Reliable, Competent, Excellent and Efficient (8)

Chapter 7

Must be reliable, competent, excellent and efficient

If a a person and/or a company commit to the four areas above, it would be very hard to fail in their pursuit of success service. All of the above, from the Biblical point of view, could be underscored by "quality service." Combined, that's what they represent when taken together.

We've talked a little about each of these throughout the book, but we'll take a closer look at each one of them to see how they work and blend together.

Reliability

Reliability is primarily a character issue. It has at its core the idea of no matter what is going on, you are a person and a business that can be counted on to do what they promised, when they promised, at the price given. It also includes with it the idea of surpassing expectations by surprising customers with service and prices that exceed expectations.

On the price side it doesn't necessarily mean cutting the price after it is agreed upon. It could mean that, and customers will appreciate it if you are able to do so. But what is really the thing that moves them the most is to add something of value to the product or service you didn't include in the promise or deal. Not only is the added value a bonus, but the surprise factor includes an emotional response, which is easy for customers to remember. People always remember how you made them feel, and if you do that in a positive manner which makes them feel important, you have won a customer for life if you continue to treat and surprise them in the same way as you serve them over time. That means part of reliability is consistency.

Another important part of reliability, but one that could easily be overlooked or undervalued, is simply showing up. By showing up I'm referring to physically, but also showing up in a way that reveals you're really engaged with satisfying your customers.

Showing up means being on time, being thoughtful throughout the process of the transaction with the customer, and making sure anything that needs to be done to bring them to trust you, is done.

A long time ago when I first started selling things on the Internet, I had someone buy something and almost immediately afterwords send me an e-mail wanting to get her money back. I sensed she was fearful, and so not only did I reverse the charges for her, but gave her a call to calm her down and let her know it was taken care of. I didn't have to do that, and it cost me a little bit to make the long-distance call, but I know if she ever wanted to do business with me again, or she knew friends or family that would benefit from the products I had to offer, there would be no hesitation to send them my way.

Within reason, we should treat all the people that do business with us that way. It sends out a signal that you're a person of integrity, and if there was ever any time they needed or wanted a product or service you offer, they'll remember how you treated them fairly and with dignity.

Reliability isn't just showing up for the game, but showing up at the various points of interaction with a customer where they need handholding. An example of that would be with products or services that require steps to assemble a physical product or something that needs to be done on the digital side, i.e., a learning curve.

Part of showing up in these cases is to have very specific and easy-to-follow instructions on how to engage the product or service. A surprising number of businesses don't even have videos to help those that understand better how to do things with visual instruction. Not only does that alleviate and head off frustration, but it, again, makes someone feel good about doing business with you and your company.

The bottom line for reliability is we have to empathize with and understand what it is like for our customers to work with our products or services. Those that anticipate the majority of possibilities where customers will need help, will be those that win their loyalty.

Competent

There are two parts of being competent I want to talk about in relationship to business. The first and most obvious is knowing the business we're in. That means being an expert in the field you've chosen to compete in. It also means understanding the market we serve and what drive them.

From being an expert in our field, the next step of competence is in knowing how to handle questions and concerns about our products or services. Both of these are vital to long term success.

At times I've heard some gurus encourage their students to fake-it-till-you-make-it. If that is understood to mean taking steps to get a business going or to accomplish a specific task or goal, I have no problem with it, as long as there isn't lying and misrepresentation involved. I've started some businesses where I had a good understanding of the basics, but when a person started talking about specifics, if I didn't know the answer, I would tell them, and mentioned finding out and getting back to them on it.

This happened a lot when I was operating a greenhouse business. I don't care how good you are with various things you sell in that business, the number of herbs, vegetables, fruits and flowers are so big, there is no way to know the answers to a person's questions on many of them. In that case I had resource books available to get general answers, but you also have to consider zones, soil types and other things that can affect how you best help a customer.

If something is important, don't fake it. Answer to the best of your ability, and then find out the answers afterword. Someone that pretends they know will be considered dishonest and a fraud if they are discovered as being incompetent. That's not a good way to attempt to build long-term success.

