Wednesday: Working With Integrity
Another phase of a “successful” life, the last phase, has the potential to be the most enjoyable — if the decisions of the earlier years have been wise and not ruined by unexpected events. In an ideal situation the parents have raised their children to become independent adults, the home is paid for, the transportation needs are met, there are no lingering debts, and there is a sufficient income stream to provide for the senior family’s needs.
God calls His children to a higher standard in work and life. That standard is God’s law written in our hearts (see Jeremiah 31:33) and reflected in our characters.
Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com
As society erodes and Christian teaching is diluted and minimized, it will become even more important for the individual Christian to live and work on a level that is above reproach. The Bible says, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold” (Proverbs 22:1, NKJV).
The Bible records instances of employers who recognized that they were blessed because of having a godly employee. When Jacob desired to leave his father-in-law, Laban, and return with his family to his homeland, Laban entreated him not to leave, saying, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake” (Genesis 30:27, NKJV). And when Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, his master, Potiphar, made a similar observation about Joseph’s work and rewarded him accordingly.
Read Genesis 39:2-5. Although the texts do not specifically tell us, what do you imagine Joseph had been doing that caused his master to look so favorably upon him?
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV). So in our work and financial management and whatever we do, we should do it all to the glory of God. He is the One who gives us the knowledge and strength to succeed in life. “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12, , NKJV).
| What are the principles that you are following, not just in work, but in life in general? What changes might you need to make? |
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I find it somewhat interesting that often our discussions about the honesty of work are written from the employee-responsibility perspective. It's about doing an honest job to the best of your ability and so on. Perhaps we need to balance our views a little and think about the integrity and honesty of employers as well.
Seventh-day Adventists have a long history of being anti-unionist. I remember when I was a concrete worker in New Zealand in my youth there was pressure for me to join the New Zealand Concrete Workers Federation. The church's position at the time was for members to be conscientious objectors to unions and I was scheduled to go to court to defend my position. Ultimately I left NZ to return to my studies before the court case could be held.
Later when I studied sociology as part of my education qualifications, I found that historically, the union movement began as a church-based support movement for workers among the miners in Wales. They opposed child labour among other oppressive work practices of the time.
I don't want to get into a long discussion about unionism per se. I know that there are issues about how unionism is practiced today but I do want to mention that integrity and honesty are something that applies to both employers and employees. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has sometimes been a slow learner in this regard. I can remember back to the battle to get equal pay for equal jobs rather than the gender-based pay schedule we used to have. In a nutshell, it had to go before the courts before it was resolved.
Integrity and fairness are part of the Christian ethic, and it is important that we see that it applies in both directions in the workplace.
Very interesting about the history of the union movement!
I know of a case where a Seventh-day Adventist employer, who had his own successful business, exploited his Adventist employees by paying them low wages and expected them to be grateful for the job. This situation raises concerns about integrity and fairness, of course. It suggests that some employers may be taking advantage of their employees' religious beliefs and willingness to work for lower wages, rather than paying fair wages and providing appropriate working conditions.
This type of behavior is not unique to Seventh-day Adventists, of course, or any particular religious affiliation.
I find verse 6 to be applicable to the boss/employee dynamic for the children of God who are led by the Holy Spirit.
I sometimes wonder how administrators will explain the discriminatory employment wage structure of the church when they appear before the bar of Christ. It is not clear to me how this kind of discrimination honours and glorifies God.
Jacob and Joseph both demonstrated godliness and diligence in all that they did, despite the challenges they faced. As Christians, we are called to work as if we are working for the Lord, and to do everything with distinction and honesty, regardless of whether or not we receive recognition or reward.
More than ever we are summoned to live what we truly believe! Living is the practice of our faith, no matter faith in what. Remember, "Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." (Matthew 6:21). Whom do you want to lead your heart today?
Hi JC - Thank you ! ",.... there the desires of your heart will also be." To accept this truth is where our salvation starts; why it is necessary that we accept the purposeful changing of our heart and mind; it changes our focus and our desires in life to honor God.
"A good name is better than riches." When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word, it is because we trust and obey. Trusting in the Lord and obeying His word is how we build a good name. Praying that God will give us the mind of Jesus and make us holy as He is, will give us a good name also, and is synergistic to trusting and obeying.
Proverbs 3:5-6.
Psalms 4:5.
Colossians 1:9.
Mark 14:38.
Just for the non-enquiring mind. The ESV does injustice to Psalms 4:5. The ESV leaves out the word righteousness. Sacrifices of righteousness are doing what is right so that our light can shine, or if you prefer to have a good name.
