God's Business and IPO

God’s Business and IPO

In modern day business an “IPO” (Initial Public Offering), or sometimes referred to as a Stock Market Launch, is where shares of stock in a company are sold to the general public through a securities exchange for the first time. What was a privately owned company changes to a publically owned company. The company is usually poised for expansion, and if the IPO is successful the revenues generated through offering stock to the public raises funds to help the company achieve its growth plans and meet increased product demand. The successful IPO also allows the company to have less dependence on private investors, and even repay those investors and other debts. Although there are both advantages and disadvantages to a company going public, it is mostly a time of excitement and celebration for the owners of a company, the investors, the management, the new share holders, and in many cases the employees. It’s a sign of good things to come and an optimistically prosperous future.

The Lord spoke about His servants in His spiritual employ when He said, “Wherefore, as ye are agents, ye are on the Lord’s errand; and whatever ye do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord’s business” (D/C 64:29). At another time, during His mortal ministry, the Savior also referred to Himself as “being about His Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). If we were asked to characterize ‘God’s business’, we might instinctively refer to the verse in the Pearl of Great Price where God declared, “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). At my count, the word ‘business’ is used some 47 times in the Standard Works with a variety of purposes and meanings. When thinking about God’s business, have you ever considered the idea of an IPO for His business?

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to consider it this way… Although the acronym is the same – IPO, the words used in God’s IPO are very different from ‘Initial Public Offering’ (perhaps one version worth considering would be ‘Infinite Public Offering’). But the words used for IPO in this article can assist in further describing God’s business and even help us to better know Him. So, please consider God’s IPO in this way –

God is in the business of Improving (the “I” in IPO). He is steadfast in His dedication to improve things. He takes chaos and makes order. He takes bad people and makes them good; He takes good people and makes them even better. He heals the sick, makes the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. Even more impressive, He can wash away sin! To us, these are miracles – to Him, He is making improvements. One of the primary products of God’s business is Improving. For God, the process of creating and improving go hand in hand. Everything He touches, everything He thinks, in all of His relationships and all of His creations, He is constantly working on making things better, more beautiful, more useful, more wonderful, improving things in some way or other. He doesn’t give up on people or things – it’s just not in His nature; He sticks with them and helps them improve to their ultimate best possible conclusion. And even then He still doesn’t give up on them. It’s just the way He is, and it makes sense that improving things would be a natural quality for One Who’s purpose and foundation is based in the prime objective of love. I am so touched with the thought that Improvement and Improving things is the “I” in God’s IPO; and that it’s an essential component in His business plan.

God is in the business of Progressing (the “P” in IPO). He is also tenaciously dedicated to having things progress. Nothing remains dormant in His universe. Instead, He takes stagnancy and stimulates it, invigorates it and brings it to life. He takes a handful of seeds and turns them into fruits, vegetables, fields of grain, flowers of every color in the rainbow and trees of breathtaking majesty. He takes star dust and makes planets. To us, these are miracles – to Him, He is making progress. Next to Improvement in the primary product line of God’s business is Progressing. He is patient as He knows that perfect work takes time. He takes a slave and turns him into a nation’s ruler. He takes a boy and turns him into a prophet. He takes a girl and turns her into the Mother of God. He takes His Son and turns Him into a Savior of billions. He allows us challenges and trials to measure our progress. He gave us the gift of time to evaluate our progress. He gave us the gift of His Son’s Atonement and mercy and forgiveness to allow for sin and shortcomings and mistakes so that we will discover that progress is both possible and essential and a blessing from the Father above. He just doesn’t give up on people or things, it’s just not in His nature; He sticks with them and helps them progress to their ultimate best possible end. And even then, as we stand in amazement, He still doesn’t give up on them. It’s just the way He is, and it makes sense that progressing things would be a natural quality for One Who’s purpose and foundation is based in the prime objective of love. It inspires me and gives me hope to know that Progressing is the “P” in God’s IPO; and is an essential element of His business plan.

God is in the business of Organizing (the “O” in IPO). Organization takes a plan, and perfect organization takes a perfect plan. God has a perfect plan for each of us and each of His creations. He is enthusiastically devoted to His plan and to the organizing and organization of it all. He organized the solar system so that our earth was just the right distance from the sun to sustain life. He organized all of the planets and their orbits. He organized the stars and the numberless galaxies in the universe. It is said that He created all that has been created, “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col 1:16). And in every little corner of all of creation, He purposefully and thoughtfully organized it. He takes disorganized things and organizes them, bringing them together in ways that will be useful and productive and beneficial. He is in direct opposition to the process of entropy (the natural regression or disintegration and falling apart of things) and instead brings things together for a higher purpose and a holy favorable design. He organized our lives and our families – our generations past and generations to come. Everything was planned and organized down to finite details. There were no chances taken. There is too much at risk for Him to not have organized it so precisely and perfectly – just the thought of losing one of His sons or daughters is too much of a risk to take for Him. If, as the scripture tells us, He has gone to the detail of numbering our hairs, and He cares when a sparrow falls from its perch, how much more would He mourn with the loss of one of His children (Matt 10:29-31). This doesn’t mean that everything in life is predestined and we have no control over our decisions. Quite the contrary, He has planned for the possibilities of multiple options with their respective results, and we are left to make decisions and reap the consequences of what we sow (Gal 6:7-9). But the culmination of all of life’s decisions, with His influence, will ultimately bring us back to a kingdom of glory where He has a mansion prepared for us. The fact is, He just doesn’t give up on people or things; He sticks with them and helps organize them to their ultimate best possible end. And even then He doesn’t give up on them. It’s just the way He is, it’s in His nature, and it makes sense that organizing things would be a natural quality for One Who’s purpose and foundation is based in the prime objective of love. It offers me insights into how He loves and how He operates.  It comforts me to know that Organizing is the “O” in God’s IPO and it is an essential feature of His business plan.

I have a lot of faith in God’s business and in His business plan. You might say that I hold significant stock in His IPO and continue to seek more at every opportunity. Participating and investing in God’s IPO will bear signs of good things to come and provide an optimistic confidence for a wealth of blessings in the future. I believe that it is through His work and His business that I will find my only prospect of returning and living with Him someday.

As with God’s IPO, it would do us good to pattern our life’s work in the same way – with the same purposes, in all that we do, all that we say, all that we think. We should continually ask ourselves, “How can I improve this situation?” “How can I help this move along, help it progress?” “How can I organize this better so that it will be more useful, more productive, more beautiful and more beneficial?” “How can I better serve Him and those around me in being about His business?”

In conclusion, God’s IPO (Improving – Progressing – Organizing) is another way to look at His business. These character traits work together so royally, so Godly. These three elements are essential to His work in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39). They are optimistic and show our Father’s love and fondness of all of His children and all of His creations. And in reality, these three characteristics, which are only a glimpse of all of God’s qualities, are used by Him for our ultimate purpose and our ultimate happiness. He lovingly employs them on our behalf so that we will have the opportunity to live in the presence of God the Father and The Son, our Savior Jesus Christ for the eternities.

Dear Heavenly Father, I’m so grateful for all of the Improving, Progressing and the Organizing Thou hast done and continues to do for me and those I love. I’m so thankful for all of Thine efforts that I recognize, and so much more for those that I don’t.

Wm. Calvin Hughes

July 2013