Fake-it-till-you-make-it to me means you don't have to gather every bit of data exhaustively before you serve a market. Another example from a different business I owned was with a cleaning question. Even though I knew a lot about how to do carpets, which was what the question involved was related to, I thought I knew the answer and operated under that assumption while cleaning a big building.

Later I found out that even with my experience, I had made a mistake because I hadn't cleaned a carpet before with this type of problem. This didn't stop me from working in a business I knew, even though there were a lot of things to learn.

The takeaway is don't get paralyzed into thinking you have to know every thing there is to know about a particular business in order to serve customers in it. People that take-it-till-they-make-it  can at time enter a business they know nothing about, and can actually be a disaster for customers that are looking for answers to problems they need to have solved. This can happen if you buy a business, or if you hear about a certain type of business that can make a lot of money for you, and you don't take some time to at least learn the basics of it.

For those types of customers you would rely on for long-term profitability, the best ones will be those that are at least familiar with the area of service you offer, and appreciate the fact you have answers beyond their expertise level.

If a business is already operating and you generate enough revenue to justify hiring an employee, I would spend the money on buying the expertise you don't have, and spend your time promoting and being the face of the business.

Excellence

I differentiate between excellence and competence by looking at going beyond what we promise and customer expectations. Being competent relates more to meeting expectations, being excellent is exceeding them.

Remember that all four of these parts of success discussed in this chapter tend to overlap in general, and we're simply dissecting them to understand how they play a part in reaching the goals that will define success for us.

That doesn't mean someone can be competent and as a result are also excellent, because it isn't a guarantee. I only want readers to understand if they are providing quality service, the two should go hand in hand together. It usually doesn't work that way because people stop at competence. That's a mistake because those that go on to excellence will dominate the market they serve in.

Excellence in controlling expenses

We usually think of excellence in regard to service and our customers, but another form of excellence that is just as important once you get some revenue flowing is in discipline concerning expenses.

One way to compete is on prices, and I don't mean in the commodity way we already mentioned earlier, where only the lowest price creates a winner. Rather, what I mean is how customers view the prices you charge based upon how they value your products or services. You don't have to be a low-price leader, but the price you charge needs to line up with the perceived value you offer customers. That's the key.

As a matter of fact, if you're product or service is considered of high value, you could lose customers if you charge too low for it. The price would be a piece of information they consider is communicating to them that the value is low. Under those circumstances the price undermines your quality products and services.

This leads to discipline and excellence in controlling costs. There's a couple of things to consider here. First is what concerns the pricing I mentioned above. In order to provide a good price we have to have the room to experiment in a certain range to see where the price point people are willing to pay is. If we're not disciplined in our costs, it removes a lot of flexibility and ability to do some trial and error with pricing.

No matter where you are in business, most of you haven't heard before what I'm about to say: the price of a product or service is one of the most important pieces of information you can have. It's a form of communication by a customer toward you and your business. Your price tells them something, and their response to your price is their feedback to you concerning perceived value. There is probably nothing more important to a business than finding out where the price of a product or service generates the most sales. Keep in mind I'm assuming a quality offering here.

Let me give you an example of how this works. This is a true story. A young writer recently released a success book on time management. He communicated his frustration over how his "superior" book was being outsold by what he considered inferior offerings. On the surface it seemed true. His book was a massive one of about 350 pages. Competitors offered books in the same category of only about 20 pages, and they outsold him by a good margin.

Their prices were lower, and that was part of the story, but the other part I don't believe he ever understood. Think about it for a moment. He was selling a book on time management that was about 350 pages long. If a person is looking for a book on time management, the last thing they want is to have to sit down for days and go through a long book on it. They want a book they can get quick answers to because they are struggling with having time to do the things they have to or want to. Simple isn't it. But maybe most of us wouldn't have thought of that because we wanted to offer a high-value product. This is the perceived value side of the equation on price points. The value wasn't in the quantity of the pages in the books, but the books themselves being the first step in dealing with time management. That meant a short book was far more desirable than a longer book.

The other side was the pricing. Obviously the larger book was offered for a higher price, but it wasn't that much higher; possibly about double the price of the much smaller e-books, even though it had more than ten times the pages.

