The Integrity of Paying Bills on Time
Our Mission
To present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to business and professional men and to develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission.
Luke 16.15 warns, Jesus said to them, you are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God’s sight. This statement by God, warning us that what we value He despises, should terrorize us. Now certainly this cant be true in everything.
We prize health, doesn’t God want us healthy? Most likely He does though He certainly allows some to be born blind in order for His glory to be made visible through that weakness. We prize family, doesn’t God love family? God is the author of marriage, the beginning of family, so certainly He is pro-family. But God redefines family. He said His family are those who hear His words and obey them, that is the family we are to strive to be a part.
We prize money for it gives us pleasure and opportunity, God wants us happy doesn’t He? God never claims to want us happy, His desire is that we be holy as He is holy. It is holiness and righteousness that He says will make us happiest. God also took great pains when He lived among us as one of us in Jesus the Savior, to warn us that the love of money is the root of much evil and will constantly compete in our hearts for God’s place in them. He added, we cannot love both God and money. We sure do try!
We prize position for it demonstrates progress, hard work and success. Doesn’t God appoint leaders, give authority and command hard work? Indeed God calls some to be leaders but He redefines greatness at that position. The greatest leader of all is the servant of all. Likewise He claims that those representing His authority will be the slave of all and not live like pagans who use authority to control, manipulate and demand from people.
Finally, while God does command hard work He commands the fruit of that labor be used to care for our needs and then give for the needs of others who cant care for themselves. Giving is better than receiving He claims so He desires His people work hard so they can give more not accumulate more for themselves and retire earlier.
The chief concern we all must have is the will of God. It is before God we will all stand, He will judge us and determine our eternal future. Our works will be weighed and measured for they reflect what is true of our nature; the good tree bears good fruit while the evil tree bears evil fruit. We should do everything we can to please God and do His will. In this way we will prove that His pardon of our lives because of the work of Jesus is justified, and since we worked to glorify Him on earth He will welcome us gladly in heaven.
His Opportunities
- Prayer and Bible study occurs every Friday morning at the Coral Gables restaurant in East Lansing from 7am – 8am, feel free to join us.
- CBMC needs your help to continue its ministry to men in the marketplace. Please Support CBMC today.
MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
A Publication of CBMC International
March 13, 2017
The Integrity of Paying Bills on Time
by Jim Mathis
Years ago, when my wife and I were in the photofinishing business, I received a letter from a high-ranking official at Eastman Kodak. I was a little nervous that Kodak might cancel our account, since we were very small for such a large company. Even though we bought a couple thousand dollars in film, chemicals and paper each month, that was still a very meager amount by Fortune 500 standards.
I was surprised when I opened the letter because it was the opposite of what I expected. It was a letter of commendation, thanking us for paying our bills on time. In the 15-20 years we had been doing business with The Eastman Kodak Company, we had never missed a discount or were even one day late in paying our bill. That level of integrity deserved a personal letter from a vice president of the company. I was pleased with myself, but even more impressed that someone at Kodak would recognize our financial reliability and take the time to write a letter.
This came to mind recently as my wife and I were leading a “Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University” class in our home. I have not always been as faithful in paying my bills on time as I was years ago, but in recent months have made a renewed commitment to paying our bills before their due dates.
All business is built on relationships. People like to do business with people they like, including those who are prompt in meeting their obligations. Having to send “Past Due” notices can quickly sour relationships, and people who are slow to pay soon run out of suppliers. For those wanting to serve as “marketplace ambassadors” for Jesus Christ, as described in 2 Corinthians 5:20, such diligences provides an unspoken witness to the character of the God we follow by faith.
Here are some related principles the Bible gives to us:
Faithfulness in obligations, even small ones, qualifies for greater responsibilities. We often must demonstrate we can be relied upon in small matters before we can be entrusted with greater things. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?“ (Luke 16:10-12).
Paying bills on time provides financial freedom. Prompt payment of obligations minimizes the accumulation of interest, and can pave the way to gain the trust of our suppliers as our companies grow and our need for resources increases. “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7)
Prompt payment will enable us to stand out in the crowd. In an environment when it is so common for businesses to wait until the last possible moment to pay bills, a commitment to pay promptly speaks a lot to the integrity of the organization and its people, whether owners, top executives or employees. “Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear–not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Otherwise you will be condemned“ (James 5:12).
Jim Mathis is the owner of a photography studio in Overland Park, Kansas, specializing in executive, commercial and theatrical portraits, and operates a school of photography. He formerly was a coffee shop manager and executive director of CBMC in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.
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