One of the big challenges that I faced in the workplace, especially within a sales environment, would be the pressure put on by my boss to lie, or exaggerate the truth a little, just do or say anything to get the sale especially if there were a few zeros on the end of the selling price. At times I found this a real struggle and it would have been easy to simply do as I was asked and damage my integrity in the process. We will think about integrity in the next blog but today I really want to think about who our real boss is?
You see the Bible tells us that the boss at work is not really your boss, your boss is Jesus.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24
Many people I talk with have a real dislike for their job and I often hear statements like “it pays the bills”, “it will do until I can find something better” or “I get no job satisfaction”. When we constantly think about these things our attitude towards work can really suffer and become very negative.
However when we flip it around and realise that no matter where you work or who you work for, your real boss is Jesus then our whole attitude towards our work can change. It is much easier to be enthusiastic about our job when we know that we are doing it for God. By understanding the truth that anything we do from sweeping the floor to running a multinational company can be an act of worship, we can change our whole mind-set and approach our job with a fresh enthusiasm and a positive attitude.
When we change our thinking and attitudes towards our work it won’t be long before the “here’s the grumpy Christian coming” comments change to “here’s the guy that is always happy and positive at work”. This change can have a huge impact on our evangelism in the work place.
It doesn’t matter if you’re vacuuming the carpet, repairing a car, serving in the military, or managing an office, any job can become an act of worship if you do it enthusiastically for God, 1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us “So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Image Credit: Alejandro Escamilla
