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Presented by Lauren Stibgen
A sellout. Have you been one? Or have you experienced this at work? You confided in someone, placed trust in them. Maybe you shared a personal secret, juicy bit of office gossip, or maybe you even asked for help discreetly without someone knowing. Suddenly, everyone seems to know! It is terrible. You are the talk of the office and didn’t even mean to be. A sellout.
Part of integrity is knowing when to mind your words and when to keep confidences at work. Your integrity in this manner can earn you deep trust with colleagues and bosses but if you fail in this, it can have devastating consequences on you or the person you sellout.
Our Lord Jesus had a sellout at work—Judas. Now, Jesus had the advantage of being all knowing and knew Judas was part of the plan for the salvation of the world from sin and death. But he still had someone he worked with every day, trusted with the money, and dined with turn on him—literally to the point of his death on the cross. Judas did it for money. The picture we receive of the betrayal is even worse. Judas kissed Jesus on the cheek to indicate to the soldiers which one was Jesus.
Ultimately, Judas regrets his deep betrayal of Jesus. He tries to give the money back and ultimately takes his own life in terror and grief over what he had done.
Keeping your integrity of faith at work is reliant on you not being like Judas! At work, you won’t sellout someone to the point of death, but you could very well impact how someone is perceived. The Bible warns of the tongue’s power repeatedly.
The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit (Proverbs 15:4).
The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil (Proverbs 15:28).
Remind the people to be subject to the rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to be gentle toward everyone (Titus 3:1-2).
Simply, don’t be a sellout! Keeping your integrity of faith at work is incumbent upon how you choose to keep confidences and lift others up—not tear them down.