Your Motive to Serve

“Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.” Eph. 6:5-9

Employer/employee relationships are difficult at best. Many large corporations spend a great amount of time and money to study how to develop good working relationships. Some provide side benefits for loyal and productive employees in order to promote a level of commitment which is healthy for both.

The Christian employee who walks in the Spirit should need no other motivation beyond that given by Paul in the above reference. If you will replace the word slave with the word employee, you will find some indispensable guidelines for your own situation. Key in on verse six. It gives the real heart of what your approach should be. Paul is teaching that you are to serve your employer as if you were serving Christ Himself.

With that mindset, much of the negative stuff that goes on in the workplace would vanish. What actually happens? Greater productivity in a business occurs due to a sharper focus by employees. Clearly, the Word of God does speak to the daily issues of our lives. Our responsibility is to respond by expressing faith in what God has said and obeying what we know to be right.

Don’t learn the tricks of the trade - learn the trade!