The redoubtable church theologian Augustine of Hippo wrote a work titled The City of God. It was published a few years before his death; perhaps it was his magnum opus. The following quote captures the significance of this work:

The City of God shaped the practice of biblical exegesis and helped lay the foundation for much of medieval and modern Christian thought.¹

In this work, Augustine understood Scripture to teach that mankind lives and works out of a default state of rebellion against God. He called this state “the City of Man.”² This means mankind is not inherently good in the sense of seeking to obey God nor does mankind inherently have the potential to earn right-standing with God.

Jesus provided mankind a way of redemption from this fallen state and the potential to live and work based on obeying God. Augustine called this state “the City of God.”³

In the above Scripture verse, Jesus commanded mankind to repent, that is, to change our thinking so that the way we live will change for the better. This was a call to mankind to move from living based on the City of Man to living and working based on the City of God. In other words, to progressively stop doing our will and start doing God’s will.

The following contrasts between the City of Man and the City of God are some of the ways we need to transform our thinking.

• State: Every person is born spiritually dead and destined for physical death. Only redeemed mankind will be made spiritually alive and resurrected from physical death to eternal life.

• Attitude: Pride manifested by rebellion against the will and ways of God is mankind’s default state. Humility is a mark of a redeemed person.

• Grace: Common grace is a gift of God to enable unredeemed mankind to obey God on a rudimentary level. Special grace is the gift of Christ that facilitates redemption and empowers mankind to obey God beyond the rudimentary level of common grace.

• Source of Wisdom: Unredeemed mankind lacks metaphysical awareness and therefore has limited ability to see reality correctly or gain true divine wisdom. Redeemed mankind can see reality from God’s perspective and, therefore, develop godly wisdom.

• Empowerment: Fallen mankind is limited to human (natural) potential. Redeemed mankind is empowered by divine (supernatural) potential.

• Metric: The presumption that man has the power to define reality—man the measure (homo mensura) is the mantra of humanism—the default state of mankind. Redeemed mankind knows that reality is defined by God, that is, God is the measure (deus mensura).

• Motive: The motive of fallen mankind is to do his or her will, that is, to assume the role of God. Redeemed mankind surrenders his or her will to the will of God.

• Success: Fallen mankind's default definition of success is denominated in terms of temporal metrics such as money, influence, fame, and power. True success is denominated in terms of eternal metrics, that is, obedience to the will and ways of God, which has both temporal and transcendent value.

To build organizations well in God’s universe, one must align with the rules of the City of God. The default state of mankind is aligned with the City of Man. Therefore, organizational leaders and managers must seek to bring godly alignment through individual and organizational transformation.

Here is your business tip. Wise organizational leaders and managers understand that organizations exist to serve the will of God. Accordingly, they recognize that all stakeholders, by default, are not inclined to align with God. Therefore, organizational leadership must proactively engage in training all stakeholders to align with the values, principles, and practices that emanate from a Christian worldview. A culture marked by repenting from the default thinking of fallen mankind and embracing biblical thinking is a predicate for building an enduringly successful organization.