Bold Faith in the Workplace

The Christian blogger, David Rupert, writes, “The problem for the lifestyle follower of Christ, is that it’s not that easy to dissect a transformed life. There’s really no such thing as a private faith. If my heart is changed, so too is my passion. If my spirit is flipped, so too is my thought process. A true Christian always oozes it – the transformation cannot stay silent.”

Reading this, my question to you is, “Are you harboring a private faith or are you vocal about your regard for Christ?”

It’s a hard question to answer when we live in a world that prefers the Christian to leave his or her beliefs on the church door stoop each and every Sunday. We’re all walking the tightrope between our faith and the outside world each and every day. We’re basically holding the balance beam and wobbling back and forth between what our human resource department advises and what God expects.

To Do Good

Once upon a time there was a young man who learned the art of the deal. He realized that a good real estate deal could reap so many financial benefits in so many ways that he built a lucrative empire on this understanding. He bought properties steeped in equity and then pulled out all the surplus cash and either lent it out to other real estate investors, or bought other deals ripe with equity. This strategy worked really well until the housing bubble burst and with it his dreams of grandeur. He learned a few huge life-lessons in the crash: 1.) Don’t overextend yourself, and 2.) Don’t work solely for the almighty dollar. 

This is a true story… It is my story. When I first started buying and selling real estate, I was driven by an insatiable desire for palatial homes, lots of toys, and big bank accounts. When I lost it all, I realized I wasn’t fulfilled by my previous motivations. Even though I had everything before the crash, I became nothing without it. It was a very hard lesson, but an extremely valuable one.

We Were Made to Make

In Genesis, after God made the earth and mankind, he hands over his masterpiece to Adam and Eve and requests that they not only create, but that they also subdue their lineage and oversee and govern the world around them.  This is God’s first call-to-action for mankind–fill the earth and subdue it. Ever since then, humans (whether they know it or not) have endeavored to complete this divine CTA.

Over the years of being a business owner, I have watched this innate desire take shape in all levels of work in my office and out at our various construction sites. There is a deep human desire to be creative and assertive. There is a great need to rearrange the raw material of God’s creation in such a way that it helps the world in general, and people in particular, thrive and flourish.

All Work is Divine

Many people think of work as a “necessary evil.” It’s a means to an end, a way to survive, a mode to make money, put food on the table, or buy goods for our family. In this frame of mind, work becomes drudgery. Simply a necessary condition to get through this life. 

When we think of work this way, we take away its intrinsic dignity, creativity, and divinity. We carve it down to just a 9-5 slog. 

But, when we realize all work, as it was created, is (note I did not say, “can be”) divine. All work, whether it’s cleaning floors, building a wall, transacting a business deal, or conducting brain surgery is divine, regardless of how secular it appears.