Working for God (Part 2) by Suresh Joel
As a continuation of work ethics, this Sunday we studied on how we should work. The four key points being with integrity, excellence, service and miracles.
Firstly, excellence. The story of Daniel speaks on his attitudes towards work. Though he was a slave who was brought into a strange land, and asked to study about foreign God’s and idols, which was dead against his scared religion, Daniel learnt about their culture with excellence and without complaints. He studied the culture of the people who brought them into slavery. He worked as he worked for God. Because he did his work with excellence, God glorified himself through Daniels life.
We must work in excellence because we serve the living God and the only way Babylonians may be able to see the living God is through excellence in our work. Even the life of Joseph is a very good example of a person who worked through all his life in excellence, even as a slave, he worked for God.
The second being integrity.
1 Chronicles 29:17 says “You test the heart and have pleasure in unrighteousness”.
We all face changes daily to show our integrity, our righteousness in Christ, be it walking in late to work and blaming the traffic, or claiming to work from home, or using office resources excessively. The reason we don’t do great evil things is because we don’t have the opportunity to do it. If we lie about silly things which has no repercussions then nothing will stop us from lying when great things are at stake. When God gives us one talent or 5 regardless the number, we should make sure God can trust us with those talents. Work with integrity, for it is better to stand up and lose your job than to do the do wrong thing.
Third, Service.
A good look at Naaman’s servant girl, speaks volumes on how we must serve our masters. She again, was a girl probably ripped from her family (we don’t know if her family was killed or not) and asked to serve in a foreign land. When she heard about Naaman’s sickness, she did not curse or be happy that her master was sick (like most of us do, when our bosses are on leave) but she took the chance to talk about her God who heals the sick. God has a plan and purpose in our lives, wherever we are. And we must work with a heart of service like Naaman’s servant did.
Fourth, miracles.
God can use us to speak about the miracles He does for the people who seek him. There are many people struggling with illness and God can use you to be his light in your work place. To reach out to people, to heal the sick, to do miracles that would glorify God.
To sum up, we must realize that God is sovereign and that He has placed us where we are supposed to be. We must not conform to the pattern of the world, but work as we work for God, as God is our master and be different from the standards of the world. Then our light will shine and God’s name will be glorified.
Reflection by Alrina D’souza