By Chris Simpson
The modern marketplace runs on giftedness. Strategic thinkers. Visionary entrepreneurs. High-performing executives. If you can move the needle, you get the platform. Your resume becomes your brand, and your results become your value.
I have lived this out. The skills that made me effective in the Secret Service – command presence, decisive leadership, operating under pressure – those were marketplace gold. And for a while, I used them to climb ladders, to secure approval, to prove I belonged at the table.
But those gifts did not become sacred for me until I surrendered my life and my work to Jesus Christ. Until I stopped asking how they could serve me – and started asking how they could serve Him. It was only then – only when I used those same leadership instincts to love, disciple, and build others up in Jesus’ name – that those moments bore eternal fruit, what Jesus called “fruit that will last” (John 15:16). That is when my work stopped being transactional and started becoming transformational.
The mindset I have described is not new. In the Bible’s New Testament, we see Jesus calling out religious leaders who had it all backwards. They magnified the gift – how polished it looked, how impressive it seemed – while neglecting the altar, the Source from which they had received the gifts for leading others. Jesus gave them – and us – a hard reset in Matthew 23:19: “You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?” He was declaring, “The gift is not what makes something sacred. The altar does.”
As we discover in reading the Bible, the altar is where something dies, where something is sacrificed as a form of worship. In marketplace terms, it is where ambition is laid down. It is the place of surrender, where your offering becomes holy because it costs you.
Jesus was addressing religious leaders 2,000 years ago, but this is not just ancient temple talk. This is very practical Monday morning stuff. I like to point out to my marketplace friends that our talents do not become sacred just because we use them successfully. They become sacred when they are surrendered, offered to God as a sacrifice – no longer for our own benefit, but for His glory and His purposes.
A gifted leader can drive results – and miss the Kingdom of God. A visionary entrepreneur can scale fast – and never glorify God. Even generosity can become performative if it is about optics or appearances, and not done out of reverential obedience. But when our deal-making, our strategising, our team-building – our work – is placed on the altar of God’s purposes, it shifts. It becomes more than performance. It becomes worship.
That is the difference between temporary applause and eternal impact. You can be the most competent person in the boardroom and still be a hindrance to the God’s mission if your gifts are not laid down before Jesus. High capacity does not equal high surrender. And in His Kingdom, it is surrender that moves the needle. To receive a gift is grace. To sharpen that gift is stewardship. But to lay it on the altar? That is worship. And that is where your leadership becomes sacred ground.
© 2025. Christopher C. Simpson is dedicated to fostering a bold and triumphant Christian faith within the global marketplace, driven by a deep conviction in the Gospel’s transformative power. Before becoming President of CBMC International, Chris dedicated 28 years to a distinguished career in the public sector – as a Commanding Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps; and serving in the U. S. Secret Service, responsible for protecting seven American presidents and leading elite teams in complex, high-stakes international missions. With his wife Ana, a native of Nicaragua, and their three children, Chris resides in Boca Raton, Florida.
Reflection/Discussion Questions
What gifts or abilities has God given you that you are tempted to use for personal recognition and advancement, rather than for Kingdom purposes?
What would it look like to lay those gifts on the altar today – fully surrendered for God’s glory, not for yours?
Where in your leadership have you focused more on impressing others than serving them in Jesus’ name?
In what ways are you using your influence to encourage and strengthen others in their relationship with Jesus Christ – rather than to build your own platform?
NOTE: If you have a Bible and would like to read more about principles it presents, consider the following passages:
Matthew 6:33, 16:24-25
Mark 10:45
Romans 12:1-2
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Challenge for This Week
So here is the question for today: Are you leveraging your gifts for your name, for your honour and recognition – or for God’s? Are you stewarding your role in the workplace for earthly gain or eternal reward? Because only what is placed on the altar will last.
What practical step can you take to begin turning your workplace into an altar, not just an office? Think about discussing this with someone this week – a trusted friend or advisor, or perhaps your CBMC group.