February 4. James Cash Penney. Penney built his life on the value of honesty—and it paid off, literally.
When he was 26, he scraped together enough to buy his first dry goods store: “The Golden Rule.” Within a decade, he owned 30 more stores. Today, there are 850 JC Penney stores in the US and Puerto Rico. And when he died, he left a personal estate of $35 million.
In a time of buyer-beware business practices, Penney’s philosophy of “treat others the way you would like to be treated” earned him the country’s trust and business. And long after his death, the seeds he sowed continue to produce good fruit.
One of his many philanthropic projects was the Penney Retirement Community in Florida—a non-profit, caring Christian community for retired ministers and missionaries, which still thrives today. In 2019, the JC Penney store in Bangalore, India, received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design award from the leading program for green buildings and communities worldwide. Today’s story presents a look into the personal side of Penney’s life.
The poison of the past can blind us with bitterness. God’s truth can set us free.
For Penney, being genuine was everything.
Even once he reached retirement age, Penney kept up a busy speaking schedule. In the late 1930s, a church thirty miles outside his hometown of Hamilton, Missouri, invited him to be a guest speaker. Penney accepted the invitation—but not without some dread—to a place so close to where he had grown up. It was a place Penney had been badly hurt.
When he was fourteen years old, he sat in a pew at the Hamilton church, where his father had pastored for many years. Penney watched church elders condemn his father and call him a heretic.
His heresy? Pastor Penney had asked the church for financial support for his family and to start a Sunday school for children.
After the verdict on his father, Penney remembered his mother standing up beside her husband. In a firm voice, she said, “I believe as Jimmy does.”
The church excommunicated them both.
The very people who claimed to know God and follow His ways were the ones who threw Penney’s family out of the church for wanting to teach children! Hypocrites!
“I bitterly resented the incident,” Penney wrote.
Now he was back in Missouri, willing to keep his speaking engagement, but anxious to get this day done. He hurried into the church office and hoped not to run into any familiar Hamilton faces. Once seated, the church’s minister explained the order of service to Penney, beginning with how the Communion service would work.
A new panic hit Penney. He had never taken Communion in his life. He had not been baptized, nor was he a church member. He did have a reputation for representing Christian beliefs and morals. He built his life on honesty and openness. But—
“Is something wrong, Mr. Penney?”
Penney cleared his throat. “It’s just that I’ve never taken Communion.”
For years, Penney had worked hard to avoid this situation. As a public figure, he was always under scrutiny. If he did not take the cup and the bread, someone would notice. Everyone would think he was a Christian hypocrite! His stature in the community and the country was at stake.
On the other hand, if he did take Communion, he would feel like a hypocrite before God. He led a moral and generous life, but he felt he wasn’t truly worthy of publicly declaring himself a member of God’s family.
“Practicing the golden rule in my business benefited everyone … Surely that was being a practical Christian! I had to pass through many … clashes with life before recognizing that what seemed to me sufficient was much less than what Christ taught.”
Penney looked at the minister, “What should I do? I feel unworthy.”
“Are you a Christian?” the minister asked.
Penney felt the weight of the question. Was his commitment to Christ real? Genuine faith meant genuine commitment. Did he trust God? Or had he just been trying to be worthy of acceptance on his terms? Penney’s thoughts jumped back to that judgment scene in the Hamilton church, where his father had pastored. He heard his mother’s bold statement, “I too believe.”
“Yes, I am a Christian,” Penney said.
Bitter thoughts of the Hamilton hypocrites left him, and his focus turned to Christ and all He had done on Penney’s behalf. He said, “As though a Voice were speaking into my mind, there came the words gently spoken, ‘Don’t be afraid!’”
Penney wrote, “ … it is not enough for men to be upright and moral men.…”
“I must admit it was only after I assumed the responsibility of church membership thus rendering unto God the things that are God’s—that I realized just how merely … attending church regularly, is not enough. For all men, there must be yet one more thing: giving oneself over to God’s purpose.”
Penney had determined to show God he was not a hypocrite. But by relying on himself and his behavior, he had come up short. In his fear, Penney had missed out on the peace and strength that come from truly following God. Now he realized that being genuine wasn’t about being perfect; it meant giving himself entirely over to God.
That evening, Penney phoned his wife. He told her he decided to be baptized and join a church family. He was sixty-seven years old when he was baptized.
For JC Penney, a genuine commitment to God was everything.
“‘Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter’” (Matthew 7:21 NLT).
“I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9 NLT).
Are you afraid you might not be worthy enough for God? Give him your fear and step out in simple obedience. The poison of the past can blind us with bitterness. God’s truth can set us free.
Tibbetts, Orlando L. The Spiritual Journey of J.C. Penney. Danbury, CT: Rutledge Books, Inc., 1999.
Penney, J.C. Fifty Years with the Golden Rule. New York: Harper, 1950.
Penney, J.C. Lines of a Layman. Papamoa, New Zealand: Papamoa Press. December 2, 2018.
“JC Penney’s Estate is Estimated at $35-Million.” Published March 2, 1971. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/02/archives/j-c-penneys-estate-is-estimated-at-35million.html.
“J.C. Penney.” Timeline. Accessed 10/05/2020. Christianity.com. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1901-2000/jc-penney-11630672.html.
Story read by Peter R Warren, https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/