How to Witness at Work (And Not Be Weird)
When I was growing up, I had a murky idea of what it meant to be saved by Jesus. I had “asked Him into my heart,” went to Sunday school every week, and memorized Bible passages. I went to youth group and “guarded my heart” by only listening to music with uplifting, clean messages. I had posters featuring celebrities who chose to wait to until they were married to sleep with their spouses on my wall. And I was missing the point.
As I got older and left the safety and symmetry of my parents’ Christian home, I began to uncover some unpleasant truths about myself. I was stubborn. I was selfish. And I really liked to gossip. It drove me into despair.
Only after I got to the end of myself did I realize, finally, that it was never about me at all. As a sinner saved by grace, I was not required to be anything but desperate for God’s love. I could look at the ugly, unsweet truth about my sweet self and not feel condemned. And I needed to show others the same mercy every day.
Exposing the difference in your heart does not require in-depth knowledge of Scripture, or a squeaky-clean past. Mostly, it needs grace, genuine love, and patience. Through a myriad of mistakes, I learned to be a witness where I work every day.
Forgive Often, and Beautifully
When I say or do stupid things I am always so compassionate with myself. I was tired when it happened, or hurt by something someone else said, and wasn’t using my head. But when someone else pained me with their words I used to always assume they were intended to throw me into turmoil. Giving others the benefit of the doubt will help you even when they really were “taking pot-shots.” It relieves the burden of worrying about their cruelty and all that it implies. And people around you will take notice of your attitude, even if they don’t mention it to you.
Keep A Tight Reign On Your Tongue
I learned the hard way that there are people who will befriend you in order to talk to you about a mutual acquaintance in “confidence,” and use what you said about your supervisor or your student or your client to their own advantage, and to your detriment. What the Bible says about gossip has practical, as well as spiritual, benefits. We are to be “shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16.) Be friendly, funny, and sociable, but keep your opinions to yourself. If someone is really making your job difficult, present your concern to your supervisor in a positive and constructive way. Focus on the facts of what happened and avoid making character judgments about the other person. Your professionalism will be noted.
Build Others Up
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building others up” (Ephesians 4:29) Again, I learned this one the hard way. We all want to feel that we are capable of doing a good job, and a compliment can go so far to mend a discouraged spirit. I was amazed at how quickly I started to be encouraged once I started applauding others and giving genuine praise when I was pleased or impressed. You cannot say too many kind things, and other people will start to become more generous with their reassurance of you.
Take Feedback Well
See it as an opportunity to improve, rather than a criticism of your personality. Everyone has ways they can do their job better, and you are probably doing other things well. In humility, know that you are a human who is still growing and learning. But know that growing and learning is what will help you to be successful; no one started out at the top.
Leave The Rest Up to God
As a mother of three, my job has no small importance to my family. It puts food on the table and provides swim lessons and soccer jerseys. But it doesn’t help anyone to worry about the smaller incidents of the day when you are in your parent pants. Know that God cares for your family more than you do, and things will resolve as they need to.
How have you shown God’s love at work?
Ooh yes! Some of the meanest people I’ve ever met were fellow staff members at a church. May we act more like Jesus instead of just saying the religious things we think we’re “supposed” to say. Thank you for sharing this – what a good reminder!
I applaud this post – especially: As a sinner saved by grace, I was not required to be anything but desperate for God’s love. I could look at the ugly, unsweet truth about my sweet self and not feel condemned. And I needed to show others the same mercy every day. Exposing the difference in your heart does not require in-depth knowledge of Scripture, or a squeaky-clean past. Mostly, it needs grace, genuine love, and patience. Through a myriad of mistakes, I learned to be a witness where I work every day. How much do we share with others what God thinks of them? Look at Matthew 13:44 and consider this: Matthew 13:44-46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, “who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Through scripture we know that the Kingdom of Heaven is the literal (not spiritual and not figurative or metaphorical) Kingdom on earth where Jesus is King of all the world. Now – who is the man or the merchant who found the treasure or the pearl? God. Who is the treasure or the pearl? You are. Both the man and the merchant sold all that he had to buy it. God gave His only begotten Son to be sacrificed in your place to reconcile you back to God – God gave all that He had to buy you back – that is how much God loves you – you are the treasure hidden in the field and you are the pearl of great price and God was willing to sacrifice all that He had in order to save you – what amazing worth you have to God – what love He has for you. This is the message each of us as believers in the Grace and Truth of Jesus Christ should be sharing. When Paul writes to the church at Corinth to correct them – He doesn’t focus on their sin, Paul reminds these believers who they are and Paul reminds them of the promise Jesus made to return to them and take the church before the tribulation – Paul reminds them how valuable they are to God and who they are in Jesus. Valuable teaching for many who are lost, who doubt, who struggle with addiction, who sin and believe that sin separates them from God when it does not. How many times have you heard, I want to go to church – I want to be near God – BUT – I need to get right first. This is not hope, but many churches teach what you need to do to earn the free gift and many of the church members take that message and spread hopelessness even unto themselves. Reveal the truth and grace of Jesus Christ – reveal that through faith in Jesus, God has judged you righteous by faith apart from works and in this free gift – God has acquitted you of all guilt now and forever. Repent is a very misused and abused word in the English language – the church – the body of Christ – the believer was never meant to repent their sins before God – Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” It does not say every one who calls on the name of the Lord and repents will be saved – it says what it says. Read the story of Cornelius in Acts 10 who was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit without condition – no repentance of sin. In fact, the Hebrew word Shuwb, and the Greek word metanoeo both mean to turn – it was sometime after 320 AD when Constantine had the bible translated into Latin did the word become poenitentiae or penance – completely different from the context of what the Gospel truth is. God wants you to turn to Him through Jesus – not feel condemned about your sin – be more conscious of the Cross and of Jesus who has washed away your sins through His shed blood and made you so pure that the Holy Spirit may now dwell in you as a temple to Jesus. Consider the prodigal son – when he returned to his father the son, so wanting good food, was ready to give up his rightful place in the family and become a servant. However, his father (a type and shadow of our Heavenly Father) called for shoes for his son’s feet and place the signet ring for his son’s finger showing that he was an heir to the family. Did you know that shoes were a sign of royalty? Every time I used to tie my children’s shoes, I told them they were royal in our family and the Kingdom of God and that they would inherit the Kingdom through the promise of Jesus. Today, I tell my grandchildren the same thing when I tie their shoes. You are royalty through the finished works of Christ Jesus, you are noble, you are righteous by faith, you are pure as the first morning snow, and your God through Jesus is faithful to you even when you are not faithful – all of these wonderful things and how God feels about you are in your bible.
Kind regards,
J Arnn
Jewish Studies for Christians
This topic has been on my mind a lot recently. Thanks for making me realize that I neeed to be careful with my speech and that my witness is seen in my every day actions and attitudes.
Great post – our Outreach Influence Team (reps from all ministries at my church) were discussing and praying about this very thing tonight. I’ve circulated your post to our Slack stream. Thanks for your insights!
Excellent post. One of the most difficult things for anyone to do is to hold my tongue when I have been unjustly criticized or attacked by someone else. This is the acid test of how well we have control over our tongue through the Holy Spirit. For me this was also learned the hard way…I suppose this may be the only way to truly learn this lesson is to fall on our face in failure one spectacular time.
Grace under fire is a virtue that is a strong silent witness for Christ at work…because everyone can relate to it on some level and admire it even begrudgingly when they see it in action in another person…but this ability only comes from God through the Holy Spirit working in our lives and changing our character for the better.
Solid, biblical advice. If more people followed these truths, the workplace would be a far more pleasant environment in which to be.