Throughout the Bible, people sell, whether it is their ideas or themselves. A salesperson is moving someone to see something as a solution to a pain. Joseph is an example of a failed salesperson to his brothers. He was trying to communicate the content of his dreams to his brothers yet in speaking at them in a bragging way and not listening to their needs, he was not going to win them over. The opposite happened. However, later he successfully sold himself to his brothers by looking out for their interests, he reestablished a relationship with them founded on their trusting him.
An example of a successful yet deceptive sale in the Bible is when the serpent convinces Eve to eat of the tree of good and evil. He cleverly asks her questions in order to convince her that she needs this fruit which in reality eating the fruit will be harmful. She is led to believe she has a problem which she does not. The serpent convinces her that if she just eats of the tree, she will be like God. Although this was true to some extent, this sale is not in her best interest, but actually brought death. Yet, he moved her to believe in a solution to a pain.
If a salesperson is moving someone to see something as a solution to a pain, selling to people can actually be done in love, as you offer something that is in their best interest. Paul wrote, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence” (2 Cor. 4:13-14). Paul firmly believes the Gospel is the ultimate solution to our ultimate pain. Believing in your product is a mark of a honest salesperson. He knows the Gospel will solve our pain, and wants us to be moved to accept it.
BoweryJE22
There are some good examples here from scripture. Drawing the comparison of firmly believing in the gospel that we are selling is the same as firmly believing in the product or service we are selling.
I love how you honed into the story of Joseph and dissected several sales examples from there. You could also say that the man in prison who (eventually) mentions him to Pharaoh mentioned him from a referral of trust.
This post got me thinking of other biblical contexts for sales. I thought of tax collectors because I think plenty of people think of salespeople today like people thousands of years ago thought of tax collectors. It’s good to consider how we can be a shining light with our commitment to integrity and excellence by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thanks for this thought-provoking post!
I love the concept of pulling sales out of these Biblical stories! There is certainly a lot of “non-sales selling” that happens in the Bible, so it’s great to notice that and pull it out.