...Lovers of Christ, lovers of souls!
INTRODUCTION:
I was meditating on the workplace and the temptations that go with the office environment. The pressure for recognition and promotion and the temptation to cheat others and become successful. The funny situations the devil create to tempt married people to cheat on their spouses for promotion.
The question is how can you organize your attitude and actions in the office or business place to be seen and known as a child of God. What are the things that will help a believer to win soul in the workplace?
When you feel like sharing your faith or living like a believer in the office, you will have to deliberately built up a good reputation in the workplace among your colleagues. When you have done this, you can begin to plan and pray on how to witness Christ effectively to your colleagues.
Your attitude will be heaven-focused:
- For you to be known among your colleagues as a believer and child of God means a lot. It means that in your conduct, you show that though you are in the world, you are not of the world.
- You will also prove that God is first in your life and that you love the Lord with all your heart, strength and your substance as this is the greatest commandment
- You will show them that you are a pilgrim on a journey here on earth, having hope of eternal home in heaven.
- You will show that you are not worshiping money, rather God and only God. Money is a strong influence on the earth and the love of it is the root of all evil. Your colleagues will see from your actions where your trust lies, either in God or in money MAMMON.
- You would have shown your faith and trust in God alone and committed to Him and benefited from the blessing reserved for committed servants of God. They are interested in the benefits of the kingdom that has accrued to you to know what to expect when they follow you to your church.
- You will prove to them that you know God and His word by the way you love your neighbor and brethren. When you love your neighbor as yourself, you show you know God. When you show love to brethren, you show you are redeemed. You must show love in the household of faith among your brethren if you are a believer in Christ....for by such love will people know that you are God's.
HOW CAN WE SHARE THE GOSPEL AT WORK?
So how can we faithfully share the gospel with people at work?
One of the best ways a person can organize his life to be effective in witnessing Christ in the office is to Discipline yourself, the words you speak, jokes you crack, things you do etc. See yourself as an Ambassador of Christ before you resume work and follow through with hard work and professional conduct in the office, honest and faithful work ethics.
But, if a person starts like others, in a worldly pattern, worldly music and jokes, dishonest in every small and little things, your colleagues will notice it and it will take you years to correct the wrong impression of a few weeks. A brother was determined to represent Christ in his new office and he said so to himself. The day he resumed, a lady lawyer, personal assistant to the CEO, just picked interest in him and would do nothing without talking with him. Soon, his colleagues thought he was having a relationship with the lady, and started doubting his faith in Christ. Why? He did not know how to set boundaries in relationship, and how to politely slow down a platonic relationship.
He talked about being taken by surprised by the lady, and he saw himself following the lady and accepting her requests. However, he insisted there was not going to be any intimacy and everything they did was in the office, but even at that, he could not handle it well. He learned a hard lesson from that incident, because it took him almost a year before he started speaking boldly as a Christian in the office.
So, these simple attitudes should be your lifestyle. Don't negotiate with Satan. They are not areas you will give excuses why you cannot measure up. They are inexcusable, they are:
Dependence. Go to work utterly dependent on God (Proverbs 3:5–6; John 15:5). Without him you can’t breathe, move, think, feel, or talk. Not to mention be spiritually influential. Get up in the morning and let God know your desperation for him. Pray for help.
Integrity. Be absolutely and meticulously honest and trustworthy on the job. Be on time. Give a full day’s work. “Thou shalt not steal.” More people rob their employers by being slackers than by filching the petty cash.
Skill. Get good at what you do. God has given you not only the grace of integrity but the gift of skills. Treasure that gift and be a good steward of those skills. This growth in skill is built on dependence and integrity.
No Murmuring: A believer is not one that complains every time as though he does not know that God is aware of his conditions. He is contented with what he has and would never respond to any move to cheat or obtain anything by fraud.
Love. Serve others. A believer has a lifestyle of love towards his neighbour and even his known enemies. Be the one who volunteers first to go get the pizza. To drive the van. To organize the picnic. Take an interest in others at work. Be known as the one who cares not just about the light-hearted weekend tales, but the burdens of heavy and painful Monday mornings. Love your workmates, and point them to the great Burden Bearer.
Impact. Aim to help your company have an impact that is life-enhancing without being soul-destroying. Some industries have an impact that is destructive (e.g., porn, gambling, abortion, marketing scams, etc). But many can be helped to turn toward impact that is life-giving without being soul-ruining. As you have an opportunity, work toward that.
Communication. Workplaces are webs of relationships. Relationships are possible through communication. Weave your Christian worldview into the normal communications of life. Don’t hide your light under a basket. Put it on the stand. Winsomely. Naturally. Joyfully. Let those who love their salvation say continually, Great is the Lord! (see Psalm 40:16).
Money. Work is where you make (and spend) money. It is all God’s, not yours. You are a trustee. Turn your earning into the overflow of generosity in how you steward God’s money. Don’t work to earn to have. Work to earn to have to give and to invest in Christ-exalting ventures. Make your money speak of Christ as your supreme Treasure.
Thanksgiving. Always give thanks to God for life and health and work and Jesus. Be a thankful person at work. Don’t be among the complainers. Let your thankfulness to God overflow in a humble spirit of gratitude to others. Be known as the hope-filled, humble, thankful one at work.
