But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

Matthew [6:33] 

Recently I was on a podcast called Real Faith Stories, the host Brian Robinson asked me how do we bring Jesus to work?  This is a question I hear quite often. My answer was, the most significant and positive force Christians have in their life is Jesus. And bringing Jesus to work will help any business or business person. The how and why we bring Jesus is the critical piece of this answer. Not for personal gain, instead to be morally and ethically directed. 

I have heard from many mixing Jesus with business is sinful. And it is sinful if we try to use Jesus to get ahead or gain a selfish advantage. However, it is not sinful if we intend to share our business lives with and through Jesus. In effect, letting Jesus becomes our guiding light in all our business conduct.  

In the second part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Simply, Jesus is saying in whatever we do, our first effort should be to know and do what God/Jesus would want us to do. In other words, know and align ourselves to the ways of God/Jesus.  

Once this is donethen everything else will fall into place. For instance, Jesus says,  love your neighbor as yourselfThis is an important message about working with our customers, who are our business neighbors. Imagine the quality of our customer service if we treated everyone as we would want to be treated. Using this mindset, instead of trying veiled sales attempts, we will try to find out what the customer really needs and honestly provide for those customers’ needs. Who wouldn’t like a business or person which operates in this manner? And this attitude is certainly not sinful. 

Or consider the verses in Colossians [3:23]-24, where it says, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Imagine if everyone worked as if they were working for Jesus. Honest and hard work would abound. Quality would exist in all product production and in all services rendered. Our every action would be designed to do and be good.  

When I ask business owners, would you hire someone who works as if for the Lord? I always get a resounding yes!  

Part of the answer to how we bring Jesus to work resides very much in our intent and behavior. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)  Our goal in bringing Jesus to work isn’t to show others how pious we are. Instead, our goal is to be the best Christian employee or Christian business owner. 

It also means our efforts should be geared to the principle of serving the Lord and not just saying or preaching about serving the Lord. There is an old saying which says, live the Gospel, don’t just say the Gospel! People are savvy and will immediately see through our motives. If we only talk about the ways of Jesus but do not follow these words in our actions. Our words will soon become very hollow.  

So the answer to Brian’s question, it is wonderful to bring Jesus to work. However, those who do must also check their motives. If it is only to use Jesus to get ahead- likely we are off track. But if bringing Jesus to work is to help us sincerely be better and ethical business people- we are on track.  

Those who say mixing Jesus and business is sinful miss the point. Jesus should be in our lives all the time, regardless of what we are doing. Just because we work doesn’t mean we abandon Jesus. The critical message is how we bring Jesus to work. Not to gain an advantage or preach a hollow message. But to act in a manner, Jesus would approve.  

So the next time we are at work. Let’s all try working as if we are working for Jesus.