Who’s the Boss?

Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

–Colossians 3:22

The great lyricist Oscar Hammerstein once saw a photograph of the Statue of Liberty that was taken from a helicopter. He was impressed by the detail the designer had put into Lady Liberty’s hair–after all, the statue was designed several decades before the first helicopter flight. Hammerstein wrote, “When you are creating a work of art, or any other kind of work, finish the job off perfectly. You never know when a helicopter, or some other instrument not at the moment invented, may come along and find you out.”

That’s certainly a great motivation to do your work excellently! But there is a more powerful motivation, as we’re going to see this week in Colossians 3. Remember, this chapter is about how we become like Jesus Christ in our everyday actions, attitudes, and affections. Paul gave two litmus tests of our Christlikeness: how we behave at home and how we behave in the workplace.

Let’s look at what Paul had to say to employees. He began, “Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord” (v. 22). I want to make something clear: the Bible neither supports nor condemns the institution of slavery. The reason is that when Jesus Christ came to earth for the first time, He did not come to right every social injustice; He came to deal with the sin in every heart that causes social injustice.

Here’s an important truth: God is much more concerned about what is happening in you than what is happening to you. In an instant, God could change your circumstances. He could have freed the slaves in the Colossian church. But Paul understood that God was interested in what was happening in those individual hearts. So Paul didn’t speak for or against slavery; he addressed the world as it was at the time, when up to half the population was enslaved. Paul was saying, “Here’s your responsibility in the situation in which you find yourselves.”

The closest relationship we have to that today is the employer-employee relationship. In this passage, we find several principles about how we are to conduct ourselves in the workplace. If you want to know whether you’re progressing in your spiritual life, look at yourself at work.

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Today’s devotion is adapted from “Who’s the Boss?” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2012.

Oscar Hammerstein II, “Notes on Lyrics,” in Lyrics, ed. William Hammerstein (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 1985), 46.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.