Driver Lifestyles

Where the Bible Meets the Road, vol. 1

Initially, most would think the Bible is silent as to any business, with the possible exception of fishing (Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17). Yet, on closer examination, we find the Bible has much to say about business which certainly includes all forms of trucking.

Whether you are an owner-operator, a teamster, an employee of a trucking company or own a trucking franchise, the Bible speaks to how you should conduct your business for the maximum benefit for you and others. The quote from Jesus regarding “fishers of men” gives us a clue as to how the Bible speaks to business.

The Bible does not see the conduct of faith and the conduct of business as different kinds of conduct. In other words, from the perspective of the Bible there is no sacred/secular distinction.  When faith in Jesus Christ grips the heart of a man, that man becomes a “new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). Thus faith is not only the beginning of salvation from sin and death, it is the beginning of a new life - a life that is affected by the revelation of God (the Bible) in all its conduct.

When Jesus tells His disciples they will become fishers of men, He is telling them that in the same way they labored to extract fish from the sea to feed the physical needs of men, they would now labor to bring men into the kingdom of God to bring glory to God. In this quotation Jesus is not diminishing fishing as an occupation; rather, He is affirming that labor brings glory to God and benefits mankind, whether it is fishing for fish or men souls.

Now in the previous paragraph I eluded to the notion that labor is to bring glory to God and benefits to men. This concept is found in the very first commandments given to mankind by God. In Genesis (the first book in the Bible), in the first chapter and in verses 26-28 we read:

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 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.

To borrow a phrase from an old E.F. Hutton commercial, “when God speaks, we should listen.” God told our first father, Adam, to (1)  be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, (2) subdue the earth and (3) have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. This is what theologians call the “dominion mandate”. In the dominion mandate, God is telling us to raise up many generations of people and while doing so to use the earth’s resources for our sustenance.

Presumably, there would be work involved in this dominion activity, and indeed there is. The mandate is given to all men because Adam was our “federal head” (that is to say Adam was the first in the line of men and thus represented all men). This was not just a mandate to Adam alone, this is our mandate, this is our commandment from God and therefore, we should listen with the intention of action.

Now having read all these words, you may be wondering what on earth does this have to do with trucking?  Someone might say, “Show me in the Bible where I can find the words freight, expediter, diesel or flatbed?” The simple fact of the matter is that those words do not appear in the Bible. Neither do the words computer, tire, nuclear or a host of other words. Simply because the Bible may not use our terminology does not necessarily mean it is silent as to our vocation or industry.

Nevertheless, industry assumes work and work is the basis of the “dominion mandate”. Consider this: how much of the trucking industry, in all its forms, revolve around the movement of food for the consumption of the world? Is not the trucking of fish, fowl and beef taking dominion over the fish of the sea the birds of the air and every living creature that moves on the earth? What about machinery that processes fish, fowl and beef? To truck machines that process food is taking dominion over the earth. What about trucking tractor and combine parts that raise the food for mankind, or the trucking of corn,  wheat, soybeans and a host of other crops? So you see the trucking industry is directly related to taking dominion over the earth. With nearly 6 billion people inhabiting the earth, an efficient transportation of resources and commodities is essential to the filling and subduing the earth.

Has it become more clear how God’s words speak to the very technologies of our day from the very first commandments to Adam? I hope this is but a glimpse into this series of articles. In the days ahead, it is my intention to deal with specific topics related to the trucking industry in our series Where the Bible Meets the Road . My desire is for the readers to gain an ever-increasing desire to know God and how close to our daily lives His word, the Bible, can guide and direct us.