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Topic :Who’s the Boss?
Ultimately, you work for the Lord
Himself.
Your second step in getting the most out of your work is to recognize that you ultimately work for the Lord Himself
Your employer may exercisesupervisory authority over you, but Jesus Christ is
your Lord. You labor for Him. As Paul wrote,
“Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and
not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve
the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23). If you’re a Christian, Jesus is your supervisor.
For that reason, you have a responsibility to give a full day’s labor, regardless of your feelings toward the people who sign your paycheck. One of the mistakes people often make in their approach to work
is to try to “segment” life. They think of Monday through Friday as workdays, Saturday as a play day, and Sunday as a day of worship. But God did not
design life in this manner. If Jesus Christ is your Savior, you can’t exclude Him from any part of your life.
Jesus wants you to honor and glorify Him in everything you do.
In other words, it isn’t right to teach a Sunday school class with everything you have and then meander into your job halfheartedly the rest of the week. Jesus wants you to honor and glorify Him in everything you do. Likewise, ministry isn’t just what you do at church. You worship God every day of the week. On Sunday, you do it in church, while on Monday through Friday you worship with the quality of your work.
Do you have a good testimony for the Lord in the marketplace? Are you an exemplary employee because you serve God? Does your attitude reflect the joy you have in considering Jesus as your true CEO? How is the awareness of God’s presence energizing your work?
It came to pass after these things
that the butler and the baker of
the king of Egypt offended their
lord, the king of Egypt. And
Pharaoh was angry with his two
officers, the chief butler and the
chief baker. So he put them in
custody in the house of the
captain of the guard, in the
prison, the place where Joseph
was confined. And the captain of
the guard charged Joseph with
them, and he served them; so they
were in custody for a while
(Genesis 40:1–4).
6. Read Genesis 40. At this point, Joseph had been demoted from servant to prisoner. Whatever career arc he may have envisioned for himself had now been destroyed. He had no friends who could help him, no recourse in the Egyptian legal system, and no reason to believe he would ever be a free man again (1–3). What thoughts do you suppose were going through his head at this time?