Here is a case of the price of a product giving feedback to a business. What the consumers were saying is the perceived value they were looking for were quick answers they could put into practice right away. They didn't mind paying a fairly good amount for a smaller book, even though the larger book probably had a lot more answers for them.

If it was me, I know I would have went the smaller book route as well. Not only would it take a long time to read through a book that big, but there would be additional time needed to search for specific answers, because of the large number of pages. Reading plus search equalled a lack of enthusiasm.

So consumers were willing to pay for books covering the same topic for about half the price of the larger book, but with less than a tenth of the content. What that tells you from the information conveyed from the prices of the smaller books, which when measured by the number of pages, were actually much more expensive, was the value was in ability to quickly access actionable ideas that could be immediately acted upon. The price told the authors that they had found the information their customers felt was valuable, and they were willing to pay far more per page of content than the much larger and more thorough offering.

Give people what they want and they're willing to pay for it. That's the takeaway here. The authors writing the shorter books may have finished them in a week. The one young man writing the longer book took several months to completed it. Pricing determined which was perceived as having the most value.

I went through this with you in detail to understand how to think about pricing when offering a specific product or service.

Efficiency

Efficiency is the best use of your capital or assets to achieve the desired results. It's more than being disciplined as mentioned earlier, it's also having the wisdom and knowledge to use your assets to leverage them to bring about what you're trying to accomplish in various aspects of your business. Simply, it's discovering the best way to use the resources at your disposal.

How do you know if you're getting close to doing it right? It's being able to fulfill what you promised to your customers. That includes what you promised, when you promised, at the price you promised. Those are the metrics to use to gauge your business and customer service progress.

This doesn't mean you are always throwing stuff around to see what will stick. That has a certain place in a business, but it shouldn't be the primary means of business. If everything is up for grabs, it means we don't really have a grasp on our business or understand what our customers want at this time.

Efficiency means we are learning how to narrow down our options to levels we can then try different things to see what works. It's controlled trial and error, not trial and error based upon lack of data. If we don't have the needed data, we need to get the best information we can and then try a variety of things to see what works.

This is the practical side of business. It's where we find the best and least expensive ways to make our vision a reality, without sacrificing quality.

What has to be watched for and guarded against here is the idea of having to have perfect knowledge or data before we go take steps to try things. Efficiency isn't perfection, efficiency is using the data from our research and understanding of our market to leverage our trial and error to get the most accurate feedback we can. From there we make adjustments to refine the process in order to reach the highest level we can.

Be careful not to mistake efficiency for perfection. If you do, you'll end up in a permanent state of paralysis, not willing to make a move because you always believe you never have enough information to act upon. That's a mistake. It may even be an excuse to use so you never have to take any risk. What being efficient does is shrink risk, not eliminate it.  

Only when we act upon the available information and data we have are we able to make adjustments to improve our products or services. If we never take action, we will be in constant stake of embracing an idea or theory that has no way of being proven one way or the other. To try something is to risk failure. The key to growing a successful business is to lower the impact of failure so you can survive to compete another day.  

That may sound scary, but it really isn't if you do your homework and take calculated risks. It doesn't guarantee success, but it does guarantee you'll learn a lot from your experience, and if you keep on and adjust to feedback, you'll eventually get it right.

In the end, it's about closely watching feedback from customers concerning sales and what they have to say about your products or services. Adjusting to legitimate responses is the key to improving your efficiencies, which will boost revenue and lower expenses, while keeping your customers happy.

Taking action based upon the best available data and information, accurately measuring the results and feedback, and adjusting accordingly, is how you improve efficiencies. It is efficiency.

Giftings from God (5)

Chapter 4

Gifting from  God

Exodus

31 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:

3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

4 To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,

5 And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;

7 The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle,

8 And the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense,

9 And the altar of burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot,

10 And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office,

11 And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

God had called certain of the people of Israel to build and design that which He desired, and with that calling came a gifting, which is identified as being filled with the "spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,..."

