Work Ethics and Being a Christian

Work

We all need money and a meaningful career. The Bible also tells us to provide for our family (1 Timothy 5:8). However, there is more to life than accumulating wealth. Certainly, money can be there today and gone tomorrow. When God asked Solomon what He should give to Solomon, Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge in order that he may rule wisely (2 Chronicles 1:7). For that God gave him not only wisdom, but also “riches, wealth and honor” (2 Chronicles 1:11-12). One cannot chase after wealth, but wealth will follow you. Of course, I do not mean that you should not work hard. Bible talks about work and relationship more than you would imagine.

Work ethics

We live in a culture, again about culture, that has a very skewed work ethics. On the one hand, we have workaholics; on the other hand, we have idle people who are nothing more than a body count. In the middle is the great number of people who may work more or less responsibly, but have a very wrong concept of work.

Many Christians think that work is a curse of God. Adam and Eve were able to eat off from the trees, but because of sin, we are cursed with work. If there had never been the Fall, wouldn't we just be strolling around in the garden and eat whenever we are hungry? We wouldn't be working, would we? That is far from being true. Let us look at the Bible, specifically in Genesis. In Genesis 3:17, God said to Adam, “ because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you and you will eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground." Some would read that and say, "Well, it seems like toil and sweat and work is a result of a cursed earth and so that work is the product of the Fall." It certainly is not true. Go back to Genesis chapter two, which describes the event before the sin entered our world.

Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to CULTIVATE the ground. (Verse 5)

Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to CULTIVATE it and keep it. (Verse 15)

As you can see God put man in the garden to cultivate and keep it. That’s work. The Fall did not invent work. The Fall did not introduce work. It just cursed it. Man was designed to work. Therefore, work is a command from God. It is also a gift from God. Since it is a command from God and a gift from God, we need to work. And when we work, we need to work hard with care because God deserves anything but the very best (Colossians 3:23).

God deserving best is a very passionate subject of mine. In 1991, Chuck Colson published a book titled Why America Doesn't Work.[1] It was co-authored with Jack Eckerd of the Eckerd Company, which operates a chain of drug stores called, what else, Eckerd. The subtitle of the book is, “How the decline of the work ethic is hurting your family and future.”

In their book, Chuck Colson and Jack Eckerd point out how we have declining rates of productivity in America. Why is that? because the workers are not working. You may have been witnessing this phenomenon from time to time if not daily without really realizing it because you see it everyday and are so used to it.

Responsibility

You go to stores and see workers behind the counters basically marking time. If you ask something, they tell you that they don’t know. What they really mean is that they don’t care. Sometimes they will tell you to go somewhere else in the store. Indeed you go somewhere else, but they tell you to go else where in the store again. After you have rounded the whole store, they finally tell you that you have to come back because the manager is unavailable right now.

If you have gone to Department of Motor Vehicle or DMV, you would all know how it goes. The line is usually 45 minutes long. You stay in line unenthusiastically and stare at the clock on the wall as you inch toward the service window. You have waited 30 minutes and finally there are only three people in front of you. Just any time, you anticipate, the long wait is over and able to take care of what you came for. Then you see the clerk putting up a sign at the window that reads “Lunch. Be back at 1pm.” As he puts the sign up, he tells the people to go to the next window. But there is no one at the next window. In fact, there is no clerk at the window. As you hesitate, the line at the next window gets longer. Finally, you make your decisive move to the next window. Now you are not the fourth person in the line any more, but you are the tenth person. The window is still closed. Wondering what is going on, someone finally appears at the window. She sits down, but the sign still says “Closed.” She starts to talk to the clerk sitting next to her about the TV show she watched last night, and how some actress is dating a famous actor, etc., etc. To you, it seems like eternity. When is she going to open the window? – you are thinking. Then she gets up and leaves. “What is going on?” – you ask yourself. Then she returns a few minutes later. Sits down and takes out her mirror from her purse. Grooms herself and finally removes the sign and calls out “Next.”

