day 732: Clean Energy

“Now Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul... And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him”

Every business has a certain "energy" about them that we could call the mixture of their reputation, brand appeal, and consumer confidence. Those that are at the top of the heap are usually also the companies that we consider, "clean". That is that they provide high quality products or services, are ethical, treat their employees well, have good taste, and don't engage in activities that embarrass or create negative news about them. Ironically, these are also the companies that the media and other companies are always looking for ways/reasons to knock them off of their pedestal. I think about Apple. Apple is beloved right now by consumers around the world. As Steve Jobs left his position as CEO last month he left one of the highest employee approval ratings Glassdoor.com had ever seen (a company that I am on the Board of), and yet, at the same time, the media loves to stir the pot with stories of Apple's overseas labor practices and what happens in the plants in China. The point is that the more any business works to be blameless the more others will try and bring them down. But, this is no reason to not work to be pure and blameless. Wouldn't we rather have that approach first and worry about the rest later? I'll choose "clean energy" companies over others all day long.

God tells us something about what happens when in our lives we also try to bring across "clean energy" and when we do that through our walk with Christ. What happens with David and Saul says it all. When we try and walk a blameless life we will have others who will not like us and will try and get us to trip up so that they can either point out our contradiction and hypocrisy to cover up their faults, or because they don't want to see others who believe succeed. Let's be honest with ourselves, it can get rough out there and our workplaces are the roughest places of all. Only the lowest dive bars and taverns would allow the kind of language and behavior that can happen daily inside a conference room. We need to be prepared that if want to exude clean energy, clean living, and be an example of Jesus' life, then it comes with the opposition. That said, we know that if we go further into the David and Saul account that God removed Saul from David's presence when it got too heated. God will protect us if we are standing up for Him and living and working "cleanly".

Reference: 1 Samuel 18:12-15