Serving your employer as if serving
the Lord
Means going beyond what is asked.
Remember the Lord will reward your
good work
However small or great the task.
So, do what you do with a good
attitude,
Serving Jesus rather than just your
boss.
Doing your work with a spirit of good
will
Is a witness to coworkers who are
lost.
“Serve wholeheartedly,
as if you were serving the Lord, not men,
because you know that the Lord
will reward everyone for
whatever good he does,
whether he is slave
or free.”
Ephesians 6:7-8 (NIV)
dŏulĕuō1398 – to be a
slave to (lit. or fig., invol. or vol.): - be in bondage, (do) serve (-ice).
ĕunŏia2133 – kindness; euphem. congjugal duty: - benevolence, good will.
Paul is
addressing the slave and master relationship in this passage, but I believe we
can apply the admonitions to the modern workplace. Most people are either an
employer or an employee, and many are both. The verses above address employees.
Paul says
we are to serve. Am I just doing my job in order to draw my pay, or am I really
considering what I do a service to my employer? Christ said he came into the
world to serve rather than to be served (Matthew 20:28), and we are to be
imitators of Christ. We are not in bondage to our boss in the sense of being a
slave, but I believe we are bound because of our witness for the Lord to be the
best employee we can be.
We are also
instructed to serve wholeheartedly, out of benevolence and good will, not with
the attitude of just doing enough to get by. If we are truly doing our work as
if working for the Lord, our work is praise to him and can bring joy to
us. I thought it interesting that the
word translated “wholeheartedly” appears to have also been a euphemism for
conjugal duty. Since we are the bride of
Christ, one way we show our love for him is to serve our employers consistently
well and thus bring honor to his name.
When I was
only twenty, I supervised a part-time employee who did only enough to get by.
We worked on a quota system, and he was below or right at quota every month. It
was widely known that he was a seminary student. After giving him the typical
counsel that he might lose his job if his production didn’t improve by next
month, I asked if I might speak to him as his sister in the Lord. I explained
to him that his work was a poor witness to our bosses and made it more
difficult for me to witness as well since we were from the same denomination.
He became very angry at me for “preaching” to him and stormed out. However, at
his next evaluation, I was able to tell him he had exceeded quotas on every
type of work. He apologized for his anger the previous month, and said the Lord
had set him straight afterwards. The Lord strengthened our bond in Christ as
well as our witness to our coworkers.
Father, help me to remember that my
goal is to serve you and in the process, serve my employer well. Help my work
to be a positive witness for Jesus. Let me serve wholeheartedly rather than
grudgingly. May it be a faithful duty to my First Love.
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