There was a very specific man - Bezaleel who was called to accomplish the various tasks assigned by God for Israel, and he would be accompanied by another man named Aholiab, which was also given wisdom to complete the given assignment from God.

It needs to be understood that the children of Israel had been slaves. There was little if any work in Egypt that would have produced the type of skill needed to make the various pieces of furniture and implements God required for worship. That included the garments that would be associated with Aaron and the general priesthood. That means God had to provide the wisdom and skill to certain people to perform these tasks.

The takeaway from this is God fills all real believers with His spirit, and part of the purpose fo that is in order for them to have the wisdom and skill needed to accomplish what God has given them to do while on the earth. Those who are true Christians, by faith, can tap into that wisdom and knowledge in order to fulfill their God-given purpose.

In James we are encouraged to do just that. In chapter 1 it says this:

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

If we really believe we are called to build wealth or be successful in this life for the sake of God, His people, and His kingdom, all we need to do is ask in faith in order to receive that which we lack. We must do so believing God is more than willing to answer our prayers. If we don't believe when we ask for wisdom, as James concludes, we are double minded and unstable in everything we do. We must remain steadfast and move foreward with the belief God will give us the wisdom we need for whatever we put our hands to on His behalf.

All of this is to say it comes by grace from God. Without Him we can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things. It has nothing to do with something inherent in ourselves, but God's gifting.

This doesn't mean we are to sit around and somehow this mystical transmitting of knowledge will enter into us. What it means is we are to pursue our callings in this life, and work to become experts in it. In that pursuit of understanding in our chosen fields, God will help us to obtain the needed wisdom for success. It will be up to us to apply that wisdom, but we are still to ask for and operate in light of the fact He will give it to us if we truly believe. Acting in faith upon that believe is what studying and becoming experts in our specific area of service represents.

Action will follow faith, and if we believe He will give us wisdom, we can trust that which we learn will be applicable and relevant to our success.

Successful service must be understood to have been initiated by God, and is a gift to be embraced and appreciated as we go about doing good and providing quality service to our customers.

From within to without

There's an interesting law related to God we must learn. That which He gives us within will be increased when we share it with others. That gift we have been given to serve will expand and enlarge to as large of a territory God has called us to serve in. What needs to be grasped is the more we pour out of ourselves, the larger we'll grow, but also, God replace all of that with more. In essence, we can become an inexhaustible source of service if we embrace the fact God is inexhaustible, and will bless us with His endless resources when we give everything we have without ourselves in serving others.

God gives us feedback to our response to His giftings in us.

Deuteronomy 8

11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

What He's saying is we have been given gifts from God to be productive and successful in our pursuits. But the bottom line is He's the one that has given us power to get wealth, and starts from within and works its way out practically into the world.

When God multiplies that which He has given us because of our faithful service on His behalf, we aren't to get prideful and start to forget who it is that gave us this power and blessings. If we do, as we are admonished, we will perish.

Remember, all of this is not only for the purpose of us generating revenue and building up our personal wealth so we can get more and more stuff. The goal is so we can be part of establishing God's kingdom on earth. We are to build up our assets in order to share that with others. That's also part of what is within being worked out. That's part of what it means when we are told to "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling."

Look at what Philippians 2:12-13 says:

12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It doesn't get much clearer than that. God is working within us it says, according to His good pleasure, which is a reference to building His kingdom on earth. That is His good pleasure. But we are to work out that which is within us with fear and trembling, meaning with deep respect and faithfulness to discharge that we have been put in this world to accomplish.

When I mentioned sharing with others above, I'm not primarily referring to just passing out free food and other goods to people. That has its place, but it's limited in its long-term effect and includes strict guidelines in the Scriptures. It is always meant to be only a short-term, temporary measure for those that truly have little or nothing. It was never meant to bring about the welfare state we now see.

What really changes the world for the better is for the people of God to be productive,  sharing with others the fruits of that productivity, and to give resources to those that are able to teach them to do likewise.  

As far as this relates to those called to build wealth and achieve success, it starts with a birthing within us and works its way out to become a practical reality. God is the source of that birthing, and we need to always acknowledge that by reaffirming He is the one that has given us the power to build wealth, and honor Him by sharing that wealth to establish His covenant.

