Pastor Conway Edwards
Bible References: Hebrew 12:15, Ecclesiastes 7:7, Luke 12:1, John 4:1-2, Romans 12:18, Luke 16:14-15, Mark 15:10
Our primary calling when we go to work is to make God look good and his name well known. Unfortunately, as Christians, we sometimes contribute more to a dysfunctional environment at work rather than driving solutions because many of us think we are on the job to make friends. That belief drives us to categorize people into two main groups at work – those “I like” or “I dislike”. But if our primary focus is to make God look good and his name well known then the worst thing we can do is label people and categorize them. Each label and category places the individual below us. We see them at a lower level to ourselves and begin to place a value on the individual based on what they can do for us. We begin to make people tools rather than recognizing them as God’s creation.
Two suggestions on how to stay Christ focused at work:
1) Keep your eye on the objective – we go to work to glorify God and make his name well known.
2) Learn to appreciate people you do not like.
We can all tell when we’ve experienced a “toxic” person because every time we leave them we feel bad about ourselves. What causes toxicity?
1) Envy – Know that what God has for us is for us; we should be content with where we are and what we have. Self-evaluation question: Why do you want something?
2) Money/Greed – If we love money, it will cause us to use people and see them as a means to an end. To counter act money and greed requires us to be joyful givers.
Self-evaluation question: How does money play into my decision? Is there a price I can be bought for?
3) Bitterness – Holding on to past hurts requires us to reject God’s grace. In that instant we have chosen our capabilities over God’s because we faithfully believe in our ability to make the person “pay” for that hurt. Self-evaluation question: What am I holding on to that needs to be released?
As you go out into the world take the words from Romans 12:18 to heart: “If possible, as far as it depends on you be at peace with all man.”