Happy Monday, dear sisters! Hope you’re well! As we focus on wisdom about work this month, we don’t want to miss an opportunity to thank you for your work within the GEMS ministry. Whatever your role(s), accept our heartfelt thanks! Together let’s always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). Have a blessed week!
During the month of January we’re focusing on Wisdom about Work. Let’s turn to Proverbs chapter 27 to get wisdom that goes beyond the gold!
EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PACKAGES
The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored.
Proverbs 27:18
If Employee of the Month recognition were given in Joseph’s day, year round he would’ve had his picture hanging on the lunchroom wall and printed in the company newsletter. With God as his Helper, whatever he did prospered. His boss Potiphar took note of Joseph’s success and honored him by promoting him to his attendant. He rewarded him by putting him in charge of his household, and entrusted everything that he owned into Joseph’s care. Thanks to his exceptional employee, the only thing Potiphar had to think about was what he wanted to eat for dinner (Genesis 39:1-6).
Honor and reward are part of the employee benefit package for those who give their best to their work. Whoever protects their master will be honored (Proverbs 27:18b). Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank (Proverbs 22:29). That’s true on earth and will be true in heaven, too! Jesus said, “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (Matthew 25:21)
Sometimes our work brings the immediate satisfaction of a job well done, the praises of our family (Great meal, Mom!), the approval of an employer, or the heartfelt thanks of a Club Coordinator.
At other times, we may feel unappreciated, devalued, and misunderstood. Joseph identified with that, too. He was a poster boy for unjust treatment at the workplace. He was a man of integrity who fled from Potiphar’s wife to honor his God and his boss, and his reward was a grim prison cell. Where’s the honor in that? Some honor only comes from our Master, not our employers. Some honor is delayed so that God’s good purpose may be achieved. Joseph rightly understood that when he told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).
Whether our work takes place at home, on the job, or within volunteer positions, there is a chain of command. John A. Kitchener writes, “If we attend to His honor, He will care for ours. Our first charge is to find the person or people under whom God has placed us and, then, to serve Him by serving them.”
Wisdom Step: Check out the benefit package that is ours when we honor God with our work: Matthew 25:21, 23; Luke 12:42-46, 19:17; John 12:26.
A life of honoring God and others means you graduate to heaven with honors.
Boyd Bailey
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