We Can't Be Lazy Christians

I had the privilege of treating a Christian leader, and I broached this topic during our conversations, you know, as we do therapy. This is one of the thoughts on my mind as I deal with some Christian subordinate who unfortunately, suck at being great employees. And what he shared with me was interesting - we're not "just" bosses.

The silent assumption is this: That as we're also Christian, and that comes with the expectations that we, as Christian bosses, should extend the grace that has been given to us by God, to them as well.

So now, let me be honest - yes, I will try my best as a person, to extend the grace. Even as a boss. However, in a business contract, as one is contracted to the terms and conditions within the contract, if or any terms and conditions are breached, that is subject to the contract agreements. Breach it, and we will talk about it, Christian or not.

And it's not about "not giving grace" - it's about a promise. If you sign on a contract with your promise of delivering, and not deliver it, and using the term "grace" to cover your mistakes - sorry, but no.

I'll be honest - I'm not perfect. And I've got my flaws. But I do what I need gets done, whatever I may feel. And once again, I'll be honest. I'm talking about my experience with the same employee who's leaving. The one whose words on her ideas that "we Christians are not supposed to work but to just hang around, fellowship, swim and drink coffee" made me quite riled.

Maybe she is suffering from the Curse Of Fantasy Land.

She's unapologetically and consistently late, makes a lot of errors as she does things last minute, and doesn't finish whatever she starts. Until the deadline hits, and it becomes a mad scramble, and she makes even more errors. Then get pissed off because we were trying to show her a better way of doing things. And she's stuck on the point that her company has not given her what she was promised...yet she doesn't do what she promised. What irony.

It's also the same person who just whine about not getting promotions, who lied about the reason why she's leaving, especially after making a $400.00 mistake and not owning up to it and not wanting to pay for it..

She probably doesn't know that she's whining too much. And because of that, plus the consistently blame-pushing on others, one can anticipate where she'll end up - nowhere. Just running around in circle, looking for "the-grass-is-greener-than-the-other-side" kind of shiny stuff.

I'm annoyed...but I think I'm not as annoyed as I'm feeling sorry. You see, I have this belief in this, and it's written in the bible - we are all blessed with the power to get wealth.

God, in His infinite wisdom, has already given it to us, more than 2000 years ago - He has given us to power to get wealth. I know I've still lots to learn about His words, His grace and His truth, but the business and finance part of the bible, as it's close to my heart, it's something I hold and cherish dearly.

It troubles me when Christians are lazy, when God had clearly mentioned that we reap what we sow. That He has given us the power to get wealth. Mix these two and an equation like this pops up:

Power to get wealth X Productive Action = Wealth

And God has also clearly said that He doesn't encourage laziness. Yes, there is time to relax, time to fellowship, time to rest, time to play. But knowing one's timing is crucial - how appalling is it when she relaxes and plays during work time, and claim that "Christians are not to work". Or sleeps at 4 am the night before and come to work in a daze, achieving close to nothing.

As a business owner, I welcome play. In fact, I highly encourage one to play and engage in leisure activities, as that's how we recharge. BUT, there is a timing and place for things - when one's at work, then work. When one's at play, then play. Don't bring one's leisure to work, and vice versa.

And the challenge is that even as we reached out to help her, all we hear are just excuses blaming someone or something else. How it's never her fault. How something always happens.

I thought it'd just me being sensitive, but when I speak to another 5 persons, and they all unanimously agree, then it no longer becomes a subjective point from me, but a statistic. And now that I look back, she was rejected from other clinics because of her poor working style, but we decided to take her in so we could help her.

Sigh.

It's very interesting to me, as the bible as I read and understand it, is that it's full of things that we're supposed to be doing - praying, studying and understanding His word; praising and worshiping Him; working hard and sowing and reaping to provide for our families and generation, doing the good works that He's prepared for us to do, leading others to Him and so on and so forth. His to do list is super long. We are not exactly "scheduled" to be playing the harp, listening to praise and worship music, just yakking with other and generally doing nothing. And this is more important to note that we do not know how much time we have on earth to get these done.

Of course, the lazy Christian may then say that because we don't know how much time we have, all the more one shouldn't waste time doing things and just relax.

Au contraire.

Given an option, I'd want my tombstone to write "Died doing his best to make a positive impact, change the world and live for Christ" rather than "died doing nothing, wasting oxygen and not living his life for Christ".

Here is the difference: I want to make a difference, and I know I can make a difference. That's the reason why I work so hard, tirelessly through these years as an entrepreneur. That's what I believe and what I stand for - massive value for profitability. Not the other way around.

Another thing is this - God doesn't like laziness in people. It's found all over Proverbs in the Bible. The book of Proverbs is really about how bad laziness and lazy people are. Yes, we are saved by grace and not by works, yet, the New Testament makes it very clear that we're to do lots of good for God because we've been saved. We are to be a positive example to others how Christians should be, in reflection of how Jesus was and is.

Then again, we all can do better. No matter where we are and what we're doing. I also do not have everything put together, but we all can start where we are.

Search In NigelChua

Hello, and welcome to nigelchua.com - I'm the founder and writer.

Also husband, father, Christian, entrepreneur and dividend stock investor and owner director of Phoenix Rehab Group Physio & Hand Clinics. 

Read more about me here.

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