On day two, God created the heavens, the very seat of His authority, the very place of His throne from which the law of God goes forth. His laws are indicative of His ways and for the purpose of our discussion the next few days; we are referring to His ways as “guiding principles”. Others call them values.

On yesterday’s post, I asked, “What values will you guide your vision with?” You might be tempted to say that you will guide that vision and steward that vision with Biblical principles. That’s a step in the right direction, but which ones? All of them? How many are there? You see, it can get rather complicated when you start to drill down. While it is said there are 613 Jewish laws, Jesus was able to boil man’s responsibility in those laws down to two principles: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: And…You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

When it comes to how God guides His universe, it seems that there are a handful of guiding principles mentioned in Scripture that are far reaching in their scope and easily, and perhaps wisely, adapted to Scripture. For the next several days, we will identify each of the dominant seven guiding principles I have found in Scripture and how we can apply them to our business. I figure if they’re good enough for God to use for His enterprise we call planet Earth, then they are more than good enough for our enterprises.

“And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And God called the firmament HEAVEN.”

On day two, God made the heavens. Day one was about light which enabled Vision but what on earth do the heavens signify? I submit to you that they are easily representative of guiding PRINCIPLES. You see, the Heavens are the seat of God’s authority. Psalm 103:19 says, “The LORD has prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all.” Furthermore, God directs His authority in accordance and consistent with His ways. In Isaiah God said, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

What I glean from this is that God rules the universe by something He calls “His ways”. He chooses not to be arbitrary, but rather has laws by which He governs everything. His laws, or ways, or what I am calling “guiding principles” are so important to God that the Psalmist said of Him, “for You have magnified Your Word above all Your name.”

So now you have a vision for your business, your life, your family, etc.; but how are you going to conduct your business. Not “what” are you going to do, but rather “how” are you going to guide your affairs? Many companies have caught on to this idea and have listed out their values. One company I know has a value statement purposing to be “committed to excellence, to being customer-centric, to treating others with respect, trust and dignity and to being committed to employee growth and well being.” That’s not bad.

According to their website, these guiding values are to “serve as a frame work to guide the daily actions and decisions of employees and represents the standards that employees will use to measure all individual and collective actions.” My question for you is: what values will you guide your vision with? What values will your employees guide their decisions with? Do they know what you really value?