Ephesians 6:5-8

January 10, 2017

Be Prepared for 2017:  Slaves 

 

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. Ephesians 6:5-8

 

I hope I'm not taking too much liberty by saying that we can substitute "workers" for "slaves" and "bosses" for "masters." So according to this, we are supposed to do our best at our jobs. 

That's easy to do if you like your job or respect your employer. But if you don't . . . .

Do you love the Lord?

Then He is whom you are to work for. 

This is obviously easier said than done. 

But if we are to be successful in combat with the evil one -- if we are to be prepared to fight -- this is a good exercise. Serving wholeheartedly as if serving the Lord requires determination, self-control, faith, etc. And the better we get at it -- serving wholeheartedly -- the stronger our witness gets and the stronger our spiritual lives get. 

As usual, God knew what he was doing when He gave us this directive. 

Lord, help us look at our work situations through Your eyes. Give us the maturity to respond to our employers as we would to You -- and to do our work well in order to bring glory to you.