Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — 4.1MB)
Have you shared God’s love on the job lately? Sometimes it seems like the workplace is the last place we can talk about God or share our faith. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians that they were
… a letter from Christ … written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3).
We can be the word of the living God, a letter of love from Jesus to the people we work with, when we take time to let God’s love shine through us. I’ve given you six ideas on how to do that already this week. Here are numbers 7 and 8.
7. Smile
Are you aware your body language is louder than the words you speak? It’s true, and so we can send messages of love without saying a word. Smiling is surely one of the easiest and most effective ways to do that. All of us can smile; doesn’t cost a thing; doesn’t take any time. You just have to remember to do it.
Proverbs reminds us a cheerful look brings joy to the heart (Proverbs 15:30.) Why don’t we work harder at smiling more? I’m not advocating phony, insincere smiles, but many of us just need to work at smiling more. We feel smiles on the inside, but don’t show them on our faces. That’s my problem, I know, so I really try to remember to smile more. You may have been born with a smile on your face, so it comes easy for you. But some of us need to remember to smile, because it brings joy to the heart, and it shares a little of God’s love with others.
8. Do the “dirty work” sometimes, even if it’s not your job.
There are always those things that need to be done in a workplace environment that nobody really wants to do. They aren’t in anyone’s job description. Things like cleaning the kitchen or making the coffee; cleaning up after a meeting or tidying up the general work area. In smaller workplaces, it might be taking out the trash or taking the mail to the post office.
If you just do those things occasionally, without being asked and without grumbling, it would be a good way to show a loving, caring attitude toward the people you work with and for.
Too often we think the only way we can witness for Jesus is through the words we say—quoting Scripture or giving our testimony or explaining the four spiritual laws. And frankly, there are not many opportunities on any given day to do that. But there are countless ways to show the love of God through our actions and our attitudes. But we must be intentional about it.