If you have read the previous principles especially the fourth one, you will understand why it is important to behave around your superiors.
They are part of God’s plan for your life and there are certain circumstances they are to orchestrate to make things happen.
The Bible is very clear about how to relate with superiors at work, going against that instruction (which is the will of God) could mean that we are working ourselves out of what God has planned for us.
Col 3: 22-25 is the reference scripture when it comes to how we hold our superiors as they stand over us as the representative of our employer whether they employed us directly or not.
“Let every employee listen well and follow the instructions of their employer, not just when their employers are watching, and not in pretense, but faithful in all things. For we are to live our lives with pure hearts in the constant awe and wonder of our Lord God. Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others. For we know that we will receive a reward, an inheritance from the Lord, as we serve the Lord Yahweh, the Anointed One! A disciple will be repaid for what he has learned and followed, for God pays no attention to the titles or prestige of men.”
Colossians 3:22-25 TPT
There are key instructions from this passage that we must embrace.
- Listen well and follow the instruction of your superior as long as they have not asked you to go against God’s word
- There should be no pretense in dealing with them. Do not promise to do what you know in your heart that you are not going to do. Anything you are not able to say in their presence, don’t gossip about it.
- Carry out instructions faithfully. Let excellence reflect in what you do and do not embrace the minimalist approach to doing things
- Maintain a pure relationship with your superior from your heart. This is not whether they like you or not but in sincerity to God’s commandment. Do not harbor resentment in your heart against them.
- Do not attempt to get back at your superior by doing a shoddy job. You are not doing this against him/her but against God who also is the one that rewards you.
- Followership is a virtue and there is no leader who has never been a follower. Know that the way you relate to your superior is a seed and the harvest will surely come. If you have been faithful in a little, that is when you are going to get your own, in other words, you will reap what you sow in terms of how you treat your superiors. Even when you have recalcitrant subordinate, because you have followed faithful, God will defend you.
- There is the place of candor and assertiveness but they should never been construed as affront.
Remember God orchestrated the circumstances that led to you having that superior and He’s got an end in mind. Disobedience to God’s instruction on dealing with the superior will not produce the end result as God doesn’t go against His words.
God bless you.
Akindele Afolabi.
Christian Employee Series.