Testimony of faith. Who’s the boss?

Prep school, business school, job with responsibilities: my trajectory perfectly predisposes me to commit myself as a Christian in society, in accordance with the vision transmitted by my Protestant parents. But something is not right. From my studies, then with each professional experience, I find the theoretical models too limited. From microcredit to mutual banks, I do not find my way. Capitalism turns out to be so elastic that it takes on all the solutions envisaged by alternative finance or sustainable innovation. It is hopeless. However, I want to transmit my joy of being a Christian and make Christ my boss, even – and especially – in the professional field.

I decide to take a gap year. Between two internships, I go to Israel for two and a half months. In my luggage, a book recommended by a friend: Without fire or place, by Jacques Ellul*. At the heart of the cultural and religious ferment of Jerusalem, I discover the interpretation that this great Christian thinker makes of the city based on the Bible. The building of the city would have been born from man’s desire to emancipate himself from God. He wants to get out of it by his own strength, organize his defense, artificialize the soils.

Sitting on the couch in the common room of the youth hostel in the Armenian quarter, I suddenly make the connection. The city is a set of innovations, exactly like those I study in class! Of course, some of them are based on a laudable desire: to improve our daily lives. Until now, I wanted to find the way that would allow me to resolve the imperfection of our world. But thanks to these lines, I understand: Jesus has already saved the world. So this role is not mine. What a relief! And what pride I could have had. I feel at peace, freed from a burden. I simply have to take up a challenge that God has placed within my reach: to bring this truth to where I live.

When I return, I do not change direction but the meaning of my professional commitment is renewed. Of course, I use money from a world of profit and productivity, but I reinvest it in non-profit projects. Since then, I regularly offer this book to relatives. In my library, the works of Jacques Ellul accumulate. Who knows, perhaps the Lord will speak to me again through one of them?

* Ed. Gallimard, 1976, reissued in 2023 by Éd. La Table ronde.