don’t have to turn off part of our lives and ourselves when we walk in the door.

“… That there is a chance to reintegrate mind, body and spirit—that all three matter to all of us … (and) once in the door … questions arise in our minds—‘What is my legacy? What am I leaving for future generations and how will I be remembered?’”

Ms. Stojanovic is not necessarily writing from a Christian perspective, but it is interesting nonetheless that the realization that love is important—even in main-line secular business—is compelling and very significant. This is something new and different, and it is easy to see God working behind the scenes.

Christian businesspeople in all areas of commerce, industry and the professions need to be leading—and be seen leading—the movement to bring love into the marketplace. Instead of arrogance and pushiness, patience; instead of boasting, humility; instead of self-seeking, self-sacrificing; instead of anger, joy; instead of keeping a record of wrongs, forgiveness; instead of suspicion, trust; instead of despair, hope; and instead of conniving and lies, truth and integrity.

“And now I will show you the most excellent way … And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 12:31, 13:13).