You have your car at the service station or a dealer to have it repaired. They called at your office to tell you what was wrong and how much it would cost. You give them your authorization to go ahead with the repair. You ask them to call you back when the work is finished so that you can pick up the car right away. That was 10 am. Now it is 3 pm and you have not heard from them. You wait a little longer and still don’t hear from them. Finally at 4 pm, you pick up the phone and call them. Operator answers the phone and tells you that she will transfer you to the service department. But no one answers at the service. After about ten rings, the phone is transferred back to the operator. She asks you if you have been helped. Recognizing your voice, she says no one must be at the desk to answer the phone. She then asks you if she could have some one call you back. You give her your name and number and ask them to call back. Thirty minutes have gone by and you do not have any calls from them. So you pick up the phone again and call them. This time, someone from the service actually answers. You ask for the status of your car and the person says, “Oh, about the ‘99 Saturn, is this Mr. Doe? I was just about to call you. Your car is done and we just test drove it, and everything is a OK. It is ready for pick up.” The reality of it all is that they never called you nor they were just about to call you. The work on the car was finished long time ago and they just never bothered to call you.

What about a co-workers whom you asked to find out about something and they said that they will get back to you when they found out, but never did. If you ask them a few days later, they may say, “I did that the day you told me. I didn’t know if you wanted me to get back to you with that. It was done the day you told me.” Such a response make it look like you are the one who was not clear and is making a big deal. But the fact of the matter is that he said he would get back to you. How responsible is that person? Would you say, “It is no big deal. What was supposed to be done was done. Besides it is not real big deal.” If you are not trustworthy with small things, how could you be trustworthy with big things. Besides what is small and what is big?

Once I was on an airplane and I asked for a pillow to a flight attendant since I couldn’t find one near where I was sitting. He acknowledged me, but never came back to me with a pillow. He passed me by several times during the flight, but never said anything. Finally, I stopped him as he was passing me, and asked for a pillow. He said there weren’t any left and gave me the standard apology. A few minutes later, a lady sitting on a row in front of me on the other side of the aisle asked a pillow to another female flight attendant. The flight attendant came back in about 30 seconds later with a pillow and gave it to the lady. Did the flight attendant who told me that there was no pillow really searched for a pillow and could not find one? Or did he simply forget and when I asked again, out of irritation, he told me that there was none any more. Is that a lie? Technically it is a lie if he never looked for it and told me that there was none when he agreed to look for one for me. Is that a big deal? Did it really hurt anyone? Other than causing some discomfort to me, it did not hurt anyone. After all, flight attendants have better things to do than to look for a pillow for a passenger who is spoiled enough to insist on a pillow. He has better things to do such as ensuring the safety of passengers. Therefore, what he did was no big deal and we absolutely understand it. Is that how we should view it? Again, how small is small and how big is big? How unimportant is something and how seriously important is anything?

We, in general are all perhaps immune to this because we see it all the time as well as we practice it ourselves too often too well. There are other nations that are putting us to shame in terms of work habits and work ethics.

Once I flew Singapore Airline. It was a long trip. About 7 or 8 hours into the flight, I woke up from a nap and was thirsty. A flight attendant was passing by me. I asked her for a can of soda. She told me that she was summoned to the forward section of the plane at that moment, and that she would be back when she took care of the situation in the forward section. I just as well assumed that she would never return and gave up on the soda. No other flight attendant came by for a while. About 20 minutes later, the same flight attendant came back to me with a can of soda. She apologized that it took so long, but she had some situation that she had to take care of, and many other flight attendants were involved in the same thing. I did not find out what happened in the plane, but was just so amazed that she remembered to bring me a can of soda. I found out months to follow from many other people who flew Singapore Airlines that they had nothing but praises about the onboard service of the Singapore Airlines. A few weeks later, also read in a Time magazine that Singapore Airline was one of the most successful airlines in the world during the time when many airlines were in financial trouble. It was not a surprise to me. The article said their success was attributed to efficiency, onboard service and strong work ethics.

