Lesson 17: Faithful in your work
1 Timothy 6:1-5 - www.bible.com/bible/59/1ti.6

1 Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.
2 Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things.
3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.


Being faithful in the work we do is often the hardest thing in our life. We may find our work boring, or we want a job with more money, or we don’t think we’re being paid what we’re worth, or many other reasons. But our verses today tell us God’s perspective on every job – we are to honor those who are supervisors over us. It doesn’t make a distinction between non-believing and believing supervisors except to say we should not allow our feeling of familiarity with a believer to make us act as if we have special privileges with them. If anything, we should work even harder for a believing supervisor because our love for them should make us honor them even more.

If the person who is our supervisor is an unbeliever, our responsibility to them before God is to make our work a testimony of who God wants to be in their lives. Our every action must be so pure that even if someone wanted to accuse us of doing wrong, everyone else around us would say this was impossible because we are the most honest person they know.

The last few verses in today’s lesson are a warning to us to beware of our words or actions which lead to conflict or fighting; it doesn’t matter if this is between us and someone else, or just between others around us, not involving us. God never wants His children to be the cause of these kinds of things. Instead, He wants us to be the peacemakers – see Matthew 5:9.

*What is your attitude toward your work? If we work full-time outside our homes, our co-workers probably see us more than our families do – eight hours or more a day. When was the last time you reacted to someone or something at work in an ungodly manner? It’s impossible to maintain complete integrity and to be a worthy reflector of God’s Light in our own strength. We must start every day with God in His word and in prayer, asking Him to shine through us, giving us His heart and mind throughout our day – both at work and at home.