When you look at the number of Christians who are in
formal employment and take a casual glance at people’s curriculum vitae’s you
will be left with an impression that our country is full of dedicated,
trustworthy and hardworking people. The CVs all claim the person has amazing
personal attributes. I.e. hardworking, sober minded, focused, honest,
organized, creative, punctual and can work with minimum supervision etc.
If the Christians in employment are true to their
faith and the CVs are anything to go by then our countries work culture should
be unrivaled. Companies and institutions must be beaming with faithful,
dedicated and committed employees. But alas! The opposite is true. Despite the
CVs and the many Christians in employment our work culture is nothing short of
a scandal. People are desperate for employment and are willing to go to any
length to get a job, however when the job is acquired it is puma leisure! How
then must Christians work? The bible has quite a bit to say about the matter.
Do
not be lazy
We ignore the warning in Proverbs to our own peril.
The wise man declares:
The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road, a
fierce lion roaming the streets!’ As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard
turns on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to
bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven
men who answer discreetly” (Proverbs 26:13-16).
Lazy people always have a reason and an excuse to not
carry out their responsibilities. They always want to put off their work to
tomorrow and end up doing nothing. Lazy people are also always in action but
never accomplish anything, they are like a door on its hinges that keeps moving
but never gets anywhere. Furthermore though ever “busy” lazy people are far
from productive and always leave work half done. And this is clearly evident in
companies, organizations and worse off government institutions. The amount of
time it takes to get someone to append their signature and date stamp to a
paper makes you wonder what they do in the offices. When you walk in some
offices the files are up to the roof! And to make matters worse people are
constantly demanding money for giving a service that they are already paid for!
This behavior is not laziness but criminal as well.
Work
heartily as to the Lord
That is the charge in Colossians 3:24. And the idea is
you should put your all heart in whatever work you are doing. It must not be
halfhearted or just merely going through the motions. And this is where
attitude comes in. The attitude and facial expressions of people in work places
is frightening. They are not interested in what they’re doing and appear upset
that you walked in to buy their service or product. And when they do get round
to attending to your needs it’s as good as doing it yourself. No heart, no conviction
and no joy in the work. The other thing Paul says in Colossians is the fact
that for Christians their labor is to the Lord and not to man. They are to
remember that they are stewards who will give an account for the work they do.
And the fact that their service is to the Lord who sees the heart and all
things, it means we need to have a biblical view and attitude towards work and remember
to be faithful at all times.
Conclusion
With so many Christians in employment and the CVs that
speak highly of workers why do we still have this terrible work culture? One
thing is for sure we are liars and write things we are not true on our CVs.
Secondly, we could be a generation of Christians who simply not influenced by
the biblical worldview and lastly and more alarming maybe we are not Christians
at all. We simply carry the name Christian and have not being transformed by
the saving power of Jesus Christ that radically changes people inside-out and
affects not only their relationships but their work culture as well. What does
your work culture say about your master?
