Modern Woman. Modern Life. And GodSample

Relationships in the Workplace and at Home

A woman who is employed outside her home faces numerous decisions on a daily basis about how to juggle various obligations and priorities. As a woman evaluates her priorities and decisions, these guidelines may be helpful:

*Careers are usually based on contracts that are temporary; family relationships are covenants with spiritual commitment and are thus eternal. Employees and employers come and go, but a mother’s children are hers for the rest of her life.

*Careers provide only part of a woman’s identity. Ultimately, a woman is not what she does but who she is, which is largely determined by her relationships to God and to others.

When the inevitable feelings of guilt come, as the result of less than perfect choices, these principles of Scripture offer comfort: God created you and gave you the gifts and talents you choose to use in your career (Mt 25:14–29). God’s criterion for success is faithfulness with what you have been given to the task he has assigned (1Co 4:2). You, as well as others, may expect perfection. Perfection is never possible, of course, but faithfulness is. God honors your efforts and intentions. He knows your weaknesses as well as your strengths. Neither your family members nor your colleagues in the workplace see the big picture of your life. Only God does. Conversely, he alone knows the way to meet all of the needs of those with whom you live or work.

A woman who is employed must acknowledge that she is obligated in certain ways to her employer, regardless of their spiritual state. For example, she owes her employer hard work (Pr 10:4,26; 15:19). A Christian should always give a full day’s work and never take advantage of employers by cheating them out of time and work that is owed to them (Ecc 9:10; 2Ti 2:15). She must be careful not to steal from her employers, doing everything she can to conserve their resources—both time and material assets (Pr 1:19). She owes her employer loyalty. A Christian should not be found slandering or gossiping about her employer (see Titus 2:3).

Just as a woman must be willing to give an employer what is rightfully belonging to the employer, she must also give to God what is God’s. For example, we do not owe our employer dishonesty of any sort, even if that employer should demand such (Pr 2:12–15; 20:17). God requires a life of integrity and honesty, and an employer has no right to ask an employee to lie or deceive in any way. . . .

Also, while a woman owes her employer an honest day’s work, she does not owe all of her energy and time. She not only owes time and resources to God, but also God expects a balanced lifestyle with family and home priorities firmly established according to his divine order.