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Employer Satisfaction nay Delight!
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…Colossians 3:23
Before taking even a proverbial step forward in this essay, let me state that
realization of the existence of controllable and uncontrollable factors,
in life and acting suitably forthwith would be a sign of laudable wisdom.
I am beginning this essay with such a statement mainly to pre-empt in
many of us a defeatist attitude towards work in light of God’s curse on
Adam subsequent to the fall, “that he shall forever eat over the sweat of his brow”
(Gen 3:19). Can we reverse that ‘curse’ which
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is an uncontrollable factor? No way, so wisdom would lie making the best of the ‘existing situation’, as it is said that
for some situations for which, we are not responsible, our wisdom
lies in how we positively respond to it. If we sulk and quit,
we are losers but by the same token, if we positively try to get over them,
we would be the main beneficiaries of such an attitude. Now for a brief interlude,
whereby I would aim to get to the root of the matter…
Ever wondered about ‘silent’ workings of God in the Bible, where the
‘drama’ element to rouse attention (e.g…parting of Red Sea) would be
conspicuous by its absence. One such case, you would come across is
found in Genesis 18, where we see a picture of an old couple namely
Abraham and Sarah being promised a child at a time, when both were past
the age of child bearing (Gen 18:12). Consequent to this Divine promise,
slowly but certainly, there were noticeable ‘biological’ changes in
their bodies, an ethereal reversal of aging process, as it were,
so much so that in the very next chapter, Sarah, yes the same very old
Sarah emerges as such a captivating woman that King Abimelech,
the regent of the city of Gerar
(refer the Southwestern part of the
Map II in the Old Testaments maps section), immediately takes her to
his Harlem on seeing her. It is another matter that God’s intervention
saves the day for both Abraham and Sarah, and brings to an amicable end
an unsavory episode which neither Abraham nor Sarah would have liked to
remember.
While we see in Genesis 21:1-3 the eventual culmination of that Divine
promise made in Genesis 18:10, it ought not to make us oblivious to the
fact that the Old couple had now virtually young blood coursing through their veins,
so much so we see Abraham not only remarrying after Sarah’s death in Genesis 25:1
but also having children.
The ‘silent biological’ changes of ‘different kind’ were what took place in
Adam and Eve, ever since the fall. Their bodies, so unconditioned for work and
toil in surreal Garden of Eden, were suddenly adaptable to a different
environment where not only the weather would be different but also the lifestyle.
Had not God produced such a needed ‘biological’ change in their bodies,
would they have survived as massive a change, they experienced? The fact
that even today, we face many an adaptability problem, whenever new weather
season sets in, underscores the point that barring a dramatic,
internal biological change, they wouldn’t have survived the
‘shift out of the Eden gardens’ that came about in their lives.
So amongst many things that this ‘biological’ change, brought in its
wake, one was that of tuning man’s body physically to work and
exercise though mentally, he would always hate to sweat…having got
used to the comfort of laidback living in the Garden of Eden.
Oh, how similar, we who are inheritors of Adam’s image not only
physically but also emotionally to the progenitor of the human race.
There is an inborn rebellion to do anything strenuous, though now our
bodies being conditioned to work would deteriorate in the absence of some
wholesome, energizing movement of the limbs. Even though, we realize in this
enlightened age that good exercise would contribute to healthy living, how
that same old Adamic nature pulls us towards the comfort of the cozy bed
(Note: oh how Adam in his new challenging environs would have
still pined for that soft, grassy land of Eden)!
Now the interlude ends and we get back to the main track…
It is this fallen Adamic nature, we take to work, be it in sophisticated air
conditioned cubicles or in the farmland with the tough soil waiting to be tilled or
any other place of our vocation or business day in and day out. With work being
perceived almost unconsciously by many as a ‘necessary evil’ no wonder it is said that
‘many people stop looking for work once they get a job’ though they would be aware at
least most of the times that this very work activity would keep them shipshape.
I heard sometime back from a reliable source that incidence of heart attacks is maximal,
in the very first year after retirement, where the amount of physical activity,
so essential to cardiovascular health, comes down dramatically. Of course,
by the same token, workaholics too tend to damage their health by going to the other
extreme. Then again wisdom lies in striking the right balance by being
‘all eyes and ears to the signals from one’s body’ and adapting suitably.
