How 1 Timothy Chapter 6 Can Be Applied To Our Work
We're starting the New Year by applying passages to our work: to enlighten us about the nature of our work, the purpose of our work, how to comport ourselves while we're working, how to keep the greater glory of God front and center in our daily work, etc.
Ideally, we're reading Scripture every day. If you do so in the morning, many times you'll come across passages that you can apply to your work that very day. And so it was when I read 1 Timothy Chapter 6.
It begins:
"Whosoever are servants under the yoke, let them count their masters worthy of all honour..."
While it's likely none of us are slaves or indentured servants these days - as was not uncommon in St. Paul's day - we can still relate to this passage. After all, we all have a boss, right? Even those of us who own our own businesses report to some person or persons - even big shots. For example, bigger businesses have Boards. And so the CEO must account to their Board of Directors. Businesses of any size have customers and/or clients. These are, in a sense, our masters. Any product or service must appeal to them in some way, must help them in some way. Otherwise we're out of business.
While the prospect of going out of business should motivate any of us on a practical level to "honor" our "masters," St. Paul gives us an even more important supernatural reason:
"...lest the name of the Lord and his doctrine be blasphemed."
If we're not comporting ourselves as we should on the job, we're not giving good example to others. We're not demonstrating the fundamental importance and effectiveness of our Catholic religion's teachings applied to our work. While our failure to demonstrate may not occur to everyone around us, those who, for whatever reason, know we claim to take our Catholic Faith seriously would be mighty put off were we to behave in any way contrary to the teachings of our religion. More than put off, some may even be scandalized.
If anything, we want to draw people to Christ, not give them reasons to dismiss Him - or His Holy Catholic Church - from their lives.
And St. Paul pulls no punches if we don't take this responsibility seriously. Here he considers the consequences of un-Catholic behavior "blasphemous." Think about that.
In our world, religion as a guiding principal in people's lives has become more and more ephemeral. In addition to those old school labels "atheists" and "agnostics," we've now got SBNA - spiritual but not affilated - and SBNR - spiritual but not religious. Surrounded by such people, we Catholics have a duty to somehow communicate the Truth of the Catholic Religion. While most of us won't directly proselytize our co-workers, at the very least we must give them an example that somehow communicates that we live - willingly, even enthusiastically - according to the tenets of our religion.
This simple "honoring" of our "masters" falls into this camp. Showing respect towards a boss - who represents legitimate authority - really falls into the "basic" category when it comes to our attitudes and behavior on the job.
Yeah, we might find instances where unreasonable demands are made on us, or a boss behaves boorishly. We may even run across situations where we're asked to do something unethical on the job. But these are circumstances we can and must address on a specific level. They're don't provide a general excuse to be disrespectful or uncharitable towards someone whose role constitutes legitimate authority. And, again, a boss does represent legitimate authority.
So while we may not serve under the yoke these days, we certainly do serve our bosses and our customers. Don't let pride or ego or a boss who's not behaving properly allow you to forget that.
Next time we'll continue with Chapter 6 of 1 Timothy for more Scripture we can apply to our work.
Ideally, we're reading Scripture every day. If you do so in the morning, many times you'll come across passages that you can apply to your work that very day. And so it was when I read 1 Timothy Chapter 6.
It begins:
"Whosoever are servants under the yoke, let them count their masters worthy of all honour..."
While it's likely none of us are slaves or indentured servants these days - as was not uncommon in St. Paul's day - we can still relate to this passage. After all, we all have a boss, right? Even those of us who own our own businesses report to some person or persons - even big shots. For example, bigger businesses have Boards. And so the CEO must account to their Board of Directors. Businesses of any size have customers and/or clients. These are, in a sense, our masters. Any product or service must appeal to them in some way, must help them in some way. Otherwise we're out of business.
While the prospect of going out of business should motivate any of us on a practical level to "honor" our "masters," St. Paul gives us an even more important supernatural reason:
"...lest the name of the Lord and his doctrine be blasphemed."
If we're not comporting ourselves as we should on the job, we're not giving good example to others. We're not demonstrating the fundamental importance and effectiveness of our Catholic religion's teachings applied to our work. While our failure to demonstrate may not occur to everyone around us, those who, for whatever reason, know we claim to take our Catholic Faith seriously would be mighty put off were we to behave in any way contrary to the teachings of our religion. More than put off, some may even be scandalized.
If anything, we want to draw people to Christ, not give them reasons to dismiss Him - or His Holy Catholic Church - from their lives.
And St. Paul pulls no punches if we don't take this responsibility seriously. Here he considers the consequences of un-Catholic behavior "blasphemous." Think about that.
In our world, religion as a guiding principal in people's lives has become more and more ephemeral. In addition to those old school labels "atheists" and "agnostics," we've now got SBNA - spiritual but not affilated - and SBNR - spiritual but not religious. Surrounded by such people, we Catholics have a duty to somehow communicate the Truth of the Catholic Religion. While most of us won't directly proselytize our co-workers, at the very least we must give them an example that somehow communicates that we live - willingly, even enthusiastically - according to the tenets of our religion.
This simple "honoring" of our "masters" falls into this camp. Showing respect towards a boss - who represents legitimate authority - really falls into the "basic" category when it comes to our attitudes and behavior on the job.
Yeah, we might find instances where unreasonable demands are made on us, or a boss behaves boorishly. We may even run across situations where we're asked to do something unethical on the job. But these are circumstances we can and must address on a specific level. They're don't provide a general excuse to be disrespectful or uncharitable towards someone whose role constitutes legitimate authority. And, again, a boss does represent legitimate authority.
So while we may not serve under the yoke these days, we certainly do serve our bosses and our customers. Don't let pride or ego or a boss who's not behaving properly allow you to forget that.
Next time we'll continue with Chapter 6 of 1 Timothy for more Scripture we can apply to our work.
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