In the beginning during creation, God gave man ‘seed’ capital.
The first book of the Bible gives us details of this creation. We see that God created man, and one of the first raw materials that he gave to man was ‘seed’.
And God said, “I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed…” – Genesis 1:29
Apart from the ‘literal seed’, God gave man other seeds – resources that included rivers, trees, animals and even gold. And He did not give him merely a small amount, but an abundance of it – 4 rivers, precious stones, livestock, lots of gold underneath the river, etc. (Chapter 2 explains this)
Not only did He give man the capital, He also partnered with man for the management of this capital. Man was expected to use this capital and manage creation.
I believe there is something we should learn from this creation story concerning capital and how to handle it.
It is a picture of what God does even today. In our own lives, God gives each of us capital to work with. He gives us resources that we could use for our own good and for the good of others.
Blessing and Dominion:
In verse 28, we see God blessing man and giving him the power to be fruitful and the power to multiply.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” – Genesis 1:28
We are happy to accept this blessing from God. We are happy to multiply the capital and other things that God gave us and blessed us with.
But there is one word in between all these good blessings that needs to be understood in order to solve one of the biggest problems with mankind today. Note the word ‘Dominion’ in the second line. God not only blessed them, but he also told them to dominate.
This quality of domination has become a problem in our society today, especially when it comes to capital. The one with capital wants to dominate the others who do not have it. The rich want to dominate the poor. The husband wants to dominate the wife. The boss wants to dominate the subordinates. People with access to capital, more so those with access to big amounts of capital think that it is their right and privilege to dominate others.
Staggering Statistics
Let me show you some statistics related to the dominion exerted by people/businesses with access to capital. This will astonish you!
- The International Labour Organisation states that about 168 million children around the world are trapped in child labour. Businesses with access to capital have no problem dominating little children and destroying their childhood.
- Every 15 seconds, almost 153 workers are injured due to work-related accidents around the world. People in the boardrooms of companies think it is fine to dominate other fellow human beings and not care about their safety and welfare, just because they have access to large amounts of capital. Instead of using the capital to provide safety to their employees, they use it for further multiplication of their wealth.
- About 21 million people are forced into bonded labour. They generate approximately 150 billion US dollars in illegal profits every year. It is one thing to go to work and want to improve your own life by working hard and another to be forced to work whether you like it or not, and generate illegal profits.
Abuse of Dominion
To understand this ‘dominion’ a bit more clearly, let us relook at the same verse:
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” – Genesis 1:28
And at the first look, it seems like it was God who introduced the concept of Dominion to man and in the process of blessing man, it seems like He is the one who is asking man to Dominate.
It is true. It was God who asked man to dominate. But dominate what?
When God charged man to have dominion, He asked him to dominate all the ‘things’ of this world, He did NOT give him dominion over other human beings! Read the scripture again.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that creeps on the earth” – Genesis 1:28
You will see that God asked man to dominate everything in the creation EXCEPT another human being. God did ask man to rule the world, but not in a negative manner by lording over others.
It is the inherent nature of the fallen world to take something beautiful that God created for the good of man, and pervert it to work against the will of God making it something bad for man. For examples: the power to get wealth, the sexual pleasure within a marriage, etc. They were all created by God for man’s good. But we see how they have become twisted and deformed from their original purpose and have become agents of destruction and sadness in the lives of many people.
It is the same with dominion. Dominion was given to man so that he can live with authority over creation, dominate the world and its things. This domination is the character that makes human beings invent planes to defy gravity, go to the moon, climb mountains, dive seas, dig for minerals and achieve many more such great things. We do dominate this earth. But the fallen world also takes this good quality of dominion over things and twists/perverts it to make us have dominion over people.
When there is access to capital and money, the likelihood of the wrong kind of domination increases manifold. That’s why the Bible describes money or wealth as ‘mammon.’ It can become a devil if it is not utilized wisely.
So, what can we do about it?
The Real Purpose of Kingdom Capital: A 5-Point Checklist
Here is a checklist with five questions. Whenever God gives you access to capital/money, be a responsible child of God and ask yourself these 5 questions. This will help you avoid the trap and keep you from dominating others.
1. Are you oppressing or are you freeing others using God-given capital?
Let’s use the double-edged Word of God in our lives to see if there are any traces of dominion in our lives over others.
2. Are you manipulating or are you empowering others using God-given capital?
Maybe we don’t oppress others. But we could be manipulating our customers, organisation, employees or the government indirectly, to gain something for ourselves and our companies.
3. Are you abusing the talents and gifts of people using God-given capital?
Are we being a hard taskmaster treating our employees like slaves? When I started my company, God asked me a few questions, ‘Are you going to abuse people’s skills and talents by under-paying them and by making them work ungodly hours?’ As a company policy, we work 8 hours and ensure that our employees have the weekend off.
4. Are you abusing resources using God-given capital?
If we look at history, we will see evidence of abuse of resources over and over again. Opium wars destroyed China. In India, pastoral land was destroyed and tea estates were planted. The nature of the soil was abused. As a result of abuse of natural resources, people were also affected – they ended up growing crops that they did not want to, and were forced into poverty and hunger.
So, instead of abusing let us strive to replenish resources and treat people well.
5. Are you limiting potential using God-given capital?
Let your organisation empower people. Never do anything that will limit the potential of others. It could be your vendors, co-workers or even customers. You should also check if your capital is limiting the potential of your nation in anyway.
If you consider these points and use capital to build people, build nations and empower others, then you will be in the original will of God. Remember in God’s original will, He blessed man and the capital, so that they could grow and multiply. Your capital could also grow and multiply in unimaginable ways when you understand God’s will and use it in the right way.
After all, the real purpose of capital is to set free and not take captive.
