Day 27: Be Faithful and Be Blessed

We have seen that God requires that we are as faithful towards our boss as we are towards Himself, and that any employee who truly proves himself/herself trustworthy is going to be valued and approved by his/her employer. Even more, he/she will be blessed by God.

In Proverbs 28:20 it says:

"A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished." (NIV)

So, if you are a faithful man or a faithful woman in your place of employment and in your attitude towards your employer, God says you will be blessed. Even if your employer doesn't bless you, God will see to it that, in His own way and time, you get blessed.

Previously, we have looked at a negative promise: "All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Then we have examined some of the standards that the Bible sets for employees. Now we will turn to the positive promise, and this is one that I specifically proved in my own experience. It is found in Romans 14:17-18:

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men." (NIV)

Notice what the kingdom of God is. It is not a set of rules about what you are to eat or what you are to drink, or what places of entertainment you are to attend, or any kind of set of legalistic, religious rules. That is not where it is at. As a matter of fact, I find that religious legalism tends to turn off people who are not Christians. It doesn't attract them, it repels them. But the real life of Christianity is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Holy Spirit, it is not possible.

And then, notice what Paul says about the person who is serving God in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit: he is "pleasing to God and approved by men". In other words, men will recognise the quality of his life and, even if it's grudgingly, they will grant him approval. Now I can really say that I proved this in my own experience. (And in my next message, I will give you an example of that.)