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Would you have ever guessed that a man from the Old Testament could offer us a godly role model for Christians in the marketplace today? Daniel is that man. If you haven’t read the book of Daniel lately, I encourage you to do so, because there’s so much there to encourage you in your life today.
As you read his story, you will see that:
- Daniel’s greatest testimony was his work habits and dedication to doing his job right.
“Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (Daniel 6:3). This caused much jealousy among the satraps, so they set out to find something against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so.
“They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Daniel 6:4b).
What a testimony! Neither corrupt nor negligent. I never really think of myself as corrupt, do you? Yet let’s take a look at what comes under the heading of corrupt: guilty of dishonest practices like cheating on the expense account, using company assets for your own benefit, disloyal to your employer, giving reports that exaggerate the good and overlook the bad, to name a few.
And even if we pass the corrupt test, here comes “never negligent.” You mean, never neglecting to do what you’re supposed to do? Never failing to give it all you’ve got? Never failing to fulfill promises and follow-up as required? Never overlooking the stuff you hate to do and leaving it undone? Never?
I’m guilty! I wouldn’t want my work habits to be as closely scrutinized as Daniel’s were. With all those satraps looking for something to hang him with, they could find nothing.
Do you see why Daniel gives us such a great role model of a Christian working in the secular workplace?
