LABOUR OF THE WISE

LABOUR OF THE WISE

The first year of  their  marriage was rosy. They were never short of  money because Ben was comfortable  in  his workplace. Although Mary was not working, his income was more than enough   to sustain  both  of them. Then children started arriving. Sam was born  in  the second year of the  marriage, followed in quick succession  by  two  girls. And suddenly, Ben ‘s  salary could no longer  meet  the  catalogue of  financial  obligation such as providing the family  daily needs, buying  baby things, paying all sorts of utility bills  and  shelling out  some good cash  for  unplanned  expenses  like  paying hospital  bills of a sick member of the family and fixing his  car. It became difficult for the couple to make ends meets.

With sadness , Mary   noticed  that Ben ‘s clothes and hers were faded, and he was very worried about their predicament. Twice,  she saw him brooding with his head  bowed sitting alone in the balcony, and every night when he returned from work, he was always surfing the internet in search of a higher/paying job  than the present one. She also noticed that she’d been snapping children unnecessarily herself. She knew these occurrences were signs of unhealthy family relationship, which could degenerate into a serious problem like the one next door, were having. They were  always  bickering over  money,  waking up  neighbours  every time  with angry outbursts and  deafening  sound  of objects  smashed on the wall.  The recollection of that daily quarrel next door jolted her into action. She sat down and prayerfully thought of what  she could do to augment her husband’s income. Having the knowledge of making confectioneries, she brushed up her and started selling   snacks in fronts her of house.  Her products were so good and tasty that she got a contract through one of her customers to provide snacks and tea every  morning  to the headquarters of a reputable  bank in town. With God’s help   and some financial support from  Ben , she purchased a tea set, employed  the services of few caters, and took her confectionery to the bank. The contracts turns  out to be  a huge success as her business  developed  into  a big fast-food restaurant with  branches in many  places.  Through the work was tedious, she kept at it until the tension at home eased.  Now, the couple is buoyant enough to provide the pressing needs of the family, as well as support their aged parent and the  projects  of their  local  church.  Working as the means of obtaining  the  necessities  of  life  is a universal  law [genesis 3:19]. In fact, there is a maxim in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 that ‘’if  any   would not work,  neither  should he eat.  If you don’t work , you should not be supported  or  maintained  by anybody.  You cannot   stay idle and expect manna from heaven or someone else to put food on your table. 

God created you to work and sustain   yourself.  You work to live, you live to work.   Working  has a lots of  benefits  aside from   providing  you with money  to support yourself and explore your interests. Whether paid or unpaid,   working is good for health and well being. It contributes to  your happiness; helps you to build  confidence and self esteem;  keeps you  busy; and  gives you the means to develop yourself. It also  enables you to  socialize, build contracts and find supports; gives you sense of pride, identity and  personal  achievement; as well as   helps you  contribute  to development that  benefits  your  community and  society.

However, in  spite of it’s spiritual,  economical,  physical and  health    benefits and   the  facts        that it’s    an imperative for everyone,  not   all so-called work ,  job or  employment is good. That means you have to be   discreet in your choice of work.  Aside  from the legitimacy  and  decency of  work  you do, you should look  at  productivity; that is,  what you   can   and   must  do to be  efficient  and  get  the best out  of  your  work.  Lastly, ensure your  work  is yielding  good  and  expected results,  benefits and profits. The bottom line is, you should work hard or labour with wisdom.  Be purposeful,  productive  and  profitable  in  your  work.

Working   purposefully

Sometimes, most  people question their  sense  of  fulfillment   with  work.  Uncertainty about their deeper purpose.  Often   leaves them feeling     unsure about their job or vocation.  You  can  consider  purpose  more  deeply by asking questions  about  your  role  and sense  of  fulfillment or  lack of it  at work. These questions arise  not necessarily   because you  don’t  know  who  you  are   and  what you  should  be doing,  but   because you  want to  contribute to life  in a meaningful  way.      What defines purpose?  We may ask.  Everyone has a different way of   measuring   this in their life. But it is  acting  with  intention  to  achieve an outcome.    When  spiritually   driven,  it  is  no  longer   just   about  aiming  for  your  own  gain  or  personal  benefits,   but   rather  serving  in  a way   that  brings   benefits   to  others,  and   ultimately  glorifying  God.  As   Christian,  answering  some   simple  questions   about   your  purpose  of   working  may   help  you  know   and   choose  the  kind  of  work  you   ought  to  do,  set goals   and  target  for  yourself,  or  move towards the work that is more  fulfilling  and   purposeful.

