• Organizational Finance

  Keep It Fuzzy In The Middle: Accounting and the Spirit of God

  Posted by profmag on February 22, 2024 at 1:56 pm

  I’ve been thinking about financial practices and spirituality. For example, some of the sources we viewed yesterday on data analysis advocate a data-driven approach to leadership. I’m not sure that’s right: a spiritual person should always live a Spirit-driven life – sometimes actually contrary to the data. On the other hand, serving and loving people well means loving them “real” — and science, data, and financial responsibility would be part of this.

  A good story to meditate on would be the Loaves and Fish of Mt 14:14-21 (WEB):

  14 Jesus went out, and he saw a great multitude. He had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.”

  16 But Jesus said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

  17 They told him, “We only have here five loaves and two fish.”

  18 He said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass; and he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 They all ate and were filled. They took up twelve baskets full of that which remained left over from the broken pieces. 21 Those who ate were about five thousand men, in addition to women and children.

  Notice there was an initial accounting of how much food they had on hand, the approximate number of people, and the amount of food collected. But there was also a large “fuzzy” space in the middle where Jesus had some space to work to give everyone a unexpected blessing.

  As we build business cases using this financial skills, we need to leave “fuzzy” room for God to do his thing and reveal the Kingdom that is not constrained by either “natural law” or “human principle” — upon which financial systems are based.

  profmag replied 9 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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