Tuesday 18 April - How Can We Love The People We Work With?

Read Romans 12:9-16. Do you love your work? Do you love what you do?

Sometimes, we choose to work simply to survive - to earn enough money to live on each month. It’s not what we would choose to do, but it keeps us going until we can finally do what we’ve always wanted to do. It must be difficult to love our work in those circumstances.

But whatever we do, we can choose to work in love. That can be the motivation we need. When we do anything in love, it pleases God. You can look at a computer screen and please God. You can clean a floor and please God. You can fit hundreds of widgets every day and please God.

The key is to love those around you. Paul encouraged the Romans to “live in harmony with each other” (Romans 12:16). That sounds great, until you remember the people you work with who make life difficult! Those who are disagreeable, those who are grumpy, those who are defensive, and so on.

If we are going to be God’s witnesses in our workplaces then we are going to have to learn to love these people. We can live in harmony with them by treating them with kindness. We can live in harmony with them by keeping quiet about at least some of our opinions. We can live in harmony with them by responding with grace and forgiveness when they hurt us. We can live in harmony with them by trying to be at peace with those we work with.

Let’s choose to work in love by living in harmony with those colleagues we find difficult. We will please God as we witness to his love.

Think It Over

Think about the following:

What would have to change in your work - and in your own attitude - so that you can work in harmony with as many people at your workplace as possible?