S2-Day 24: God in the Workplace

I once asked a wise man, Tell me sir, in which field could I make a great career? He said with a smile, be a good human being. There is a huge opportunity in this area & very little competition. 

We live in a world where human beings are inventing the machine to be like human and the irony of humans who work as machines. 

This COVID19 pandemic is a disaster for many. The so-called corporate giants ruthlessly sacked employees even without being paid. Many of whom treat their employees as slaves. There is no space for a ‘no,’ as an answer, you have to do your work. They are constantly made to believe that, they need the organization more than it needs them, while the reality is otherwise. The rat race of survival of the fittest is the game-plan. Yet, the more efficient you are, the more you will be burdened with more. 

The disguise of team-work, with toxic wolves within is toxic to any business. People around will constantly pull each other down with their sarcasm because they hate the other’s efficiency. Office politics with nasty tactics are unavoidable. If you do not tactfully engage with it, you could jeopardize your career and watch your hard work and integrity, go down to drains. The dark side of untimely salary crediting just to pressurize the employee to work over his/her compensation is a dirty reality. 

Sadly, employees have to face this exploitation due to their family commitments. This vicious cycle continues until the employee is willing to give up his/her salary and quit the job. In such a context to live as a Christian, and to excel in the field following Christian values is a Himalayan-task. And in such a dirty, to experience God is unimaginable. 

After a long 18 years in the corporate world decided to take a huge step into an entrepreneurial journey. My work life has been influenced by a few people, my own friends, Suresh and George, who gave up corporate world with 6-digit salary and started a bootstrapped company Macappstudio. It was their joint venture bled with passion. They never gave up on faith, worked hard day and night, winning “World’s Most Valuable Developers” award by Intel and also getting “Intel Black Belt” which is the highest honour in Intel. Today they have hired more than 100 employees. Their primary focus was to provide opportunities to everyone. They intended to give a chance (without seeing a single resume), for the poor people who aspire and have the passion to grow. Today many companies have low office engagement, lack empathy, poor management and leadership, which lead to a negative corporate culture, a huge disaster for any business. 

Today, many companies fall short in their goals because they overemphasize strategy with little/no attention to the cultural aspects that drive it. We need to seek divine love of Christ and set an example to others, knowing that Christ calls us to love, whether you work in a bad company or a good one, we must have a sense of purpose in our work. In serving helping others around, we experience God. Scripture reminds us that work is important, as though working for God with all our heart (Colossians 3:23-24). 

Today we are challenged to work, grow, create, love & enjoy the world as though we serve God. Are we persuaded to live and experience God from any dirty space we live in? Let us not claim an identity from our work but from God. 

Prayer 

Dear Lord Jesus who loves to see us working with integrity, joy, & determination, whether we are at work or not, your abundance mercies are made new to us, I pray for more & more people see the value of life & purpose in their work, in Jesus name. Amen. 

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Author: Raj Alexander 

About the Author: Raj hails from Bangalore. He has worked in various companies such as POSIFLEX, HCL and POS Solutions as Assistant General Manager, Service. Currently he is planning to start a new company with aspirations of providing jobs to the needy.