Faithfulness and fruitfulness
Hi everyone
I've had some interesting conversations with some of you over various lunches recently, on how we can make our group relevant to the members and to the office as a whole. Some of the suggestions and observations so far:
(a) a greater focus on corporate prayer for the office;
(b) use of Bible study material or a book;
(c) difficulty of achieving transparency between members of this group because of work relationships;
(d) 2nd floor not conducive for our meeting; and
(e) possible inclusion of worship time.
I'll try to meet as many of you as possible over the coming weeks to gather more thoughts.
Many of you know I strongly advocate Christian living in the workplace. But the fact is, I struggle tremendously with it. I worry about impressing the boss. I worry about bonus. I worry about antagonizing my colleagues. And for sure, I worry about work a whole lot more than I worry about God. I'm sure many of you share similar struggles. But this I resolve - that I WANT to let God change me.
I've been reading this book "God at Work" which L brought to my attention recently. "God at Work" is written by Ken Costa, who is the Chairman of Alpha International (Alpha is a globally recognized outreach program). He was Vice Chairman of UBS Investment Bank and presently Deputy Chairman of Lazard, which is a financial advisory and asset management firm. So I guess he might have some insights on how to be a Christian and a success in the workplace huh?
One of the first things that struck me was this: as Christians we are called not only to be faithful, but also to be fruitful. This ties in neatly with one of the earliest things we discussed in this group - remember the levels of Christianity in the office (see 25 Jan posting)?
a. level 1 - just surviving week to week, so that on Sunday, you still remember you are supposed to be in church
b. level 2 - applying biblical principles in your work, so that you are basically a Good Person.
c. level 3 - shining your light so that everyone who sees your good deeds will praise your Father in heaven (Matt 5:16). This is the most important part of being a Good Person. Doing good deeds with eternal consequences i.e. sharing the good news either by word or action
d. level 4 - transformational Christianity - changing the work paradigm of your office/vocation. Usually for people in positions of significant influence, but not always the case.
How many of us are often satisfied with surviving? Or satisfied with being accountable for ourselves? You know, like, as long as I'm good and my conscience is clear, that's enough.
But surviving and being a good person is simply being "faithful". We need to be more - we are instructed to be "fruitful"! To shine our light so that those around us will praise God. To transform the work paradigm.
How serious is God when He says it's not enough to be "faithful" but also "fruitful"? In Luke 19:11-27, Jesus explains how 3 servants were given ten talents each. It's interesting to note that all were "faithful" in the sense that no one betrayed the master's trust. But only two were "fruitful" in MULTIPLYING the master's talents. And you know what happened to the one who was only "faithful".
This is a hard teaching, that we need first to accept in our minds and hearts, and then execute with our hands and feet. God has put each one of us in our office for a purpose. He surrounds us with particular colleagues and puts in particular situations for a purpose. He has given us relationships and skills for a purpose. It is simply not enough to say to God, when it's all over, hey at least I didn't lose anyone/anything, when He was really looking for returns.
Of the 24 hours in the day, about 16 hours are waking hours. Of those 16 hours, the majority is spent in the office. If God is not God over our office relationships and our work, then we can hardly say that He is our God at all can we? Let's resolve to multiply the things He has given us in the office.
I've had some interesting conversations with some of you over various lunches recently, on how we can make our group relevant to the members and to the office as a whole. Some of the suggestions and observations so far:
(a) a greater focus on corporate prayer for the office;
(b) use of Bible study material or a book;
(c) difficulty of achieving transparency between members of this group because of work relationships;
(d) 2nd floor not conducive for our meeting; and
(e) possible inclusion of worship time.
I'll try to meet as many of you as possible over the coming weeks to gather more thoughts.
Many of you know I strongly advocate Christian living in the workplace. But the fact is, I struggle tremendously with it. I worry about impressing the boss. I worry about bonus. I worry about antagonizing my colleagues. And for sure, I worry about work a whole lot more than I worry about God. I'm sure many of you share similar struggles. But this I resolve - that I WANT to let God change me.
I've been reading this book "God at Work" which L brought to my attention recently. "God at Work" is written by Ken Costa, who is the Chairman of Alpha International (Alpha is a globally recognized outreach program). He was Vice Chairman of UBS Investment Bank and presently Deputy Chairman of Lazard, which is a financial advisory and asset management firm. So I guess he might have some insights on how to be a Christian and a success in the workplace huh?
One of the first things that struck me was this: as Christians we are called not only to be faithful, but also to be fruitful. This ties in neatly with one of the earliest things we discussed in this group - remember the levels of Christianity in the office (see 25 Jan posting)?
a. level 1 - just surviving week to week, so that on Sunday, you still remember you are supposed to be in church
b. level 2 - applying biblical principles in your work, so that you are basically a Good Person.
c. level 3 - shining your light so that everyone who sees your good deeds will praise your Father in heaven (Matt 5:16). This is the most important part of being a Good Person. Doing good deeds with eternal consequences i.e. sharing the good news either by word or action
d. level 4 - transformational Christianity - changing the work paradigm of your office/vocation. Usually for people in positions of significant influence, but not always the case.
How many of us are often satisfied with surviving? Or satisfied with being accountable for ourselves? You know, like, as long as I'm good and my conscience is clear, that's enough.
But surviving and being a good person is simply being "faithful". We need to be more - we are instructed to be "fruitful"! To shine our light so that those around us will praise God. To transform the work paradigm.
How serious is God when He says it's not enough to be "faithful" but also "fruitful"? In Luke 19:11-27, Jesus explains how 3 servants were given ten talents each. It's interesting to note that all were "faithful" in the sense that no one betrayed the master's trust. But only two were "fruitful" in MULTIPLYING the master's talents. And you know what happened to the one who was only "faithful".
This is a hard teaching, that we need first to accept in our minds and hearts, and then execute with our hands and feet. God has put each one of us in our office for a purpose. He surrounds us with particular colleagues and puts in particular situations for a purpose. He has given us relationships and skills for a purpose. It is simply not enough to say to God, when it's all over, hey at least I didn't lose anyone/anything, when He was really looking for returns.
Of the 24 hours in the day, about 16 hours are waking hours. Of those 16 hours, the majority is spent in the office. If God is not God over our office relationships and our work, then we can hardly say that He is our God at all can we? Let's resolve to multiply the things He has given us in the office.
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