By Todd Tillinghast
Without making too much of an overgeneralization I have found that there are basically three ways that I can approach virtually every area of my life whether it’s my marriage, ministry or job. I can choose to be Fearful, Forceful or faithful. It’s quite obvious which of these three is the desired and the most effective but what’s not always clear is when I am actually being faithful and not fearful or forceful. I know that I have spent entire seasons of my life engaged in one various endeavor or another being fearful or forceful and actually thinking I was being faithful the whole time. Let’s see if the Bible gives us any clear ideas of how to tell the three apart:
Without making too much of an overgeneralization I have found that there are basically three ways that I can approach virtually every area of my life whether it’s my marriage, ministry or job. I can choose to be Fearful, Forceful or faithful. It’s quite obvious which of these three is the desired and the most effective but what’s not always clear is when I am actually being faithful and not fearful or forceful. I know that I have spent entire seasons of my life engaged in one various endeavor or another being fearful or forceful and actually thinking I was being faithful the whole time. Let’s see if the Bible gives us any clear ideas of how to tell the three apart:
1. Fearful: Philippians 4:6,7
Many people come to work everyday in fear:
n Fear of losing their job
n Fear of the boss
n Fear of getting demoted
n Fear of not being good enough
And what happens is that having a fearful approach can be deceiving because it feels like passion. But it isn’t. It’s fear. We won’t get very far in life if our motivation is fear. If our only goal is to do what we need to do so that we won’t get in trouble then we will never be doing our best.
Is your motivation to come to work everyday fueled by fear of what would happen if you didn’t come or fear of not pleasing your boss or of being a looser in life?
A fear mentality breeds all kinds of unhealthy feelings and motivations. If we are fearful then we can pray and ask God for peace. Just like verse 7 tells us in Philippians chapter 4.
2. Forceful: Philippians 4:5
Some people think that the more aggressive they are the more they will get done but this is not true. Depending on your personality you may be a very forceful person. Maybe, like me, you have found out that being aggressive and forceful is not always the way to get what you want.
We need to be determined, we need to work hard without a doubt but we need not be pushy, rude and forceful to get what we want. Some people, especially in the market place have an attitude of competition in which it is perfectly acceptable to run over someone else to get to the top. This is not the way to win with people and gain influence.
Our attitude needs to be that of trying to win with our fellow workers, serving them and helping them succeed knowing that in so doing we will be helping ourselves succeed.
3. Faithful: Mathew 25:21
God says in His word that His means of promoting is based on how faithful we are with what we have been currently given.
Do we give our all to what we are responsible for in our jobs now?
Most of the time we think that the way to succeed is to get more and work toward having more:
n Money
n Time off
n Stature
n Titles
n Position
And our thinking is usually the opposite from what Jesus is describing here in Mathew chapter 25. We usually think that we need to just bide our time when it comes to the little things. We may think.. “I should be the manager and so I am not going to work hard until they recognize what I can really do.”
Be faithful with what you now have and God will give you more to be responsible for because you will have demonstrated that you can handle more responsibility.
“Well my manager doesn’t like me”.. It doesn’t matter, this is a spiritual principle. This is life. This is the oldest principle in the world, the principle of seed, time and harvest. Which is “what you sow you will reap.” This is always true in every situation.
If you sow faithfulness to your company and you work hard with what you currently have been given then you will reap the benefits of more responsibility and higher pay and everything that comes with that.
When you are faithful, have a good attitude and work hard you make yourself indispensible. If you are reliable then people will rely on you and people relying on you equals job security. Being faithful means we take care of what we have, do the best we can with it every day and trust God to do the promoting.
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