Work hard and do right

Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. – Titus 2.9-10 

The Bible of course is full of spiritual advice and counsel. It is, after all, God's word, and tells us how to live our spiritual lives. 

But it is not limited to the spiritual stuff. There are also a lot of plain, practical, everyday things that tell us how to deal with daily life. But even these have a spiritual application. 

Paul lived in a different culture. Some people were slaves in the sense of the word as we know it. Some were contracted labourers. Some were indentured servants. The bondservants here could have fit into any of these catagories. 

It was a tough place to be. People found themselves in situations where there very well might be working in unpleasant situations. In these situations their testimonies were important. If Christians could handle these situations people, especially their 'masters,' would know the reality of their faith. 

So how should they act? And, by inference, how should we act at work? Of course, we have the option to leave work, but if we stay what should we do? 

We ought to be the best workers in the shop. We fulfill our job requirements. We are pleasent in our attitudes and actions. If we have an issue we deal with it properly. We don't steal, not only things, but we don't steal our boss's time. We are loyal. 

And we do all this so that our actions adorn our words about our Saviour. 

Work isn't always busy. Bosses aren't always pleasent. Fortunately today we do have recourse. But whatever we do we work hard, we do right, and we deal with problems in a way that Christ always looks good.