SERVANTS???
“If a ruler hearkeneth to
lies, all his servants are wicked” (Prov. 29:12). Does this mean that if the
owner at our workplace or our boss is an
evil person, we’re supposed to quit? No. In the Bible,
there are different meanings of the word “serve”
or “servant,” and it’s important to know the difference. In Proverbs 29:12, the
word for “servants” means that the person worships the ruler, desiring to carry
out his every wish, ministering to his way of thinking. It’s different from the
usage of the word “servants” in 1 Peter 2:18: “Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear [respect]; not only to the good and gentle, but also to
the froward.”
The word
“froward” means crooked, perverse and wicked. If God were asking us to worship
and yield entirely to this kind of person, it would be a contradiction of His
Word. But instead, the word translated “servants” in this verse means “fellow
resident or household servant.” It’s like you work in the same household, the
same business. When it says that these kinds of servants are “subject” to their
masters, the word “subject” means an attitude of cooperating, assuming responsibility
and carrying a burden, in a military sense or business sense or household
servant sense. It is not at all in the sense of worshipping or ministering to
his or her ideologies. Only God Almighty and His son Jesus Christ are worthy of
that kind of service.
We need
always to be aware of where we stand as far as our servitude. Job 36:11 tells
us: “If they obey and serve him [God], they shall spend their days in
prosperity, and their years in pleasures.” That’s where we want to be.
On the
other hand, Psalm 106:36 tells us: “And they served their idols: which were a
snare unto them.”
We are
sometimes challenged in our employment situations to make value judgments in
serving. If our employers ask us to do or say things that are contrary to the
Word of God, we have to stand up for God. When I was an executive assistant, I
was responsible for typing and signing letters for my boss. In one of his
letters, he dictated a bold-faced lie. Morally, I couldn’t sign it for him. I
knew I could be fired for calling him out on it, but I had to choose that day
if I was going to put God first or my job. I chose God and went into my boss and
told him if he wanted the letter sent, he would have to sign it himself,
because I just couldn’t do it. (Believe me, I said it in the nicest way possible).
Well, I didn’t lose my job, but he’s held a grudge against me to this very day.
I’m sure
many of you have faced this moral challenge. The way I do it is to remind
myself that I am only a subcontractor on loan from the Lord. I worship and
minister to and for God alone. And in the workplace environment, I strive for
excellence, contributing to the work of the household, but in my case, not
necessarily to the philosophy of the people in charge. I know where my loyalty
lies.
Every so
often it’s good to check the quality of our service in our secular environment as
well as our spiritual one. Both are important to God but our spiritual
priorities always come first.
“Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the
reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:24).
Love,
Carolyn
INSPIRING * * *
INTRIGUING @ @ @ ! !
! ENJOY + +
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