Your Word

What is your word worth? Does it mean anything? When you sya, “Yes,” is it a way of your saying “shut up, I heard you” and nothing more?

Jimmy Carter, before becoming president of the United States, had to leave his naval career upon his father’s death to take care of his family and the family business. His dream was to become Fleet Admiral of the Navy, but his dream was cut short due to his father’s death (Later, he went on to become President of the US and Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces). When the funeral was over and he had time to assess the family business, he realized that the state of business was not all that great. His father owned many properties that were rented out, but there was not much rental income. The farm was not profitable either. He went on to find out that his father was not collecting the rent. In fact, there were no lease papers. He asked the tenants if they had lease papers. What he found out was his father just shook hands. To him handshake was just as binding as any paper. But many of the tenants were financially struggling. If they could not afford to pay the rent, his father would just excuse the rent payment. No wonder the business was not turning much profit at all. However, Jimmy Carter found out how compassionate his father was. More over, he realized if you shook hands on something, it is just as binding as any paper with your signature on it.

Today, we live in a world where words don’t mean much. Even the written words means little if you can find some loopholes in the contract. That is the reason why lawyers are involved in so many aspects of our lives so that every possible loophole can be covered. But the more you try to cover every possible loophole, the more complicated the words become and so on and so forth. It is an endless loop of cat and mouse game.

My wife once had an opportunity to work for a German company with many Germans. She was very impressed with their work ethics. When they say something, they always followed with action. If one said the meeting is to take place at 7am and everyone involved agreed to it, everyone was at the meeting at 7am sharp. I have an acquaintance who worked with a number of different companies from all over the world on acquisition process. He told me that he could always trust the Germans with their products and delivery schedule. They always delivered what they promised and delivered them when they promised to deliver. I am sure not every single German is ethical and responsible beyond reproach, but in general, it is certain that they put many Americans to shame.

Another aspect of one’s word that concerns me is the popular use of profanity. General and everyday use of profanity is so pervasive and accepted in our society that it is becoming a standard English almost. In the late 90’s, Time magazine had a featured article titled America Is Dressing Down. Perhaps there should have been an article titled America Is Becoming Insolent. Use profanely insolent language is so common that people are not even insulted by it any more. Even during prime time TV, the use of just about every profane word is now permitted except for the terminology that references sexual act in a vulgar way.

When I started to work right after college, which was more than 30 years ago (early 1980’s), there was no general and everyday use of profanity in the work place. One of the older gentleman at work, one day, showed me a photograph of his youthful days at the company. It was a group picture of all the members of a project in which he was involved. Everyone in the picture had a dark suit, black tie and short hair. He talked about how everyone wore a tie not only to work, but also to parks and going to shops, etc. in those days.

It was not only the clothes that changed. The attitude also changed. Clothes, in my opinion, is an outward expression of the inner attitude. What I mean by that is, for instance, a friend of mine was once invited to the White House. He was attending a law school in Washington, DC at the time. He was chosen as one of the outstanding law school students of America for that year. Along with about 100 others, two from each state and from DC, he was invited to the White House for a reception hosted by then president George H. W. Bush or more commonly referred as Bush Sr. For this special occasion, my friend went out and purchased a brand new suit and a new necktie. The night before the big day, he polished his shoes very carefully – the first time he ever polished his shoes in his life. The day of reception, he checked his shoes again and ensured that the shoes were shinny like a mirror. He got dressed and stood before a mirror for what seemed like hours making certain that he looked proper and nothing was out of place. Then he headed off to the White House.

