Gratitude and Generosity at WorkНамуна

Working for the Good of Others

Galatians 5:22-23 encourages us to cultivate “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” We often think of the fruit of the Spirit in the context of church life. But when we apply these qualities to our work, it can give us a fresh perspective to bring God’s presence into our places of work. In particular here, we’ll focus on the quality of generosity.

Generosity seems to be at odds with the goal of most businesses — to maximize profit — and with the goal of individual career advancement. But when everyone is simply looking out for their own interests, the cutthroat environment at work stifles collaboration and creativity. Some businesses have demonstrated that generous return policies can actually improve the bottom line, and that employees produce better with generous benefits packages.

The first part of Galatians 6 expands on this quality, employing a variety of work-related words to instruct Christians in how to care for others in tangible ways. Chris­tians are to be generous to others as we “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). Yet, lest we be overtaken by pride and imagine that our work on behalf of others excuses poor work of our own, believers must “test their own work” and “carry their own loads” (Galatians 6:4–5).

The analogy of sowing and reaping allows Paul to encourage the Galatians to focus on the life of the Spirit rather than the flesh (Galatians 6:7–8). Sowing in the Spirit involves purposeful effort: “Let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Christians are to labor for the common good, in addition to caring for their fellow believers. Surely, if we are to work for the good of others, one place we should do it is in the workplace.

How does this apply to your work?