Suppose you walked into work today and the boss says, “Starting today, I’m going to give you a 113.68% pay raise plus I will reduce your work day from 9 hours to 8 hours – but there are some conditions.” To give you an idea of what this might look like, minimum wage is $11.00/hour in the state of Ohio for non-tipped employess.1 A 113.68% increase makes your new hourly wage $22.37/hour.
Let’s consider how this would play out before taxes. Working 9 hours/day at $11.00/hour for five days equals $495.00/week. Working 8 hours/day, five days a week at $22.37/hour equals $894.80/week. Your yearly gross income just increased from $25,740 to $46,529.60! Are you excited about this? Remember, though, there are conditions.
- There will be random home inspections where investigators will show up to see if things are neat and tidy and that you are being financially responsible.
- If you are an immigrant, you will have to learn English and the education of your children will be monitored.
- You are discouraged from drinking, gambling, or renting out a portion of your home to another.
- You are expected to save and spend responsibly. You will be checked up on regularly.
Are you going to turn down the raise and the shorter work day, claiming that the demands are too high? Probably not. You are going to do what you have to do.
If you think this is outlandish and would never happen, I’m here to tell you that it did happen on January 5, 1914, at the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. Henry Ford was fighting a 370% turnover rate of employees. 52,000 workers had to be employed during the year just to keep 14,000 jobs filled and production rates meeting demand. All this changed with Ford’s offer.
Remember – this is 1914. Those working for Ford were paid $2.34/day. Per DAY! A 113.68% pay raise took them to $5.00/day. Your annual salary jumped from $608.40 to $1300.00. And you worked 260 less hours for the pay increase.
People seized the opportunity. Turnover was reduced to just 16% and production increased by nearly 19%. The success of Ford’s plan inspired other companies to follow suit out of necessity.
Reading this may cause us to shudder at the intrusiveness in a person’s life. However, this seems to be a Biblical concept applied to the world of industry. Luke 12:48 says, “…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” Ford gave more, therefore, he required more.
So much of our prayer life is about asking God for more. More money, more comfort,
more leisure, more relief, more this, and more that. Think about this. When God answered your prayer and gave you more, how did you increase what you did for Him? How did you use what He gave you to be more of a blessing to Him.
When we think of it in those terms, that becomes a bit convicting because God does and gives so much to His children. Why are we not doing more for Him? Why are there verses like Matthew 9:37 in the Bible that says, “…The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” Daily, you would think the need would be more than met because of how gracious and giving God has been to us. And yet, it’s not.
Does God put conditions on what He gives us? Sometimes, He does. Ultimately, though, those “conditions” are on us as Christians and God is inspecting our lives all the time, not just random spot inspections. We are to live holy, separated lives all the time.
And we are not to hoard God’s gifts. We are to use them to benefit others and glorify God. Let 1 Peter 4:10 encourage and remind us that to whom much is given, much is required. “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
1https://www.ontheclock.com/State-Minimum-Wage.aspx
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