Now tell me, if the dress is not a reflection of your attitude. As the dressing habit is changed, so are the habits of the heart concerning the language. Profanity is so rampant that even in professional work settings, four-letter words are part of everyday conversation, and in meetings, even among the ladies. People use profanity in order to emphasize their point, to express frustration, to denote importance and urgency of the matter or to show humor. It is used for any and everything. Even people who claim to go to church on a regular basis, they use those words everyday. Michael Jordan, the basketball star, was once asked to compare his current Olympic coach and his previous Olympic coach on their style of coaching. Jordan responded by saying that his current coach liked using four-man formation, but his previous Olympic coach liked using four-letter words. Do you want to be remembered as a person who likes to use four-letter words or as a person who is proficient in their skill at work place?

The Bible says in Matthew 12:34 through 37, “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” In verse 35, “brings out” indicates the spontaneity of what comes out from the heart. Jesus said previously in Matthew 7:16 through 20 about false prophets and how we will be able to know by their fruit whether or not they are false prophets or genuine prophets. In this verse, a new dimension of what He had previously said is shown. What Jesus was saying was that you might spontaneously say something and later on say that it was not nothing. However, the great day will come and on that day, your words will not be treated as nothing. Your words are the index of your heart. However meaningless or idle they may seem, they will be taken account of in estimating your character in the day of judgment regardless of whether good or bad.

Be responsible for your words.

Accountability to God

What I'm saying is as Christians, we have a level of accountability to God in our life, work and leisure. The subject in this section is work, so I will focus on work. Without proper understanding of work and its purpose, it is impossible to have godly and proper view of work, which results in quality outcome. Many Christians have distorted understanding of what work is. Work is not means through which you can buy pleasures and toys. Work is not a way to fulfill your ambition, a way to show your gifts and skills, a way to accomplish some meaningful purpose in your life. Work, on the other hand, is not a curse that we could have avoided if and only if Adam did not eat the fruit.

Work is a gift through which we glorify God our creator by using the skills He gave us. Skill is not only a professional skills that the world regards worthy. That is a culturally bound thinking. Chief justice of Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore lost his job as the Chief Justice in 2004 because he ignored the federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state courthouse. Many Christians held a vigil for Roy Moore and advocated the value of Ten Commandments in our culture. What many Christians forget is, as much as we revere and recognize the importance of it, that God commanded us that for “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, or a rest, for the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:9). God commanded us to work. Often we are so busy emphasizing the Sabbath that we forget the first part of this commandment. We are commanded to work. Whether or not we are supposed to work six days as opposed to five is not the issue here. The point is that work is a command from God.

Work: a gift from God

Work is also a gift from God. Ecclesiastes contains some of the most fascinating wisdom. It obviously talks about work. The writer of Ecclesiastes toil over the purpose work that serves in life. He starts out very cynically, but arrives the proper view of work in chapter 3 verse 13, “Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor -- it is the gift of God.” It is a gift through which we glorify God. Whether you work with your mind and intellect to accomplish great and what the world thinks is worthy, or you work with hands in manual labor, you are demonstrating skills that came to you through the creator and by doing your best, you are rendering the creator's glory.

It is also a means of providing meaning and fulfillment to life as well as a means of providing for the needs of life. It is said in 1 Timothy 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” God has given work to us as a way in which we can provide. God has given us work as the means to acquiring all of our material needs. By work, we sustain the necessities of life.

Work: Doing your best

With this proper view of work and understanding of work, it is impossible not to do one’s best whenever we are working. When David was offering a burnt offering to God, he refused a gift from Araunah by saying, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24).

Once I saw a movie, in which a character asked his secretary to buy his wife’s gift. It was a very expensive gift, but he had no idea what his secretary bought. When he went home and gave it to his wife, his wife was ecstatic. But it wouldn’t be a movie if she never found out how that gift came to her. She was very disappointed when she found out. Think about it yourself. Are you pleased with whatever is given to you that which costs the giver no heart, even if it cost lots of money?

