I’m odd, I’ll grant that, but it seems to me that when one accepts Christ as his Lord and Savior, it ought to change one’s perspective on making a living. We can no longer simply blend into and fully accept the secular, societal values so prevalent here in America.

Two principles are most relevant in my thinking about making a living in 2008: One is the principle of sacrifice, the other that of justice or fairness. Galatians 6:24 says, “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The principle of sacrifice emerges from this text, and it pushes us to understand that anything and everything we do in terms of making a living should be understood as a “vocation.” A vocation is a broad way of understanding that God has called us to a life of service. God calls us away from self-centered, money-grabbing, exploitation of others and toward a life of giving — giving of ourselves, even when it means self-sacrificial service to others.

How do we imagine ourselves in the lines of work we take up? Are we simply holding down a “job,” putting in our time, punching the clock and taking home our paycheck because that’s what we have to do? How about you? Do you have a “career” in which you fulfill a particular line of work throughout your life? Perhaps you have emerged as a “professional,” and as a result make a rather large salary?

Our society pushes us away from God’s calling in these matters. In fact, it often pushes us in the exact opposite direction. I read an article recently that refers to “cowboy capitalism”1. This view of making a living in our society exploits the idea that all people are greedy, self-centered and stupid. If you are smarter and can get their money as a result, you deserve it. Anything goes in cowboy capitalism; there are no moral rules or ethical codes. There is no such thing as fair or just, since there is no such thing as cheating. It is a survival of the fittest mentality applied to making a living or one’s life work.

Now, I’m no communist, but I just can’t accept this type of capitalism when Scripture calls me to something else entirely. Let me illustrate with some data. One article that focuses on pay given to the top executives of more than 300 American companies notes that “In 1965, CEOs (chief executive officers) made 44 times the average factory worker’s salary. Today (the article was written in 2000), CEO’s make 326 times the average factory worker’s pay”2. Of course, it is appropriate to recognize differences in jobs and the amounts we, as a society, pay ourselves. But isn’t there something obscene about such a huge difference?

The principle of fairness comes in here and challenges us to think differently about such matters. I just can’t imagine such gross inequality being acceptable to Jesus, his self-sacrificing disciples or the Church which would uphold His values. Brand me a bleeding-heart liberal if you wish, but it’s not so easy to escape the clear preference God has for the poor. Read the book of Amos if you are not so sure about God’s favor for the poor. Surely, some people end up having far more wealth than others and, as Jesus himself said, we will always have poor people among us. But to be a cowboy capitalist in a value-free survival-of-the-fittest society is not something we should support. Love of neighbor calls us to uphold a different set of values.

1. Gilmartin, Mattia J., & R. Edward Freeman. “Business Ethics and Health Care: A Stakeholder Perspective,” Health Care Manage, Rev. 2002, 27(2), 52-65. Aspen Publishers, Inc.

2. Hoffman, Michael W. & Dawn-Marie Driscoll. “Business Ethics in the New Millennium: Will the Patient Survive?” Business Ethics Quarterly, 2000 Vol. 10, Issue 1, pp. 221-231.