As the scope of this Essay is limited to Employer-Employee relationship with the
special emphasis on the responsibility of a Christian Employee to ‘dish out’
the very best to his Employer, I shall be throwing light herein only on the role of
an Godly Employee. In my future essays, I would endeavour to focus on the Biblical
perspective involving the Christian Employer’s responsibilities towards his Employees.
Ideally, the very realization of the fact that a good days ‘workout’ in the place of
work is good for health should be an incentive enough to give our best to our Employers.
Right? However, since we have our laidback Adamic nature to contend with at all
times, we need a higher incentive to propel us to those levels of efficiency
which would draw the attention of the watching World, which is otherwise highly
indifferent to anything that involves the Creator.
It has been said wisely that ‘Christianity in its entirety (every area of our
life including our vocation) is not our responsibility but rather our response
to His ability’. Very true! So it pays to commit our job into His hands and trust
Him to give us the requisite knowledge, skills and attitude to excel in it.
Eons back, four young Jewish men in a completely alien settings did just that and reaped
the manifold benefits thereof (Daniel 1:17-20).
Also simple acceptance of the truth that God is the ultimate employer that
we are working diligently to please Him more than anything else would fuel
us to go that ‘Extra mile’ for our Superiors which is guaranteed not only
to please Him but raise His stocks amongst our Superiors. Simply put,
our selfless diligence aimed at bringing Him joy -delivering an eloquent
sermon of its own - would make even the unbelieving world to sit-up and
take notice of His power. One needn’t go beyond the example of the admiration,
the pagan King Darius developed for his devout subordinate Daniel on account of
the latter’s immaculate work, to validate this point (Daniel 6).
In this context, with the sole intention of bringing honor to His matchless name,
I intend to quote herein my own little example. In the last month (Dec, 1991)
of my employment with my first employers namely BPL-INDIA (I had by then already
received the appointment letter of my next prospective employers… IBP Co.Ltd),
I was encouraged by Col 3:23 to give my very best even in that final month of my
service therein, (at a time when there would be no fear of termination of services’
for dereliction of duties or non-achievement of targets), so much so I exceeded my
sales targets convincingly. I was in their Plain Paper copiers section and vis-à-vis
my monthly target of selling 3 copiers that month, I sold 5. Not only that, there was
one transaction towards of the end of that very month (my exit from the Said office was at hand),
which perforce made me go that ‘Extra mile’ for my employers’. On Saturday (the office closes by 1 pm)
at about 12.30 pm, I received a phone call from a prospective client asking me to visit his office.
So off, I went scampering to meet him. By the time, the technical and commercial discussions ended,
it was almost 2.30 pm, then, just before closing of the deal, the said party-quite justifiably
so- intended to see the demonstration of the Copier, I was trying to sell. Since my office was closed,
there was no possibility of me bringing the machine from there for this purpose, so I requested the
said party to accompany me to a nearby office, where we had recently installed the machine to
which he kindly agreed. By the time ‘Demo’ was over and order received with an advance amount-after
yet another round of negotiations- it was 4.30 PM. On Monday morning, when I submitted my report
to my boss, his facial expressions and that of my colleagues, said it all! That was the best ever
sermon on Christianity, I had ‘preached’ to anyone in my office. A case of Christianity
‘not being our responsibility but our response to His ability’? Quite true for I had only
intended to sell those 5 machines in that very last month (including that one after the
Office closing hours) to please Him and also to bring honor to His name in my workplace
(everyone knew from my lifestyle in three and half years of my stint there where loyalties lay…with Him)
but it was He who paved every inch of my way to success. At this point, somehow,
I am being compelled to ask…are you not missing out on the greatest thrills of your life
if you are not walking with Him?
The Employers’, would not be delighted by we merely meeting our routine work targets,
which others too would be meeting but they would only be delighted by seeing us
expend selflessly that ‘extra ounces’ of energy to add to their profits. It is this
‘delight’, which would make them inquire inquisitively about our values in life,
whereby opening the doors for us to testify about our Lord! After, we testify (Romans 10:10),
let’s leave the results thereof, into His hands (John 6:44).
Can there be a greater incentive than this (opportunity to lead them to the Lord
and His salvation) to work perseveringly to delight ones’ employers?
Suresh Manoharan
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The list of essays to follow
- Capital Punishment
- Environmental issues
- Social drinking?
- What about "Capitation fees"?
- Should we Indianize Christmas celebration?
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