Habits are a daily part of our lives and work life. They are said to be a routine way we practice something. We have good and bad habits. Some habits we create out of necessity, others we do for convenience. Then there are the habits that come from responsibilities of being a husband, wife, father, mother, and then, of course, the habits we have at work. In the workplace, our jobs come with set routine habits that we perform regularly. Without these habits, work would be rather sporadic with a lot of chaos. They are important disciplines we learn to operate with on a daily basis. What about spiritual habits, how are they part of your worklife? If you were asked to name some spiritual habits, besides your responsibility to work with excellence as unto the Lord, what would you say they are? Let’s imagine for a moment we are sitting in a briefing room, ready to review some necessary spiritual habits for our being a Godly influence at work. Name some that would be important. Here are three important ones to start with…
The Habit of Prayer… The Bible tells us to make it a habit of praying in all things (Philippians 4:6). It doesn’t say to wait until you call a prayer meeting so you can pray. Instead, we are told to pray on the spot, declaring our dependence on God for the people and circumstance within our sphere of influence. Alertness is a needed habit for our prayers life to reach our coworker, company leaders and problems. All too often prayer is not a habit of work-life, while we have the privilege of direct access to the throne of God to obtain grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16)
The Habit of Being Thankful… Again, God tells us in His Word to make it a habit of giving thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18). It is easy to be thankful at work when things are favorable to us. But what about when things are unfavorable … do we complain and murmur with everyone else? The habit of being thankful in all things will stretch our faith in the Lord. When things don’t make sense, by faith we acknowledges that God is up to something and that His plan will ultimately bring about what is good and best.
The Habit of Treating People As You Would Want Them to Treat You… It is usually no problem at all for us to treat others kindly when they are nice to us. But treating people nicely when they are unkind …well, that can be quite difficult. According to Christ (Matthew 7:12), a distinguishing mark of the Christian’s faith is how they treat the people around them. God wants us to be fully aware that our natural tendency is to treat people the way they have treated us, returning insult with insult. However, fully appreciating and enjoying the love God has for us comes as we learn to express His love to everyone, even those who irritate us. Let us take a proactive approach and ask the Lord to enable us to grow in our habit of treating others in the ways we would want them to treat us.
People actually know us better by our routine habits, and not just by our spontaneous actions. Why not take a look at yourself and examine your spiritual routines, which give evidence of your faith in our Lord? “But now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:8-10)
by Paul Curtas