As world economics get tougher, it is not unusual to see many
professionally educated people doing jobs that are unqualified and much below
the standard of their education. Doctors and Accountants working as clerks, schoolteachers
working as freelance tutors and professional artists working as taxi drivers or
pizza delivery guys.
Even though all work is dignifying and the way God provides
us with sustainable occupation, and they all have a role in the working of
society, free commercial activities have also been a profitable attraction to
many, providing the opportunity of greater income and flexible hours in
comparison with working for someone else; and in occasions, the establishment
of discount and convenience stores have been widely spread.
The problem for the Christian arises when he or she is
exposed through the exercise of his business, to the selling of improper articles
that may pass unnoticed.
Obviously, the selling of preservatives, cigarettes, and
idols are totally against the principles of Christianity. All kinds of preservatives,
from condoms, to pills; all types of smoking substances and articles for their
use; and statues or images of pagan gods, like Buddha, Krishna, Ganesh, Santa
Muerte, Jesus Malverde or any other; constitute a serious sin against God.
They may come as part of the stock package they purchase
or requested by the community they deal in; but to satisfy these demands, makes
us participant of the corruption they propel.
An active believing Christian who lives according to God’s
will, must make sure that he or she, is not selling intoxicating substances,
even when they are legal; they must make sure they don’t interfere with natural
conception of human life; and that they do not push other fellow humans to
commit idolatry or witchcraft by the selling of idols.
We may need the money badly, but we must gain it in worthy
manner, so that we may know that it comes from God. We must be struggling
gravelly, even to the danger of our own lives or the life of someone we love;
but we must trust in God, the Giver and Sustainer of Life, and not in money.
The temptation to deal in forbidden articles may assault us
from time to time, but to renounce to them, it shows our faith and dedication
to God, and a testimony to his reality, and not an empty belief in a fable.
If we live accordingly to our faith, and people see that,
even when that causes us economic loss or stress; they will be convinced that
our God is so real to us, that we can sacrifice anything for Him, even our
lives; and they may be moved to find out about our God.
We need to always remember, that even when we may earn
our living through our own work; the wanting and the possibility to make it
happen, comes directly from God, and it is certainly not thanks to our own
desire, because we do not control our life, or the opportunity to sell it.
Everyday life is a constant place of testing, and it is
through this testing, that we can prove ourselves to our God, of how much we
love Him and how important He is in our lives, more even than our own life, but
to give in, it is to deny Him, before the whole world.
Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before
men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me
before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.
Matthew 10:32-33
Omar Flores.
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