How To Live Out Your Call At Work4 min read
How many of you have been in one of those discussions about what you needed to do to let people know that a Christian was working in a particular office? Well, one of the strategies that used to come up was creating a sort of church-in-the-office time where we would sing, pray and study scriptures together.
Actually, at my first job I even contemplated starting one of those office fellowships. The truth is that they are nice and they help us as Christians to create a comfortable environment that we can control. My only concern is whether that should be our aim for living out our call at work.
The workplace is meant to be one of the zone where we meet the needy world in their space. The biggest beneficiaries of workplace fellowship times are mostly Christians not the people who really need our message.
My goal is not to talk about workplace fellowship time but rather to redirect our attention from wanting to do our ministry at work the way we do our ministry in Church. I do believe that workplace fellowships have value but I think our saltiness as Christians comes more from the place of facing the dis-ease of daily interactions.
Back to the original question, how should people know that a Christian works in an office? Perhaps, the best way to answer that is to consider this question instead – who is a Christian? Once we know who he/she is, we probably will figure out better what he/she should look like.
A Christian has had all sins forgiven and because of that he/she is always making effort to live a life that shows appreciation to God for the new life. The forgiveness of sins is because of the exchange of Jesus’s life for his/her life so everything now belongs to God and is always offered to God. So, what does this mean for you at work
- God Is your Employer– You must always be looking to deliver excellent result because God is the final measure of quality work not your boss. No eye service
- Everybody at work gets their positions because God gave them – No matter if how much smarter you think you are or what you feel they did at the back
- God is always trying to bring the best out of everyone – so must you. Look for opportunities to improve people at work and make them better
- God is always using life’s situations to get people’s attention – be available to be the neon sign to give them directions to Him
- Sometimes God keeps quiet even though He has all the answers – Don’t try to always defend God. Simply tell the story of what God did in your life. Sometimes, that’s really the best you can do
- Do you notice that God usually reaches out to people where they are – Try to always look for common ground before dropping the wedge on them. Transformation can be slow – go with it.
- Don’t leave the job until your job is done – there is nothing wrong in looking for greener pastures but be sure your real employer says it’s ok to move on.
If you let these perspectives guide how you live out your call at work, I can bet you will find inner satisfaction knowing you are making your work life count for God. By the way, living like this is really what it means to be a Christian at work.
In case you haven’t noticed, it is every clear from all the stuff I wrote up there that you can’t afford to sit and wait for people to come. You have to be ready to go to them and engage with them. That’s the only way you can find the opportunities.
At one of my workplaces, I had a colleague who really did not seem too interested in “God Stuff”. I didn’t just jump at her. I built a good conversation environment around the two us. Eventually, just by chance she mentioned that she doesn’t go to church but she and her husband try to inculcate a sense of “God belief” in their kids. That was my get-in-the-door card. And I took it.
The hope of everything we do is that people will become saved but that is not the goal. The goal is to bring them to the place of making the decision to choose or accept Jesus. Our success is not measured by the conversation rate. The Holy Spirit convicts but the choice is theirs. We can’t claim the victory for their conversion but we can rejoice in it. That is what Heaven does. And we share in that joy.
So, it’s not a bad idea to try to start that office fellowship – just don’t make that the only way you let your life shine at work
Work can be such a great place to surprise people with God.
I am sure you are ready for it.
