FRIDAY September 8th
1 Peter 2:18–20
‘Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.’
In this second instruction from Peter we are told to be ‘subject to your masters’, we need to put this into the context of the society in which we live and it is an instruction to be subject to our employers. This means that we are expected to work and in our work to be good employees. In fact I personally believe that the best employees should be Christians.
We should seek to excel in what we are employed to do and thus be an example to those who are watching on. Even when there may be times in our employment where we may be disgruntled or finding it difficult we should still seek to be and to do our best. We also seek to be employees who work with honesty and integrity and it may mean that if we see something going on in the workplace that would not fit in along these lines that we maintain our integrity and pursue ways to ensure that we do not get entangled, even to the point of speaking out. Believe you me, I have been in this kind of a situation in the work place where I have had to refuse to do certain things because I knew them to be dishonest, at the time it made my position in the work place very difficult, but God honours us when we honour him by our lifestyle and conduct. Later, on more than one occasion in that same employment my employer needed someone who he could trust to do a certain job, and out of the workforce of around 20+ men I was the one who was appointed to do the specific tasks. My previous testimony although not appreciated at the time actually spoke volumes later.
In Colossians when Paul is giving similar instruction he says this ‘Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.’ (3:23-24) Yes, we do work for our weekly or monthly pay packet , but we also work in a way that brings honour to God and to his name. In fact in an earlier verse in regard to our work Paul says ‘obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord’. (v22)