Following Jesus as an Employee

Most of us have been employees at some time or another, and most of us remain in some kind of service role, even if we also have a supervisory role. We talked in our last post about work done in the service of Christ. But what are the implications for work as an employee, or one who serves in some way, as most of us do?

Our culture has some really bad attitudes about work. First is the message that work itself is valueless, tedious, or demeaning. (We talked about that in the last post, “Work and God’s Pleasure .”) Then there is a message that you don’t get paid enough to do what you’re doing, or that bosses have no real right over your time.

Because of messages like this, all of us are tempted to bad behavior. We might play around on the Internet. We might shift the cost of child care onto a boss by pretending to work while we are taking care of toddlers. We might falsify time entries. We might neglect to let the boss know that we’ve run out of work. We might just sit around. This kind of behavior by employees can actually take a business under, by wrecking its economic model.

Or we can be careless. We might not bother to file a document with a correct caption, or fail to save documents and emails into the document management system, or lose important documents, or set up client files improperly, or copy contact information carelessly. We’ve all seen this kind of problem, and it can cause quite a bit of devastation to the firm in terms of good organization and good practice--even malpractice.

At a more sophisticated level, if an employee has an important role (perhaps associate attorney or office manager), the boss may feel that an inadequate employee “doesn’t have my back.” If we are that employee, this can involve disrespecting deadlines, doing inadequate work that needs to be re-worked, or just being unreliable. Or perhaps, we’re just not interested in growth, and ignore any training provided as a waste of time.

What does all this have to do with loving Jesus? Scripture also talks to those who serve. We are told to serve our bosses “with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ.” (Ephesians 6:5, ESV). Why is this? Because we are to give “service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.” (Ephesians 6:7, ESV; see also Colossians 3:22). This means even if the boss isn’t great, we should plan to serve as if he or she were really Jesus. In fact, the Apostle Peter goes a little further to make this crystal clear: “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.” (1 Peter 2:18, ESV). (Here, where the law supports at-will employment, there may be no particular reason to stay with an unjust boss. But how do you act for however short or long you are there?)

Another verse comments, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (2 Thess. 3:10, ESV). And another one, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” (Luke 16:10, ESV).

These Scriptures are quite a command. If Jesus were here, I’d be falling all over myself trying to take good care of Him. Wouldn’t you?

Failing to work for the time we’re paid to work, or being sloppy with the work, is being “dishonest in a little.” It is a form of stealing, because money is being given but good work is not being given in return. It is certainly not giving service with a good will as to the Lord.

There are several reasons why this matters. Pragmatically, it’s not going to help your career, because eventually, you get a bad reputation. More importantly, it’s not just your reputation. If people know you are a Christian, your work also reflects on Jesus. If you want to live this way, consider keeping your faith a secret. Pious-sounding Christians who won’t do good work get lots of eye rolls. Most importantly, Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will by loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21, ESV).

If we don’t obey what Jesus says about work, we aren’t loving him. Which in turn messes up our ability to receive God’s love, and even to see Jesus.

What would an employee look like who was serving Jesus instead of her boss? She would arrive to work on time, as soon as He was expecting her. She would work honestly during her time at work. (I have a couple of employees who have to be restrained from working more than the time they are getting paid for, because they have such helpful hearts.) She would think, “What does He need? How can I help? Can I make His life easier?” (I know you are doing this, and thank you!—and no, you still can’t work more hours than I’m paying you for.) She would come up with ways to improve systems and do things better (oh, the blessing of an office manager who does this!). An employee like this will hear our Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master!” (Matthew 25:21, ESV)

Following Jesus means we do our work like He is here and we’re doing it for Him. Because actually, He is. And we are.