This is exactly what David did not want to do. He not only wanted to give the best oxen as the burnt offering, but also wanted to pay for it. We might think since we are going to burn it any way, why not pick out the worst and the cheapest one. But when you give to God, we have to pick the best because He deserves nothing but the best. Jesus reiterated the same in the book of Luke when he talked about the poor widow who gave her all as an offering. In Luke 21:3 and 4, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” She gave all of her heart, all of her soul, all of her strength and all of her mind. She gave her best.

There is an expression that goes, “It is good enough for government work.” Although this expression has been around for a while, it seems to epitomize the attitude that is around today. I call it striving for mediocrity. Everywhere people are striving to achieve mediocrity. Even in the church, Christians are working to achieve not excellence, but “good enough.” I don’t believe any one is purposely giving a half-hearted performance. Nonetheless, as we are just as guilty in being part of this culture that strives for mediocrity, the same attitude seeps through into the church. Besides, what grievous consequences would you have when you are only “volunteering” at the church? Everyone understands that you had a good heart.

Once I read an article about the Academy Award in LA Times newspaper. It was a day or two after the Award ceremony. The reporter who wrote the article said that Billy Crystal was not hosting the show the following year. The reason for it was that Billy Crystal did not want to host the Oscar every year because it took all of his time away from just about everything. About two years before the ceremony, he starts to look at the big picture of how the ceremony should be done. About one year before the ceremony, the serious work begins. The last six months prior to the actual ceremony takes him anywhere from 12 to 14 hours a day preparing for a perfect show. The last three months, he basically spends all his time working 16 hours or more for the show. He strives for perfection. Not only him, but also all the people involved in the show understand the importance of the show and the perfection it must achieve. This article said that this particular year’s Oscar ceremony was as perfect as it could ever be from the operational point of view. People raved about the performance of Billy Crystal, and the producers and the director thought everything went perfectly except for the three second delay in music at one point. Other than that, they thought it was flawless. The fact of the matter is that none of the audiences realized that the music started three seconds later than it was supposed to.

As I was reading, I realized it was about movies. Realize movie is supposed to be an art (some certainly are, but then some others are certainly not) and people who make movies want to do strive for the best. It is certainly commendable that these actors and producers, in this particular example, Billy Crystal and company, are pouring their hearts into it and showing excellence in all that they do. For us Christians, there are lessons to be learned from such devotion. Not all movies and especially the Academy Award ceremony will be remembered by many years from now except for the interested parties. Many of us, who watch movies for entertainment and watch Academy Award to see if our favorite movies won an award, will not remember a whole lot about it years from now. Still, countless number of people has given their heart and soul into producing a show such as Academy Award. They poured their passion in it, but what do we do as Christians for God? Do we give the usual “good enough for government work” attitude? Are we guilty of this too often and too many times? I think God deserves better. Besides, the service we perform for God and for the Kingdom of God will be remembered forever by God. Please, give your best to God. Philippians 2:14 says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” Just prior to that verse, it is said, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” What is God’s will for your life? Look at what is said in the remaining verse. It is said, “That is God's will for you, for every one of us.” God wants you to do all things without grumbling and disputing. At the same time, it is God’s will for your life. He delights in you as you do your best and give your heart as the Bible exhorts you to do in “whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” (Colossians 3:23). No matter what our task is, it is our duty and expression of love to work for God's glory. In addition, exemplary work ethics can earn the respect of non-Christians at work places (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).

This obviously does not mean that we are to be always under pressure and “all work with no play.” Just as hobbies, vacations, and wholesome recreation are vital to a well-balanced, godly life, during your workday, you need to take a break from time to time, and engage in conversations with your co-workers, but all with modesty and reasonable enough to keep our effectiveness. Again, it is not about how many minutes is reasonable, but it is the attitude and desire to glorify God.

[1] Charles Colson, Jack Eckerd, Why America Doesn't Work, Word Publishing, September, 1991