Living Your Faith at Work: Three Qualities of Jesus

to Adopt as we Strive to Put Our Faith in Action

The light of a star guided three wise men to a stable

to find the light personified by the baby Jesus. Throughout

the gospels the concept of light was often used as an

analogy for wisdom, goodness, and the Spirit of God.

Jesus frequently referred to Himself as "the Light,"

especially in the gospel of John.

One of the responsibilities we have as people of faith and

disciples of Jesus, is to strive to become as Christ-like

as we can.

It's incredibly easy to lose sight of that mission amid

the pressures we face at work to meet deadlines, cut

costs, and increase profits.

There are three adjectives that sum up Jesus and His

message. We can look to them as a foundation for our

own behavior.

Compassionate

Many stories from the New Testament illustrate Christ's

compassion. Whether feeding the multitudes that followed

Him, socializing with and ministering to those who were

"sinners," healing the sick, or raising the dead Jesus

was compassionate towards those in need.

We have many opportunities to demonstrate compassion at

work whether to the person running to catch the elevator

we're in, or the person wrestling with a copy jam, or the

person stressed over an impending deadline. We each have

the opportunity to show kindness to those we work with who find themselves in those situations.

That's not easy in the fast paced, competitive world of

corporate life; yet, it's really the kind of behavior that

God expects of us.

The biggest challenge is not to show compassion to those

we like, but to show compassion to those we don't like.

As Jesus said in Matthew (5:41-48) "...do good to those who

hate you...For if you love those who love you, what reward

will you get?"(NIV)

We're not called to like everyone, but we are called to

be compassionate to those we come into contact with.

Forgiving

The gospels are full of examples of Christ bestowing

forgiveness on people. It was the essence of His

mission on Earth. He came as an example of how to

live our lives as well as a sacrifice for our sins. He

made it clear that we're supposed to forgive others and

that there's no limit to the number of times we should

forgive (Matthew 18:21-22). He explained that our own

forgiveness depends on our ability to first forgive

those who have hurt us (Matthew 6:14-15).

We often get hurt at work. People step on our feelings

intentionally and unintentionally. We're passed over for

promotions. Someone else gets the project we hoped for.

People lose their patience and snap at us. And yet, it's

easy for us to do the same things even when we know we

shouldn't.

When we hold on to hurts and grudges we're the ones who

suffer. Needless and negative energy is expended to

fuel the negativity. Each of us can reflect on why

something or someone hurt us and why it hurt us so much.

Usually we feel hurt because we have something at stake -

or feel we do anyway. We can become so invested in our jobs

that it's easy to feel we have much to lose.

Forgiving others is perhaps our greatest challenge.

Generous

Jesus gave of Himself tirelessly. Everywhere He went

crowds flocked to Him, yet He always gave of Himself

and His time.

There were times when He was exasperated by people

and you can hear that exasperation in the gospels

("O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall

I be with you and bear with you?" [Luke 9:41]). Yet

He still granted the people time with Him and

fulfilled their requests for healing and forgiveness.

Even though the 12 apostles were with Him at all times,

they found it difficult to understand the parables and

asked Him to explain His words to them. He may have gotten frustrated with them too but He always took the time to help them learn and understand the points He was trying to make.

Each of us has faced similar situations at work, where we feel as though someone should know what we meant or should understand what needs to be done and yet still needs another explanation.

We show someone how to perform a task and get

frustrated when we have to show them the same

thing over and over again.

It's true that it's important to create boundaries

to protect our emotional and physical health, but

each of us could find ways to be more generous at work.

An easy way to show a generous heart is to patiently

teach others what we know, then support and advise

them as they work to become proficient at their new skills.

Giving of our knowledge helps others grow to become

stronger workers, helps grow our organizations, and helps develop important emotional ties between us and them.

As we celebrate the joy of our Savior's birth,

it's also time to reflect on the man the baby became.

His life provides countless examples for us of who we

are expected to become as well: compassionate,

forgiving, and generous believers.