Skip to main content

Masters


     And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. (Ephesians 6:9) 

          Masters and slaves, Bosses and employees, each is to treat the other with respect, fear, and sincerity of heart. That’s what “in the same way” means. Threats and bullying have no place in Christian relationships. Having been in leadership/boss positions a few times, I understand how difficult that is. Most leaders and bosses have bosses, and those bosses require that the leaders and bosses work miracles in terms of production, sales, or other forms of results. Stress, like pain, tends to narrow one’s focus, often to one thing: whatever will reduce the stress and pain. Treating others well and loving others get lost along the way.
          Yet this is what God calls masters, bosses, and leaders to do, to love their slaves, employees, and followers. Jesus calls leaders to be servants. I’ve gone to conferences in which bosses were advised to get to know their employees, to find out what motivates them. We were sent back to our stores with that task, and it immediately got set aside because it was all company propaganda, not the true focus.
This is an area where I think the author of The Benedictine Option was correct. As                  Christians, we need to rethink how we do business. We need to start businesses in which we treat our employees the way Scripture teaches. We need to turn the focus away from wealth and power to service, in more than just our propaganda. That can happen in a non-Christian business place, but it’s harder.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more