 Start  with  some  basic  questions   such  as: does  this   work  glorify  God,  or  will  it  damn   my soul?  Do I experience joy and fulfillment in my work? Can I   support  myself  with  this  work  or vacation?  Do others  benefits  as  a  result of my  work  what  are  the  direct  and  indirect  benefits?  Is  my   work  an  avenue  to  serve  God  and  influence   others  for  Christ?  Does  it  give   me time  to  go  to  church,  develop  and  grow  spiritually?  Does  it help  me contribute to  development  that  benefit  my  community? These  questions  and more  will  help  not  just  to  work  for  the  paycheck  or  to gratify self,  but also  to  benefit  others  and  glorify  God.  The  scriptures  admonish   in  Colossians  3:17, ‘’whatsoever ye  do  in   word or  deed,  do  all in the  name of  the  lord   Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God  and  the  father  by  him.” Can  you  honestly  give  thanks  to  God  if  you’re  in  a job  where  you  defraud  people,  work  in  a  brothel  as  a  prostitute  or  produce  liquor,  tobacco,  cosmetics  or  other  products  that  destroy  people’s  health  and  make  them  sin  against  God?  Legitimate,  honest,  productive  and  God-honouring  work  is  what  God  seeks  from  everyone  (Ephesians 4:28).

so  be  wise! Do  the work  that  has  external  value,  promotes  the  kingdom  of  God,  positively  impacts  the lives  of  people  and  shun  work  that is  illegal,  dishonest,  shady,  and  unholy.  As a  business  owner  or  employer,  hold honesty,  integrity  and   excellence  as  your  guiding  principles.  Don’t   cheat trick,  rip  off  your  customers  or  give  them  low  priority  compared  to  the  high  priority  of  making   profits   and  don’t  be  dishonest  and  disingenuous  with   employees.  Don’t   make   promises  through   adverts,  promos   and  offers  you  don’t  intend  to  keep.  Always  walk  your  talk  and  deliver  goods  and  services  that  are of high  quality.  Tell  your  customers    about   all  the  warts  on  your  products,  and  don’t   sell  fake  and  contaminated  goods.  Don’t  be  too  desperate  to  make   money,  because  your  desire  to  acquire  wealth   and   get  rich  quick  can  drive  you  in  joining  cult  or an  evil  association. 

    

If  you’re  an  employee,  don’t falsify your documents; don’t  defraud  your  company  or   employer;  don’t  steal  your  employer  time  to  attend  to  personal  business;  don’t  spend  an  illegitimate   expense  on  a  trip;  devote   enough   billable  time  to  a  client;  be  honest  when  giving  feedback  to  your  boss;  and  be  faithful  in  your work.  If  you  find  yourself  in an  organization  where  your  values   and  that  of  your colleagues  and  employer  clash,  stand up for what is  right,  honest  and  godly,  and  don’t  compromise  your  integrity  and  righteous   stand.  Moreover,  don’t  make   your   career  an  idol  or  the  number  one  priority  in  your  life.  Love God above   your  work,  and  serve  him   wholeheartedly.  Make   preaching   the  gospel  your  number  one   priority,  because  only  the   work   you  do  for  the  Lord  now  will  last  forever.  

In   summary, don’t damn   your   soul with the work you do.  Be  faithful  to  your  boss,  and   whatever  you  do  for  Jesus   and  not   yourself,   your   employer,   immediate  boss,   pastor   or   any   other   person.  Work  to  contribute  meaningfully  to  life;  work  to  support  yourself,  family,  and  others;  work to  exalt  Jesus   and   expand  his  kingdom;  do  the  work  that  counts  for   both  time  and  eternity.