We never have to be concerned about lacking anything needed to accomplish our purpose. What flows out of us will be replaced by more.

Once this process begins, we shouldn't let anything come between us finishing what we started. The only exception is when we're discovering the best way to do things via trial and error, and we find we have to make some adjustments to generate the best results. Unless there's something very clear that requires us to rethink the direction we're heading in, we should continue on our work until it's completed.

I'm talking about major things here, not minor adjustments in how we do things in order to reach our overall goal. Those types of adjustments can happen moment to moment in a business. I'm talking about the end you're striving to reach. Only new data that requires a significant shift should cause us to change direction in a big way.

Serving and giving is success (4)

Chapter 3

Serving and giving is success

It will surprise some that feel God has called them to a life of success and growing of their assets, that the means of achieving success isn't that difficult. It's nothing more or less than serving people. That's it.

There are of course things like becoming very good at what you do and an expert in your chosen field. But you can have all of that and still fail if you're not committed to serving or giving to people.

The goal for the Christian is to seek to offer quality service. If that is efficiently done, the profits will without a doubt come. Those that forget quality service and focus on profits as their goal, will for the most part, fail. It's close to impossible to build a successful business over the long term if you aren't a person that is willing to serve. And if you're choice is to serve by working for someone else, the key to success is still the same: the best servant will usually rise to the top and be considered very valuable to the company. Since people don't always reward the people that deserve to be rewarded in the way they should, there are times when your efforts won't produce the desired results. But God is still in charge, and if you continue to walk in obedience to Him and quality service to those you serve, you will eventually be rewarded. Where you may have to be cautious is in a small business where nepotism may come into play. In that case no matter what you do you may never be placed in the position you want to be at the salary you hope for. In that case there is a need to take honest inventory of your circumstances, and possibly ask questions of the owner as to their plans for you in the business. That should be done without anger or aggressiveness, otherwise it could hurt you.

Service is attractive

Quality and efficient service is a tremendous power in the life of a business, and assuming the right sector or market has been chosen, it will ultimately lead to long-term success.

One thing about service is it is very attractive, and it attracts people or customers to your business when it is done in a successful way.

What is most important here is a person must accurately evaluate their skills and desires to be sure they line up with their long-term goals. Not only must you discover for yourself what your best skill set is and look where that may fit in, but you should also ask trusted friends who you know will give you objective feedback. Don't get into confirmation bias, where your buddies or girlfriends will tell you what you want to hear to make you feel good. That's a disaster, and the way to avoid that is to be sure to only include those who know you and are willing to give quality and accurate feedback to you.

When you're good at what you do and cultivate a servant's heart, it will eventually lead to success. The caveat there is you must choose a field that has growth potential and has a large enough client base to be able to build a business around. This isn't as important on the Internet if that's where you're primary business is done, as there should be a large enough pool of interested people to build a tribe or business around. Nonetheless, don't assume that. Do some research to make sure that's the case.

This is important because the quality of your service and its chances at being successful is tied into the specific business and market you choose to compete in. Without that, it won't matter how good you serve if you not competing in a market big enough to generate some decent revenue from.

The combination of the right market served with skills you are good at greatly increases your chance at success. Make sure you're correct in both of those areas.

What aren't you good at or called to?

If there is one thing I've learned through they years, it is a person can have a lot of areas of interest. It's important to know that even if you have an interest in a specific thing, whether or not that's a legitimate area for you to serve and compete in.

All believers have the Spirit of God in them, and are gifted and tasked for specific things. This of course isn't always related to a job, business or money, but when it is, it's just as important to know what you shouldn't be doing as it is what you're doing.

For some this may not be a problem because they've known what they're good at and called to do by God, and so the issue isn't as important. But for those just starting to search for a sector or market to serve in as an entrepreneur, it's vital to go through a process of elimination in order to reach your final decision.

This doesn't necessarily mean you'll never compete in an area you're eliminating, but it should mean for now, there should only be one segment of the market you serve. To attempt to do more than one is a sure way to get discouraged and frustrated, which will ultimately lead to failure. You can't serve two masters is legitimate in this area as well.

