‘…Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.’ Colossians 3:12 NIV
Succeeding at your job requires: (1) Empathy: Always show consideration for other people’s situations, needs, feelings and perceptions. Try to understand what it’s like to walk in their shoes. By doing this you increase their motivation, improve the working environment, and raise the productivity level. ‘Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.’ You are supposed to ‘wear’ these qualities to work every day. (2) Flexibility: It’s the capacity to adapt, adjust and advance. In an environment driven by economic difficulty and downsizing, rigid and reactive employees are often the first to be made redundant or fired. Learn to ‘roll with the punches’. Paul did that. ‘I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances…in any and every situation…I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.’ (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV) When the winds of change blow, flexible people bend rather than break. They live to stand again, and even get promoted. (3) Humour: Start seeing yourself and the world around you with a sense of enjoyment. Refuse to take yourself too seriously. Look for the humour hidden in life’s serious moments and you’ll find it. People who are dispensers of misery just drag everybody down. God’s Word says: ‘Being cheerful keeps you healthy…’ (Proverbs 17:22 GNT) ‘A cheerful heart is good medicine…’ (Proverbs 17:22 NIV) A good sense of humour improves things and makes the workplace better for everybody.
SoulFood: Ezek 34-36, Luke 1:1-10, Ps 80:12-19, Pr 15:15-17
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2013
