Building for God vs Building With God

Dear Oikonomos (Steward),

Can we build something for God and still leave Him out of the building process?

I believe there is a difference between building for God and building with God, and the difference may be much greater than we realize.

Building for God can begin with all the right intentions. We want the business to honor Him. We want to serve people. We want to create impact, generate wealth, provide opportunities, and use what He has given us well. We can dedicate the business to God, pray over it, put Scripture on the wall, give generously, and still make almost every meaningful decision without Him.

Building for God can still leave us in charge. We decide what to build, when to build it, how large it should become, who should be involved, what success should look like, and how quickly we should get there. Then somewhere in the process, we ask God to bless it.

But building with God requires something different. It requires that He be present before the decision, not simply invited after it. It means His wisdom is not only something we seek when things stop working. It becomes part of how we build in the first place.

And that raises an uncomfortable question for me: How much of what we call Kingdom business is actually something we created and then asked God to endorse?

I do not ask that as criticism. I ask it because I have had to examine it in my own life.

There are things we can build that are good, useful, profitable, and even helpful to people, yet still not be what God asked us to build. There are opportunities that make sense strategically and still not belong to us. There are things that can grow and still take us further away from the original instruction.

I think sometimes that is where the confusion comes in. We assume that because something is working, God must be in it. Or because we recognize the “Christian” language, Kingdom language, or even a good mission, it must have His approval.

But success and agreement are not always the same thing.

And perhaps that is why Spiritual Intelligence matters so much in business. Strategy can tell me whether something can work. Experience can tell me whether something has worked before. Data can tell me whether there is demand. But none of those can answer the deeper question: Is this what God is asking me to do?

That question changes everything. Because now I am not only asking whether I have the capacity to build it. I am asking whether I have the authorization and the instruction.

I’m not only asking whether the opportunity is good. I’m asking whether it is mine. I’m not only asking whether it can grow. I am asking whether God is in it.

And I am learning that those are not always the same questions.

There is another part of this that I think we do not talk about enough. Sometimes we accept God’s what, but resist His how.

We agree with the assignment but want to choose the method. We accept the vision but want control over the timing. We say yes to the destination and then create our own route to get there. And then we call it faithfulness because we are still technically doing the thing God told us to do.

But is obedience only about what we build, or does it also include how we build it?

That question has challenged me. Because building with God means I have to remain close enough to hear when He says continue, but also when He says stop. When He says expand, but also when He says prune. When He says speak, but also when He says wait. When He gives a strategy that does not look like the one I would have chosen.

It means I cannot reduce God to the One who gives the vision and then leave Him behind while I execute it.

Perhaps that is one of the dangers of being capable. We know how to build. We know how to strategize. We know how to make things happen. And because we can, we sometimes do.

But capacity is not always permission. Maybe that is the question for us today, Oikonomos.

Not simply, “Am I building something for God?” But, “Am I still building it with Him?”

This is also at the heart of the conversations we will be having during the Beyond the Book Virtual Tour around The Kingdom C-Suite. We are going beyond the pages of the book to look at what it really means to build with God, lead with Him, and recognize the difference between having a Kingdom mission and actually operating in partnership with the King.

The virtual tour begins September 22, just one week from today. If this is the kind of conversation you know you need in this season, I would love for you to join us.

Register here: www.camillebabin.com/beyondthebook

May you continue to see beyond the visible and steward what truly matters.

Camille