HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2012 / FALL / THE LIFE AFTER WITH CHRIS LEE
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VOLUME 13, ISSUE 3
D E P A R T M E N T S
The life AFTER with Chris Lee
I work for a nonprofit hospital and was recently thinking about how we differ from for-profit healthcare companies. It’s not that we’re unconcerned about our financials. To the contrary, as an administrator I spend a good deal of time assuring that we’re providing quality care in a fiscally responsible way. I care a great deal about the financial performance of our organization. So what’s the difference between us and the for-profits? I think it comes down to a matter of purpose.
Ultimately, the purpose of any for-profit corporation is to provide financial benefits to those who own or invest in the company. The purpose of a nonprofit organization should be to fulfill its mission. That’s a significant difference. If I were an executive at a for-profit, many of my decisions would be driven by the need to maximize profits for investors. As an executive for a nonprofit I am concerned about our financial performance because poor stewardship will end or limit our mission. If we aren’t fiscally responsible we won’t be here to care for our community tomorrow. If we perform well, we generate funds that can then be put back into maintaining and upgrading our facilities, investing in staff training, procuring new technologies, and expanding the services we offer. The money is just a tool to fulfill the mission.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with companies or individuals making money, even lots of it. It comes down to purpose. Is our purpose to grow comfortable, feel secure, and consume our profits on ourselves or is it to be on mission building the Kingdom? Are we consuming our resources on things that are fleeting or is money simply a tool for investing in that which lasts forever?
These are two very different approaches to life. Let’s take saving for retirement for an example. We all agree that this is a prudent thing to do, but if my focus in life is on self-profit, then saving becomes all about building a self-reliant sense of security. If that’s my purpose, then I will never have enough. If my purpose is to build the kingdom, then saving becomes about being able to stay on mission both now and in the future. With this focus I need not feel compelled to hoard excessively but can be strategic in using the resources I’m given over a lifetime.
I’ve talked to some former Adventists who were turned off on giving by the way they experienced it in Adventism. The word “tithe” generates an emotional response that prevents them from fellowshiping with any congregation that uses the terminology. Personally, I don’t believe there is a New Covenant command to give a certain percentage of one’s income, but I do believe that the New Covenant raises the bar in everything else; why not in giving, also? Under the New Covenant it’s not about living by a proscriptive formula for giving, but about living a life that’s on mission.
I have friends who are so on mission that they have given up careers to be involved in the ministry they are called to. They have given up steady income in favor of trusting God to care for them. Some months they simply live on faith when there are no funds coming in. Their lives go far beyond “tithing”. They’re not just giving God 10% of what they have. Everything they have is in God’s hand. I’m not there yet, but I’m inspired by their example. Striving towards sacrificial giving sometimes leaves me feeling scared and insecure, but steps of faith are never comfortable. I don’t want to waste my life on fleeting self-profit. I want to step out of my comfort zone and live the life after Adventism on mission, investing in that which is eternal.†
Copyright 2012 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Casa Grande, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised October 2, 2012. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
Chris Lee lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife, Carmen, and daughters, Ashlyn and Alyssa. They attend the Lincoln Berean Church. Chris is a self-described "theology junkie" whose mission is to proclaim the unfathomable grace of Christ in a clear, understandable, and Biblical way. Chris is the editor of the Proclamation! Blog at ProclamationMagazine.com. You may contact Chris by email at ambulater@gmail.com.
