Jesus’ Love At WorkSýnishorn

What Loving Your Coworkers Looks Like

We hear what love is like at weddings, but the qualities in 1 Corinthians 13 are meant to apply much more broadly to all relationships – including, and not least of all, to our relationships at work.

Here are some ways these verses apply in a workplace context.

• Love is not self-seeking, does not envy or boast, and is not proud. It’s not about you. It’s not about your success or making yourself look good. It’s not about your personal agenda. Loving your coworkers means that you put their interests first, serve them and help them succeed.
• Love is kind and patient. It’s a lot easier to work with people when you treat them with kindness, and respond with patience and grace. You can demonstrate love with a smile, a kind word, encouragement when mistakes occur and a friendly tone in all circumstances.
• Love keeps no record of wrongs. We all fall short. Love means you forgive your coworkers as you have been forgiven and want to be forgiven – over and over again.
• Love rejoices with the truth, always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. Gossip and self-serving agendas destroy relationships, but truth promotes growth and teamwork among coworkers. You can support the growth of others by providing honest, candid feedback and encouragement.

Lastly, love never fails. When you make love your priority and let love direct your responses, actions and decisions, you simply can’t go wrong.

Consider how being more loving can make a difference in your working relationships today and which of these aspects of being loving would make the biggest difference for you.

Prayer

God, work in my heart to bring greater love for the people I work with today. Help me to speak with kindness and exercise patience. May the words I speak be life and encouragement to the people I interact with at work today. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

  

Further Exploration

For more examples of ways to love your coworkers, read TOW’s Bible Commentary on Matthew 22.