Hi, John. I checked a whole bunch of English translations of this verse. In general, they say "right sacrifices" or "righteous sacrifices" or "sacrifices of righteousness." To my admittedly inquiring mind, these three phrases all seem to mean pretty much the same thing. But what are the sacrifices that God considers right and acceptable?
Then there is this:
So, there is contrition, and there is praise if offered through the merits of Christ, but I am not aware of any Scripture (not even Psalm 4:5, which doesn't say "the sacrifice of righteousness") suggesting that we offer righteousness to God as a sacrifice. I suppose that's because we have no righteousness to offer, according to such passages as Romans 3. Rather, righteousness is a gift that we receive from God.
Matthew 5:16 does say that our good works should glorify our Father in heaven, but Isaiah 26:12 (NKJV) says:
So, it seems that any truly good works that we can do are done through the righteousness of Christ alone, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. If our own righteousness is nothing but "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6), then it would seem to make sense that we could never offer righteousness to God as a sacrifice.
Do you agree?
Hello R.G. – though you addressed your request for a response to John, may I also contribute a thought which came to mind after reading your post?
You state in your last paragraph: ‘If our own righteousness is nothing but “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), then it would seem to make sense that we could never offer righteousness to God as a sacrifice’
Yes, I also consider that ‘we can never offer righteousness to God as a sacrifice.’ Instead, I understand ‘righteousness’ to be contained in the righteous act itself. God declared these acts to be righteous acts and beneficial to those who live them/express them/experience them. It is His righteousness which finds expression in these acts.
That which we could consider as a ‘sacrifice’ is our willingness to abstain from gratifying our self-seeking nature, choosing instead to let ‘self’ die and come to life by faith in His righteousness - ..”the gift of righteousness (engaging in acts designated by the Creator to be ‘righteous acts’) will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ - Rom.5:17; this gift expresses itself in our born-again nature.
Hi, Brigitte. I would only add that "our willingness" arises solely from God's initiative in the working of His Holy Spirit, and not from anything inherent to ourselves. If left to ourselves, we'd not even have the inclination to resist self and Satan.
I'm afraid that the only sacrifice worth mentioning is Jesus on the cross.
RG Absolutely! And I appreciate you laying it out for me so well. I pray, Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus; make me holy as He is; may I prove I've been with Jesus, who is all my righteousness.
We must remember that even though we have no righteousness to give,
This is the sacrifice of righteousness I was thinking of when I read Psalms 4:5 from the NKJV vs ESV. Peter supports this sacrifice. 1 Peter 1:13-16.
Thank-you for your inquiring mind. 😊
Yes, I now see clearly. Right sacrifices is another way of saying sacrifices of righteousness.
I learned two words from the English language which greatly intrigued me, and which became the main-stay of our family’s decision-making process – 'integrity' and 'necessary'. I noticed that when we learn our first language as babies, all we do is repeat the sounds of the words. As we grow older, we learn their ‘meaning’ when we ‘experience’ them.
I was able to learn the English language one word at a time in the setting of family-life and its responsibilities as a wife and mother. This is when I became aware that words developed a ‘word-picture’ based on the experiences associated with them. ‘Necessary’ became associated with practical, no-nonsense, down-to-earth decision-making, and ‘integrity’ expressed their moral and ethical context based on our faith.
Though we were not ‘educated’ Christians, both of us followed an inner compass guiding our conduct. The more I learned about our Christian Faith, assessing/evaluating 'integrity' eventually became an all-encompassing measuring tool. Integrity is a fascinating word employable to measure ‘balance’ in life. Once established in one’s conduct, it becomes a ‘natural’ need to establish balance in life. Our children became the early recipients of my eagerness to teach them the importance for the development of ‘integrity/balance’ in their heart and mind.
My wife and I run a small chicken business which was born out of the health reform message which encourages us to grow our own food. Our aim was to not only warn people about the dangers of birds which are grown rapidly and loaded with growth boosters, but to provide a healthier option as we talk about the health message.
When we set up our business, we placed Honesty and Integrity at the core of our business and this has remained at the core of what we do. Over the years, we have been blessed (within our context) immeasurably and we have clients who come back and also refer other people to us.
Today I got a call from someone who wanted to buy a few birds from us, and we got into a longer and broader conversation. He was in need of advice on how to start up his chicken business and to make it successful. I could bore you with the over hour long discussion we had, but when we had finished our discussion, he said to me, "You have told me what everybody else has been hiding from me. May the Lord bless you and heal you completely (spine surgery) and restore you to good health.
That is success for me, if I can help somebody all the while being honest and holding my integrity to the glory of God.