The point of this section isn't to encourage someone to look at numerous areas of service in order to eliminate them. The purpose is to identify areas of interest you have and see if you have some expertise  in them which would result in effective service. If there is more than one, you'll have to narrow it down to one in order to give yourself the best chance at success.

Over the years you can build out from there once the original business is on solid footing. But you must start in only one area if you want to build wealth unto the kingdom of God. Quality service is the key, and the right choice for the area you want to serve in at the beginning is the foundation of that service.

Giving

We've talked about service in this chapter, but let's call it by another name to give it perspective: giving. If you look at giving as a form of service, then you're close to what it takes to achieve success. Very few people resist someone that is giving their best on their behalf to make their experience with a product or service successful. There are of course a few cantankerous exceptions, but they are few and far between, and won't have an effect on your success other than making the journey occasionally uncomfortable. That's just part of doing business.

You can always fire a customer if they don't complain in good faith, based upon a legitimate issue. Be careful before you do that because complaints are actually opportunities for exceptional giving and service, and if it's handled properly and to the customer's satisfaction, it can result in a lifelong customer.

If you're serving and giving from a sincere heart, it overcomes initial resistance, and even if you have to try several times to resolve a problem, the relationship with the customer in most circumstances is enhanced, and word of mouth spreads about how you took care of them. The bottom line is quality and effective service overcomes resistance, and that's on the front end of the interaction as well, meaning when you attempt to make an initial sale. Service and giving with the benefit of the customer in mind throughout the entire process gives a good chance of being successful if you stick with it.

When building wealth via a business, you'll quickly find out that people are more interested in themselves and what they get out of a transaction with you; they're not interested in you. That is the place you must begin. Over time if you build a relationship with a customer that results in long-term profitability, it will come because you served them to the best of your ability. If you continue to do that you build loyalty, and loyalty creates fans or a tribe that trusts you, and which will come back time after time to buy what you're offering.

Not only that, but it can result in a powerful community built around the service or products you offer, which ends with the community helping one another in various areas as well. This increases the loyalty even more as they invest their time and lives into what you have built together. All of this is built upon giving and quality service.

We Cannot Serve God and Mammon (3)

Chapter 2 We cannot serve God and Mammon

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Mt. 6:24)

A powerful but misunderstood statement by Jesus was we can't serve God and mammon, which some people interpret to mean God and money. That's not true. Think of it for a moment. If you couldn't serve money, it would imply not having a job or business to generate an income to pay for the things we need and give to others. It wouldn't make sense.

Mammon represents more than money  (Mt. 6:24-33; Lk. 12:16-21). It includes money, but it's something that can grab hold of a person that demands and presses them to always want more in this life. It coincides partially with the idea "man does not live by bread alone." People that focus entirely on wanting more, end up being insatiable; they never are content or satisfied, and are full of anxiety and fear.

People working for mammon do so with the entirety of their purpose centered on working for what they can get in this life. Their focus isn't on building up a deposit of eternal rewards from their faithful and effective service while on earth.

It also considers where the source of wealth comes from. With a Christian, every one of us need to acknowledge that only God can give us power to get wealth. Period. It doesn't come from the work of our hands. If we believe it does, which the majority do, they end up being slaves to their work or business, and never get a sense of accomplishment, because once they reach one goal, they aren't able to enjoy and celebrate that success, but must immediately go on to the next one. It is always by the work of their own hands that these people believe produces their success and wealth (Dt. 8:17).

For the Christian this should be totally different. God promises us if we seek first His kingdom, all these things will be added unto us (Mt. 6:33). We don't have to worry or fret. We are to faithfully discharge our service and trust in the sovereignty of God to give the increase. This isn't a reference to being lazy or sitting around doing nothing, and then expecting to receive a blessing from God. What it means is we don't have to worry or toil so much it eventually effects us to the point we believe that is not only the reason for our success, but is the source of it as well. This is mammon. There is little joy in it, and it can drive and consume us to complete burnout. God's blessings don't include that as part of the package.

