Written by Kimberley Preeper | October 18, 2026
Reflections on a recent sermon of righteousness by faith, Doing Business God's Way, and what it truly means to lead with the character of Christ.
There are times when God uses something someone says to make us stop, reflect, and take a closer look at our own lives.
Recently, I listened to a Sabbath sermon. The speaker’s message focused on righteousness by faith, the spirit of offense, the assumptions we make about others, and the importance of allowing God to examine and transform our hearts.
It was a message that touched me and certainly gave me pause to think.
As I listened, I kept finding myself connecting what the speaker was sharing with the lessons I've been studying through Doing Business God's Way, a biblical business leadership program offered through the School of Business Leadership.
What struck me most was just how closely these teachings relate to one another.
Whether we're leading a business, serving in ministry, participating in church leadership, or simply navigating our relationships with family and friends, the principles remain the same.
We can be technically right but ethically wrong.
And I believe that is something worth examining.
It Begins With the Heart
Early in her message, the speaker shared how God had been working in her life and revealing areas she had not fully surrendered to Him.
One of those areas was taking offense.
She spoke about how easily we can allow hurt feelings, assumptions, and resentment to influence the way we see and respond to others.
That immediately brought me back to one of our GoBusiness100 lessons, The Mind Justifies What the Heart Has Chosen.
What an important principle!
We may believe we're making logical, reasonable decisions based on facts, when in reality our emotions, experiences, assumptions, and underlying motives may already have influenced how we see the situation.
Proverbs 4:23 reminds us to guard our hearts because the issues of life flow from them.
As a business owner, I've had to think about what that means in my own leadership.
When things aren't going well, when financial pressures are building, when an employee makes a costly mistake, or when someone doesn't follow through on a commitment, how am I responding?
Am I approaching the situation with wisdom, patience, and understanding? Or am I allowing frustration, fear, or disappointment to influence my judgment?
And what about our ministries and churches?
How often do we assume we understand another person's motives without first taking the time to listen?
It's possible to be genuinely concerned about a problem and still approach it with the wrong attitude.
That's why examining our hearts is so important.
When Assumptions Become Our Truth
One of the examples the speaker used was the relationship between King Saul and David.
Saul allowed jealousy, insecurity, and suspicion to change the way he viewed David. Eventually, those assumptions became so deeply rooted that Saul began treating David as an enemy.
That story can teach us a great deal about leadership.
In our GoBusiness studies, particularly Mediating Grace, we've been learning that God builds relationally.
The health of an organization depends on more than its systems, procedures, or financial performance. It also depends on the relationships between the people within it.
And relationships can be damaged very quickly when assumptions replace honest communication.
James 1:19 teaches us to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.
Imagine what a difference that principle could make in our businesses, ministries, churches, and homes.
Rather than assuming why someone behaved a certain way, we could ask questions.
Rather than allowing resentment to grow, we could address concerns directly.
Rather than looking for reasons to prove ourselves right, we could genuinely seek to understand the truth.
That doesn't mean ignoring wrongdoing. It means addressing it without allowing our own assumptions to become the judge of another person's heart.
Being Technically Right but Ethically Wrong
This is one of the most significant lessons I've been learning through Doing Business God's Way.
We can be technically right but ethically wrong.
Think about that for a moment.
A business owner can be legally entitled to make a particular decision and still handle that decision unfairly.
A manager can be justified in correcting an employee and still do so in a way that is humiliating or unkind.
A church leader can be correct about a biblical principle and still communicate it with pride, impatience, or a lack of compassion.
And someone defending the truth can become so focused on winning an argument that they forget the very character of Christ they are supposed to represent.
This connects with our studies on biblical ethics, justice, and the responsibilities of leadership.
Micah 6:8 reminds us that God requires us to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him.
Notice that justice, mercy, and humility belong together.
Ephesians 4:15 calls us to speak the truth in love.
It doesn't say we should compromise truth for the sake of peace. But it also doesn't give us permission to abandon love because we believe we're right.
Biblical ethics require us to examine not only the decision itself, but our motives, our methods, and the impact our actions have on others.
And that applies to every area of our lives.
Forgiveness Doesn't Mean Abandoning Accountability
Another important distinction the speaker made in her sermon concerned forgiveness and reconciliation.
She explained that forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation when the other person is unwilling to repent or respond with humility.
I appreciated that distinction.
As Christian leaders, we're called to demonstrate grace, patience, compassion, and forgiveness.
But we're also responsible for maintaining standards, correcting wrongdoing, and caring for the people and resources entrusted to us.
In business, forgiving an employee for a mistake doesn't mean abandoning the procedures intended to prevent that mistake from happening again.
In ministry, extending grace doesn't mean overlooking behaviour that is harmful to others.
And in our personal relationships, forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean that trust can immediately be restored.
Matthew 18:15–17 provides a biblical process for addressing wrongdoing directly.
Romans 12:18 reminds us to live peaceably with others as much as it depends on us.
There is a balance here that I believe we need to understand.
We can forgive without holding resentment. We can correct without humiliating. We can stand for truth without seeking revenge.
That's not always easy.
But isn't that part of what it means to grow in the character of Christ?
