Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
Summary: Why be nice to our boss if the boss isn’t nice to us? The answer has to do with our relationship with our God.
In our last meditation, “A Brighter Future,” we looked at the introduction to today’s passage. Paul is talking to “slaves,” but in our modern world a “slave” is anyone who must work for someone else. Serving others is the essence of what the Greek word “doûlos” means.
Everyone who has ever worked for someone else knows that there are times when the boss can be demanding or unpleasant. Bosses have their own problems. They see things differently than the worker does. They have a job to do. Part of that job is getting the people under them to do their jobs.
As a worker, employee, or metaphorical “bondservant,” we must respond to our bosses. How we respond is determined by who we serve in the spiritual realm.
The spiritual realm is that invisible world where our invisible self lives. All the parts of us that we see in ourselves but cannot see in others, our feelings, thoughts, hopes, and dreams, all these parts exist in a spiritual space that we cannot touch with our hands, but we can see dimly (1 Corinthians 13: 12) with our mind’s eye.
If we think of the spiritual realm as a stage and our life as a play, there are three main characters in the play, and untold millions of bit players. The three main characters are God, Satan, and our Self.
God and Satan are opposing forces. God is truth (John 14:6), and Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). Our “self” is who we are. It is the sum of our body, mind, and spirit. Because of who we are and how we are made, we cannot stand against God on our own, nor can we stand against Satan on our own. We must choose whom we serve. Satan, the father of lies, deceives us into thinking that in serving him we are serving ourselves, but there is really only one choice: we serve God, or we don’t. In the end, that is all that matters.
In today’s passage, Paul writes, “Obey them [the boss] not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.” Here, Paul outlines our “real choice.” If we are serving God, if we serve Christ as a bondservant or slave, then it is God’s will that we show God’s favor and love to the people in our lives, including the ones who make us do work.
Application: It pays to keep our focus on God and the ultimate goal of life on earth: to be united with God forever.
Food for Thought: If someone claims to be a Christian and is a slacker at work, what message does that send to their boss?
If someone claims to be a Christian and is a slacker at work, what message does that send to their boss?
As a Christian, or goal is to be like Christ. A high standard.
Often times, people assume that any Christian they meet is the epitome of Christian standards. When one person’s actions should tell of their own efforts, instead the boss thinks “all those Christians must be slackers”
Angela,
Interesting point! We represent our brothers and sisters as well as our Lord!
If I am hired to do a job and I don’t do it, or only do it when prompted or pushed, it send the message that I lack integrity. When my boss questions my integrity, he or she questions everything about me. When we say we “claim to be a Christian,” we are claiming faith in Christ. James 2:26 tells us “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” Present but not engaged, or present but not engaged in what our boss asks of us send the message that our faith is self-serving.
Chris,
You raise an interesting question. Can we have “integrity” in one part of our life and not another? It is kind of like asking a carpenter if he can use a board that is good wood at one end and rotten at the other.
The wood can be cut up and the good wood salvaged for a smaller task. Jesus does something similar. He saves us from our sin, and in him we grow new wood that is good.
09-29-2022, If someone claims to be a Christian and is a slacker at work, what message does that send to their boss?
Every person on earth must make a choice, how will they personally respond to Gods call to all mankind ( John 16:7-15 ). As I have looked back, I can see how God began with a quiet, gentle call and progressively turned up the volume. He got my attention when He hit me in the head with a 2×4 board, and revealed some very frightening facts to me, and I made my decision to turn from the world, and to a life with Christ.
That was 46 years ago and God has patiently walked with me, changed and guided me according to His priorities for His mission for me on this earth. Each believer must go through this process of maturing, which will be completed when we are called home by Christ. Until then we remain imperfect beings serving our perfect God. If we determine we have reached a state of perfection during this lifetime, we have become the slacker.
I recall one young man who worked for me, an easy job with a smooth running machine, however it could jam, and cost the company a lot of money. He would read his bible as he worked. I had to speak with him and explain why this was a real problem for the company, and a poor example of his faith. He had not seen it this way, and made immediate changes from that point.
On a number of occasions people have asked me, why are you different? I respond what do you mean? Or on one occasion, what can I do for you? I asked what do you mean? I get them talking and in the end tell them about Jesus, being used by God to spread His message.
People are watching believers all the time as they evaluate us according to their standards. I drank and did drugs before I accepted Christ, and God took these away from me immediately. At the same time I also smoked cigarettes which I’m sure was looked down upon by many christians, but God had His timetable for taking these away, and He is the one I report to.
Ron,
You have a powerful and amazing testimony!
Thank you!
There are many comments that have already made the point I was going to make. So thank you all for your excellent comments.
Bottom line, if their boss is not a follower of Jesus, he/she will likely think followers of Jesus are lazy and won’t hire any more of them. It is obviously not the best testimony and gives the wrong idea about Jesus. Jesus did the hard work of creation and going to the cross. We can do the work He has called us to unto Him with the best of our ability.
Rich,
Great point about Jesus doing the “hard work.” The best we can hope to do will only be a shadow of what Christ has done for the world. Yet, given his example, we always have his high standard to look up to.