The Welfare of your City

The Welfare of Your City  Jeremiah 29:7 

The significant thing about God’s command to the people to seek the welfare of the city is that the city was part of Babylon – they were expected to seek the benefit of a city which belonged to a pagan nation and ruler! This was the city that God was going to send his people to and they were going to be there for a while. In seeking the welfare of this city the people would find welfare for themselves. God expects us to be a blessing to our city; our presence there should mean welfare for all who live in it. We are to be actively doing things that will bring a benefit and prosperity.

God has placed you in a community, it may be a town or a larger city, but you are not there by accident. He has sent you there so that you can be a blessing to it. In the same way you have been sent to a place of employment for the same reason. Apart from the fact that you will bring welfare to your workplace, there is a more selfish motivation, that is, in its welfare you will find welfare. In other words, as the business grows you will receive the benefit. There are many ways we should be working toward the welfare of our workplace, we should work hard, turn up on time, make sure we are honest all that we do, be polite and courteous to our workmates, employees, customers and suppliers and so on. Above all these things we should pray.

Jeremiah told the people to pray to the lord on behalf of the city that they were sent to. This principle should be extended to your work place; you are to pray on its behalf. But for what should you pray and how do you go about it? The most obvious thing is to pray for the people that you work with or for, then of course are your suppliers and customers. But we can also pray for the business decisions we face and the challenges that will occur in the course of normal operations. We can pray for ‘difficult’ employees and ‘challenging’ customers and when faced with machine breakdowns or supply problems we can pray about those things to. At the end of each day many people like to plan their agenda for the following and write up a ‘to do’ list. I have found that using this list as a prayer list ensures that God is invited to participate in all of the business for that day.

In Revelation 3:20 God declares that he stands at the door of the church knocking, waiting for someone to open the door and invite him in. This is another principle that can be extended to the places in which we work. Jesus wants to gain admission to your workplace, but he needs you to invite him in. If there are other believers in your business that you can join with, then you have the assurance that wherever two or more of you meet together, then Jesus is in your midst. You also know that whatever you ask will be accomplished for you by your father in heaven. Do you pray specifically for the business and workplace issues that you face? Do you expect God to be interested in your success at work? God is in fact interested and he wants you to succeed. He has even promised to assist you in your endeavours, why not invite him into partnership.

Across the world there is a growing network of businessmen and women who have formed a 51% club. This club is merely a loose association of Christians who have determined to make Jesus the managing partner in their business; they give evidence of this by giving 51% of their profits to him as the major shareholder. These funds are used to alleviate systemic poverty throughout their communities. In this way they not only seek the welfare of their company, but their city as well – and God is certainly adding his blessing! This is a conviction that these men and women have come to and is not a rule or obligation imposed on every believer, but there is an obligation for everybody to actively seek the welfare of their city and for most of us this will be best achieved by being successful and growing our businesses.