Thursday, February 14, 2008

Bringing God Into The Workplace

Do you sometimes find it hard to remain Godly @ work? In my past state of mind this was a no brainer for me. I would leave God sitting on the sidelines when I dealt with things @ work. If people were gossiping, I was right there in it. If complaining was going on, I was right there in it. If I was confronted, I would automatically become defensive and be just as confrontational with that individual. I guess you could say my life @ work and home were bitter and unhappy for one simple reason. I wasn't letting Christ in my game of life to help lead me.Now that I am including Christ in my every waking hour I can tell you that my life has done a complete 180. However, I will tell since doing this I now face new challenges.

At work I have discovered that you are dealing with those individuals that I used to be. We have relationships with some people who don't highly prioritize integrity and who fight dirty, but somewhere along the way I've discovered that I had to quit getting in the mud with them. I have realized how exhausting it can be when you are around negativity at work since you spend more time there with your co-workers than you do with your own families. As the Psalmist in Psalm 120 states, Lord, I'm weary of living or working continually around people who thrive on conflict. I want peace, but they love a battle (paraphrase).

We as Christians must be very careful in this situation. We can start out loving peace among those who hate it and before we know it we can be sucked into their game. As you and I seek a higher road to walk, we have to unlearn some of those bad habits and learn some new ones. Avoiding the conflict is not the answer, but learning how to deal with it is. If we are willing and patient, God will teach us. He will use His Word, His Spirit and His people. God is good.

So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. Galatians 5:16-17nlt