What Does the Bible Say?

As is a habit of mine, I want to go to the Bible to find direction in this area. Let’s take a look at the words of Jesus.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
– Matthew 5:14-16

Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
– Matthew 10:32

What Does This Mean?

What does this Scripture mean to you? I am sure you have likely heard it before…have you ever taken the time to really think about what it means to you? Have you considered how this may apply to you and your business? How are you to acknowledge Christ before others?

I think these verses are very clear. We are not to keep our faith to ourselves. We are to let our lights shine, not hide them! While this idea can be executed in various ways, it is up to us to do something.

Marketing?

I will go on the record that I do not think it is good for us to “market” our faith as a reason for consumers to patronize our businesses. I know there is a fine line here. What I may do, thinking I am not “marketing”, others may consider as going too far.

I do not know of any hard and fast rules here. This needs to be according to your best judgment after prayer. If you know of any Scripture that would help to answer this question, please share in the comments area.

How to Acknowledge Christ

There are as many ideas on how to acknowledge Christ in your business as there are translations of the Bible! We will continue to explore many of these opportunities through this blog as we go. However, Christmas brings especially good opportunities to acknowledge Christ. I have discussed a couple of them in prior posts.

Another idea came to me just last weekend from a business acquaintance, Chris Zikakis, owner of Lompoc Honda in Lompoc, CA. He had his advertising agency, Radio Vision, Inc, produce a simple TV ad. The ad encourages the viewer to acknowledge Christ as “our most precious gift” and “the very Son of God” in a Christmas setting.

Once I saw the ad, I knew I had to share it with my readers. I emailed Chris to ask his permission. He responded that he would love for me to even go as far as having it modified for our dealership to use. He said his goal was to get the ad in front of as many dealers as he could in the hopes that they would use it as well!

I contacted Joe Pollaro at Radio Vision and asked if he could produce the ad quickly enough to begin running it the week before Christmas. Incredibly, Joe was able to make it happen! Below, you can take a look at the resulting ad.

I personally love this ad because it does not ask for anything from the viewer relating to business. It is not an effort to sell cars or anything else. It is simply a way to acknowledge Christ before others!

What are your thoughts about the ad?

What can you do in a similar fashion through your business?

What obstacles do you need to overcome in order to make something like this happen?

Originally posted 12/19/11 – The TV ad is updated for 2013.