"Do not judge, and you will
not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be
condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven."
Luke 6:37 (NIV)
I've noticed lately that there's not much in the way of business advice for Christian business owners online. This is especially true when it comes to marketing and sales. The closest sources I've found to what I was looking for have been mere justifications for what the sales people are doing. There is a gaping hole in the spot where God centered advertising should have been.
I understand that many people use verses like Proverbs 16:2 to justify taking things from the world and using them in a Christian context. This certainly works for music. Church musicians have taken the music of the world and changed the lyrics, ONLY the lyrics, to turn it into something that praises God.
However, I do not believe this works with everything in our lives. A blatant example would be someone who commits prostitution for God. This doesn't work the same way as the music does. Prostitution is a sin and God desires obedience before sacrifice. Committing such a sin fr Him is disobedience to His word.
Well, the same is true for advertizing, marketing and sales. I do not believe we can use the sales techniques of this world simply because they are all based on the fruits of the flesh. Today's sales techniques encourage others to act upon their flesh and to sin, and if we use this kind of advertizing, then we are guilty of the sin of leading them to sin.
I wrestled with this for a few months before I submitted it to God and asked the Holy Spirit what He wanted me to do. I tried to find an answer to this seemingly complex problem. How can we, as Christians, compete with business who use these proven strategies by appealing to the flesh nature of man to get the upper hand? It is a competitive market and I struggled with the question, what can we do to get the edge over them? Certainly, God wants God centered businesses to thrive over businesses that turn their backs on Him. But how do we market ourselves without falling into those same practices?
The answer is a simple one. After I realized I was trying to do it all myself again, I submitted this to God and asked the Holy Spirit how it should be done. I don't know yet how to implement His answer, but when it comes time to do so, I will pray for guidance again.
The Holy Spirit told me that every ad, every piece of marketing we release, should bless the people who read it in some way. It's that simple.
Like I said, I don't know how we will do that yet, but the answer resonates with me. I feel God's peace within me when I look at our advertizing this way. If the objective is to bless people, then I don't get that same unsettled spirit I used to get when I consider doing things the traditional way.
I will write about this again after we do what the Holy Spirit told us to do. I think it would be a great testimony to write these things and share them with you so the world will know that there is another way.