Backbone For Work
When Mark Miller, Vice President for Organizational Effectiveness for the highly successful Chick-fil-A corporation, spoke to an world-wide audience at a CBMC International conference a few years ago. He said, "We hire for character and train for skills." Your character means a lot, and that includes your reliability, dependability and consistency. Dr. Richard Bouch elaborates below:
P.S. - For a video play-back of Mark Miller's speech go to Mark Miller CBMC Talk
Well-meaning people try to improve the world through their own strength.
Christians also try to improve the world, but with the understanding that their strength comes from Jesus Christ. Christ leads us to be pretty specific in what we believe and how we act, so Christians can be purposeful rather than just well meaning.
Paul provided backbone to Christian behavior by urging Christians to be "steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." (I Corinthians 15: 58)
"Steadfast" means being reliable, dependable, and consistent. It is a quality that Christ showed clearly. Without it, he would have lost the trust of his followers. With it, He kept their loyalty and established trust so that they could take his Resurrection at face value. Steadfastness, then, is a quality of God Himself. He offers it to us, inviting us to accept it. But how is that done?
I can't reach out to take a handful of steadfastness. But I can ask God to put steadfast qualities into me as I walk the walk with Him each day, each month, each year. I'll need to practice putting them into action in the varied events of daily life and work. Reliability, dependability, and consistency are developed in daily relationships with other people. A steadfast faith in Christ trusts Christ, and understands that some situations can put the trust under pressure. In a tough work situation, will God come through?
Yes, God will come through when we exercise steadfast faith. He is unchanging and steadfast: "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (I Corinthians 15: 57)
A WORK PRAYER
Holy Lord, I cannot be reliable, dependable or consistent without Your help. Please help me move away from meaning well to the firm yet kind steadfastness that characterized Your own relationships. I realize this may take a while, so right now I want to thank You for Your steadfast help. Amen.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Is steadfastness a desirable quality personally, at work, and in faith? How so?
2. How can one be steadfast without becoming either pushy or stuck in one's ways?
This WorkLife SwitchTOOL was written by Dr. Richard Bouch. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Content edited and distributed by WorkLife.org for non-profit educational purposes.