We are also never to be prideful or to trust in riches (1 Tim. 6:17-19). Many have found out by experience that what they had one day can quickly disappear the next. Trusting in God as the source of our blessings is the only way to live in this life. We may lose something temporarily, but God is more than able to restore it if that is His will. If we trust in riches rather than God, it can cause a person's faith to be shipwrecked if something happens that shrinks their assets.

What drives the world

There are a number of things that drive those in the world to pursue wealth. Among them, which should be identified as some of the fruits or outcomes of mammon, are money, sex and power. This should be obvious to most Christians, but it can easily creep in and consume those that don't have measures in place to resist it.

Ecclesiastes 2:8-11 says this:

8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Men and women with a large amount of assets are tempted to engage in the dazzlement the world offers, thinking that is the reason God gave them their gifts. Along with money, sex and power comes ancillary things like influence, fame and good looks, among many others. All of these are part of mammon, and I know you can take each one of these individually and attempt to make them look harmless.

There's a partial truth in that, but the point isn't if someone is born with good looks, becomes well known because of quality talent, or exercises influence in a godly way. What mammon is in regard to these things is to use them as ends in and of themselves, and to abuse them beyond God's Word. In the end, they become a form of addiction that is centered around self.

God's purpose in blessing us with wealth and success aren't to increase our pleasure or to indulge ourselves. This doesn't mean the good things God gives us aren't to be enjoyed, it means we aren't to abuse them, and have to remember their source is God Himself, which means they must be used in accordance with His revealed will in the Holy Scriptures.

Success from God's point of view

We touched briefly on success earlier, and it is totally centered on being obedient to God's law and commands. Jesus defined those that truly loved Him in that way. They weren't those that had sentimental feelings about Him, but those that kept His commands. If you love me, he said, keep my commandments (Jn. 14:15). That is the real measurement of success, and there is no other.

A sobering but powerful Scripture which we need to embrace is found in Mt. 7. It says this:

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

The lesson here is just because we have gifts and callings, along with an increase in resources, doesn't mean we have achieved something from God's way of looking at things. It isn't complicated. Those who obey Him and walk according to His revealed will in the Bible are those that are achievers in God's eyes (Dt. 28:1-3). They are those that will receive eternal rewards. That means what is done in this life passes on into eternity. Mammon doesn't look past this life, it only looks for ways to enhance the self and not God.

This is really the final saying on the matter:

Matthew 16

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mammon only looks to gain the whole world for self. It will do so at whatever expense in order to get it. In the end, all mammon offers those seeking it are short-term success in this age. It doesn't transfer to heaven. This is why we are told every man's or person's work will be tested by fire. For the Christian, it means if they are doing things independent of God and His revealed will, they may be saved, but their work on earth is burned up. There will be no reward in heaven as a result (1 Cor. 3:12-14).

Conclusion

To understand this in simple terms, Christians must work in terms of God's word. If they do, the results of the works will come by grace through faith. If a person has to work at the expense of everything else, they may end up saved at the time of judgment, but with nothing to show for their lives through eternity.

Mammon wants to be autonomous. It doesn't want to submit unto the guidelines revealed in the Holy Scriptures, it wants to do it by their own rules. I don't mean by that the idea of always working within the existing parameters of a specific competitive market. I only mean in reference to doing things within the parameters of God's word.

God can do a lot with a little. Mammon believes wealth and power are the means to success and control. It may produce those results temporarily, but as history has proven over and over again, that type of "success" is fleeting, and those that trust in it will be extremely disappointed in the end.

Value to those that don't operate under the guidelines of the covenant of God only find value in what they want. They only want the temporal fruits of their labor and not the foundational roots that will cause it to last into eternity.

Success isn't measured by the amount of assets we have. They are placed under our stewardship for the purpose of expanding the kingdom of God in history. God doesn't mind us enjoying the fruits of our labor, but it must be with thankfulness and understanding He has given it under our control for His purposes, and not our own.

For that reason we don't need to be worried or anxious over the state of our current assets. God will supply all our needs and more. He wants us to not only have enough for ourselves, but enough to share with others (Eph. 4:28).