I was listening to Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek, talk last weekend about commitment to serving the poor and disadvantaged. He suggested reading Isaiah 58 every day for a month. Among the things that God says is, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”
This message came just after I had listened to at least three talks over the past couple of weeks from people who had visited “third world” countries recently. The reports included descriptions of the results of modern corporations moving manufacturing and production operations to these countries that have corrupt governments with few regulations. Nothing prevents the companies from taking shortcuts in processes. They dump wastes into rivers resulting in water unfit to support life. People were thrown off land that had supported them perhaps for generations and who now had no food and no means of support.
As a manufacturing professional, I’m grieved that we take advantage of people so easily and flippantly. Ethics apply everywhere. In fact, ethics is also good business. Being careless with waste and environment is a sign of sloppy, wasteful thinking. Actually, long term profits and success result from doing just the opposite of managers who take the easy way out.
Most of us will not be making those decisions. The question remains, when faced with decisions or choices about whether to grab a short-term easy benefit or whether to help other people in the long run, I, for one, hope that I choose the latter.
And for reinforcement, I’ll be reading Isaiah 58 daily for the month of May. Just to write it in my mind.
Faith Venture 
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