White-Collar Crimes

In this day and age, white-collar crimes are somewhat of a “ho-hum” occurrence.  In 2001, Enron opened a “Pandora’s Box” for big-business fraud, and even Martha Stewart was convicted of insider trading!

After Enron, the most infamous case of a white-collar crime was the Bernard Madoff “Ponzi scheme” that came to the public’s attention in 2009.  Using blatant fraud, Madoff robbed clients of an estimated $65 billion (including fabricated accounts).

Work ethic is clearly outlined in Scripture.  God ordained work before the fall of man (Genesis 2:15), proving work’s goodness and place in God’s original plan.  But since sin entered the world, a Biblical work ethic has been tarnished by man’s pursuit of “wealth above all else.”

Proverbs 16 lays out some principles to live, and work, by:

3Commit your works to the LORD, and your plans will be established.

If we started each day by committing our work to Yahweh (no matter our occupation), we will see a Biblical work ethic play out in our lives.  We will focus our strength not wealth, but on serving Yahweh.

8Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice.

This verse is flipped in our world.  The conventional wisdom is “Better is great income—no matter the cost.”  Here, Solomon clearly says living in a way that is pleasing to Yahweh is what matters.

Finally, our attention should be fixed on verse 16:

16How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.

If we are to pursue something wholeheartedly, be it Godly wisdom rather than gold!

Posted by Jake Norton, Director of Worship