Foundation for Soul winning in the Office:
Just do good work as a Christian.
A believer is a great asset in an organization because he is honest, trustworthy, hard working, creative and productive. A believer is always known by his/her hard work, principles lifestyle and commitment to the goals of the organization as though the company belongs to him. So, if you can do your work as a Christian with hard work, loyalty, and commitment, you are sure to build a reputation as a good worker.
You need to build a reputation as a person who works with purpose, creative, kind, a sincere helper and a team player. One that has respect for other people and their faith and beliefs, not a judgmental person, not a bitter person, not proud and not an overbearing and forceful person or boss. Then, you can begin to plan how you might witness Christ to your colleagues. They will see in you what you are preaching and how the gospel will transform their lives and meet their life needs of shelter, food and clothing.
All Good Work Serves God
Dorothy Sayers often said that all work done well and for God's glory is Christian work. This means we model Christ in the workplace best when we perform our work so well and with such a good attitude that we inspire others to desire to know and worship God.
Paul explained it like this: “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Col. 3:23-24).
Christians in the workplace should be motivated by our desire to glorify God and to inspire others to desire to know him. Work done well is uncommon, and it will be noticed by our colleagues and clients or patients.
God is honored when the products we create and the services we provide are excellent, based on the simple values of care, competence, and consistency. We are to care about the welfare of our clients. We are to pursue a high level of competency to enable us to deliver high-quality products and services. And we should be consistent in our pursuit of excellence.
Our Work Is Also Evangelism
Those who don't know Christ may be inspired to seek him. And those who have turned their back on the church and Christianity, perhaps due to a previous bad experience with other Christians, maybe influenced to reconsider Christianity.
It is too common to experience other Christians in the workplace who talk the talk but don't walk the walk. They talk about morality and Christian stuff, but their work is lousy and their attitudes are poor. They may deliver poor product to the client or treat clients poorly or complain about their jobs or slander colleagues. Such negative behavior hurts workplace morale, undermines work relationships, and adversely affects clients.
Instead, we are called to serve our clients with excellence. The quality of a Christian's work and attitude should be different from the quality of work and attitude of those who don't know Jesus. We are working for him, and therefore our work should be good. Clients should be able to clearly see the quality and value of our goods and services.
Learn to put God on the table.
Yes, let God be first in your life, whether at work or at home. Your use every opportunity to honor God before your colleagues and keep a simple and confident lifestyle. Put a mark or draw a line on certain behaviours and actions you will never do or be part of which does not glorify God. If you have such a list, pray to God to keep it consistent.
Let people know in natural, easygoing, confident ways that you're a Christian and your belief in different things. When you hide your identity, you are not doing well as an Ambassador of Christ. Be known for wise decisions like those of David and Solomon - all children of God are endowed with wisdom.
Build Godly relationships.
Strive to build an open and honest relationship with colleagues. Be honest about some of the struggles in your life without being too personal and make the other person(s) feel you may have interest in then and thereby,they misunderstand your liberal relationship for personal interest, which could smear the relationship and make it inappropriate
To build a godly relationship with colleagues require wisdom and common sense. It requires that you have some understanding about the colleague and his/her personal pulse because there are colleagues you will win to Christ without being too friendly with them. You professional conduct and work ethics, friendly attitude, team play will communicate much more to your colleagues. It is more so , when they discover it is your lifestyle. You must always be honest.
Have a “mission field” mindset about your work.
Have you considered one of the reasons God may have deployed you to your job is bring some people into the faith.. When you have a mission field mentality, you will plot a strategy to win the field for Christ - This will means praying, planning and working hard at your work and gospel in order to spiritually win the place for Christ
In the mission field, different strategies are designed for different people in the target environment and that is going to be the same for your office. Some people will require support to come to Christ, others will be encouraged by your honesty, dedication and professionalism. Yet, some people will come to Christ through some special program. In a mission field, things are done quickly and with some urgency because the mission field is not a normal church, but a revival and evangelistic ground.
Use the witness of the church.
As you build relationships with people, look for ways to involve other believers from within the office and your local church so that the colleague can feel more at home and when you have program, feel free to invite them to attend. This way they will know you are interested in their spiritual growth and please consistently operate within the biblical standards of conduct you have mapped out for yourself.
Know that one of the greatest witnesses to the gospel on the planet is the love Christians have for one another (John 13:34-35). Be ready to show your colleagues and all people love as much as you can.
Be a Christian Leader in the Workplace
A friend of mine who worked for A. G. Edwards told me that their CEO was involved in Bible studies for professionals and was intentional about encouraging others to know and love God. He lived generously by investing his time, talent, and money into other humans as he helped to build Christ's Kingdom here on earth. He was active in his local church, in missions, and at his local church. Louis.
His executive style and formula for success were based on Jesus' Golden Rule: Treat people the way you'd want to be treated. He taught his executive team, managers, and investment advisors to practice the following simple principle: place the clients first, the employees second, and the shareholders third. He believed if you took care of the first two, the shareholders would be rewarded.
FIRE...
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