There are several things I discovered when I transitioned from full-time ministry to working in the corporate world that were surprising to me. An important one being this, I didn’t realize how much I would like it. In fact, I was concerned if I would. Once I started to have some success at my job, I started to discover the delicacies and the deceptive food of the corporate world. And you should know that it is quite addictive. My competitive nature fit right in with the high pressure culture of banking.

Once I tasted the benefits of success and the accolades, I was eager to have those again. In addition, people treat you different when you rank towards the top than when you don’t, especially the executives. The higher your scorecards, the more executives who know you and the better you are treated. I worked at one of the largest banks in the country, it was a little exhilarating to be praised by high ranking folks and to be doing well.

I remember being a branch manager after the first two quarters of this year where my branch had scored ver high. It was the highest our branch had ever scored. At the midpoint of the year we were ranked number two in our area and number ten in the company, out of two thousand branches. I was pretty excited. Our branch was being talked about in meetings and people were calling me, congratulating me for our work and the example we were setting. Then the third quarter hit.

Everything changed. In a matter of just two weeks I lost my best salesman, we had to take on a problem employee which severely impacted the entire branch, and our deposits took a hit of 1.5 million dollars. That single hit practically destroyed our third quarter scoring possibilities in one instant. We went from being at the top to basically no chance of maintaining it in the third quarter. That quarter ended up being the hardest, most stressful quarter I had experienced sense starting at the bank.

How true are these words, “When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.” Such was certainly the case with me in the third quarter. God used it as a major reminder that He had not called me to the bank for success on a scorecard or for climbing a corporate latter. I needed to make sure I kept my mind and heart on mission and didn’t allow the addictive nature of the corporate delicacies to distract me from God’s intended purpose for having me there.

Why was I there? I was there to glorify God and to proclaim His glory in everything I do. How was I to do that? By simply being obedient and honoring Him in my job. Part of that is not allowing myself to be consumed by the things that the world is consumed by, the pursuit of wealth and success, power and position.

While God had me “at their table,” He wanted my heart and mind focused steady on Him and about His glory. In doing this, I could expect His favor to be upon me. And this is why I believe my scorecards were high in the beginning of the year. I’m thankful for the reminder in third quarter to keep my heart and mind “on mission”.

The things that this world craves will kill you. It will destroy your life. God knows this. It is suicidal to pursue them. That is what this verse is saying. God has given fair warning.

I’ll leave you with the words of Paul who said, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish [dung], in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him….” (Philippians 3:8-9a)