Don’t squeeze every last drop of productivity from your resources
Is being too efficient a bad thing? It’s a question worth pondering. I recently heard a sermon based on Deuteronomy 24:19-21. “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.” In these verses, God instructs farmers not to be too thorough when harvesting their fields, but to leave something behind for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow. While these instructions were given to farmers in ancient times, I believe they still have relevance for us today, especially in the business world.
We business owners have been incredibly blessed with resources, and I want to encourage us to leave some of that productivity that we control for the benefit of others. If I’m an accountant, maybe I can do a non-profit’s books for free. As a home builder, maybe you could donate labor and materials to someone who needs a wheelchair ramp. If you own a lawn care service you could visit a church and see if they had a widow that could use free lawn care. If we have employees, we have a valuable resource in their time and knowledge, and we could consider allowing them to take time off work to mentor kids or serve in a food pantry. The neat thing is that we all have skill sets and everyone of us can find and fill a need within our skill set.
It’s usually easy to see who the orphan and widow are in our society, but who is the foreigner? I propose that the foreigner is anyone who hasn’t integrated well into society. This could be a literal immigrant struggling with cultural or linguistic barriers, or it could be someone who didn’t receive a great education or who was rejected by society.
By intentionally leaving some of our resources behind for those in need, we get to honor God. It’s not about sacrificing efficiency or profitability but recognizing that all we have is HIS. When we care about the foreigner, and the widow, and the orphan we are caring about what God cares about.
If you’ve been blessed in business or life and realize that there are others in your vicinity that are hurting from a lack of resource, I would encourage you to look for ways to help. It doesn’t have to be profound or a grand thing. It can just be small tokens of service, the edges of your field, if you will. It will make a big difference.
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