Working   productively

Being  productive  means  doing or  achieving  a  lots;   working  hard  and  getting  good   results.  Whether  you’re  a   business  owner  or  an employee, there’s  a  good  chance  that  you’re   concerned  about  improving  productivity  at  work.  Productivity tends to improve   business operation, increase profits, and boost employee morale.  It is very closely linked to  efficiency.  There’re  various  ways  to  be  productive  at  work,  and  being  organized  is  one  of them.  From  the  papers  on  your  desk  to  the  files  on  your  computer,  being  organized  is  a  very  important  skill  to  learn.  If  you maintain  an  organized  environment,  not  only  will  you be better  able  to  locate  important  information  within  a  tight  time  frame,  but  you’ll  also  feel  more  motivated.  Because  cleanliness  and  organization   are  mood  boosters  at  their  core,  they  help  to  encourage  calm,  promote   concentration  and  foster  motivation ,  in  turn, is  a  direct  precursor  of  productivity.

One way of being organized is assigning tasks to specific times. First, determine what time of day you’re usually more motivated and productive, and schedule your most important task to be completed during that time block.  By assigning tasks to specific times, you help to keep your procrastination under control. Anticipate minimal distractions, and build those into your daily schedule. In order to keep yourself on track, give yourself small rewards in exchange for reaching certain milestones. For example, if you stick to your plan for a specified amount of time, reward yourself by taking a 10 minute break to engage in making phone calls or social networking. Just make sure you’ll be able to get back to work promptly after your break. 

Closely linked with organization is minimizing or avoiding distractions. The term “multitasking” is used very frequently in today’s busy society, but the truth is, very few people are even remotely skilled multitasks. With very rare exception, human beings are capable of competently performing only one mindful task at a time. So multitasking is clearly one distraction you should avoid while working. Unless one of the tasks you’re attempting to perform is completely mindless, by trying two tasks at once, you will inevitably be neglecting both. Therefore, in order to promote efficiency and productivity in the workplace, you should minimize distractions around you to help sharpen your focus. Whenever possible, cell phones should be switched to vibrate, email notifications should be turned off, email checks should be scheduled to occur within specific time frames, and social sites should be avoided especially when they don’t contribute to your work so that you can accomplish much. If the thought of cutting yourself off from technology throws you into a panic, take heart and remember that there was a time not too long ago when society functioned perfectly well without email, cell phones and social media. So try finishing a task before embarking on another one.  Concentrate on one thing at a time and do it well.

Prioritizing is another way of becoming productive in your work. If you’re not adept at prioritizing, then some of your most important assignments could go unfinished, or your workload could start to become overwhelming. A great way to prioritize is to make to-do lists. Break tasks down into specific instructions, and then rank them according to their importance (based on size, time – sensitivity, personal gratification, etc.) when tackling your to-do lists, be sure you are not simply performing the easiest tasks first in an effort to make yourself feel productive. After you’ve ranked the tasks according to importance, it’s crucial that you actually complete them in that order.

Diligence in your work will also make you a productive person. Laziness is not neutral; ultimately, it is destructive. It wastes time, money, and other valuable resources. Proverbs 18:9 says, “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.” So avoid laziness, lethargy, indecision, carelessness and much sleep. Be determined, disciplined, industrious and prayerful, and you will excel in your work.

Working Profitably

This year, you must learn to transfer your “working hard” into “working profitably.” One way to achieve this is by being creative and innovative. Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. It is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, find hidden patterns, make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and generate solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. If you have ideas but don’t act on them, you’re imaginative but not creative. Innovation on the other hand is the implementation of a new or significantly improved product, service or process that creates value for business, government or society. Creativity and innovation work together. There is no innovation without creativity; creativity leads so innovation.

How do you generate creative or innovative ideas? First, identify and pursue a niche that is either undeserved or an emerging trend, or observe and scrutinize the behavior of customers, suppliers, and competitors to identify new ways of doing things. You may get an idea about how to do something better, faster, cheaper or at a higher quality, or you may get a new service idea. Second, network-meet people with different ideas and perspectives. Finally, devise a strategy that will help you stand out from the crowd and get noticed like developing, promoting, and leading a website or blog, and putting your product online. When you’re creative and innovative, your business will thrive; you will become a business tycoon; you will make more money, and you will be fulfilled in your work. 

Work is biblical, sweet, rewarding, and dignifying, but you must work with wisdom. The Scriptures say in Ecclesiastes 10:15, “The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.” Repent of your dubious, shady, dishonesty work and surrender your life to Jesus. Do legitimate, honest, God-honouring work. Work with eternity in view. Be productive, creative and innovative in your work as Mary was in our introductory story, and your labour will never weary but give you pleasure at all times.