Being Faithful to Christ in an Anti-Gospel Workplace
For some, being a Christian in the workplace is getting harder and harder. Norms aren’t normal anymore. Expectations are approaching the untenable for those seeking to obey Christ as Lord. So what do our brothers and sisters do in situations like these? How do we think about faithfulness in a work environment that is antagonistic to the gospel?
When I asked one of our church members for a glimpse of what this looks like for her, here was her response. It’s a worthy read.
-JP
There is a great cloud of witnesses that surrounds me, indeed all of us, in living for Christ in a post-Christian age. Yet, the truth is our present challenges pale in comparison with saints of the past and even with many saints of the present. Our comfortable estate has weakened our knees in the face of suggestions of opposition. We are hypocritically guilty of the accusations we so indulgently lob at the younger generations— of being coddled, spoiled, and insufficiently prepared for the hardships of life. What would those burned at the stake or forced into re-education camps say about our fears of being labeled homophobic, sexist, or racist?
I wonder if those saints of the past might be further aghast at our present disregard for intelligence and reality, preferring, instead, a world of artificial intelligence and virtual reality? A world where we, who have experienced the height of western civilization, are content to be passive witnesses to its systematic dismantling - lulled into docility by our addictions to mindless entertainment and cheap comfort. Indeed, the premise of Rod Dreher’s book Live Not by Lies is the eerily similar patterns of our present-day descent into ‘soft totalitarianism’ with the onset of the Soviet reign of terror, and survivors of communism warn of difficult times ahead.[1]
Last year, I attended a pedagogy conference. During one of the sessions, we were divided into smaller groups with instructions to state our names, our preferred pronouns, and talk about DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), or some topic to that effect. The specifics escape me now. Pre-COVID, these conferences were practical, educational, and even inspiring; but, suddenly, I found myself sitting through sessions where the fundamental tenets of western traditions were being questioned. A definition of “classical music” was projected: “Music that is considered to be serious and of lasting value.” Then the speaker rhetorically asked whether Tupac or Jay-Z’s music was of serious and lasting value. The room seemed to unanimously agree. Later, we were asked to consider, “Is your syllabus an instrument of abuse?” The speaker advocated for the “cruelty-free” syllabus. We were told that “cruelty creeps in” via “attendance, late work policies, basic needs statements, [and] names.” Even the word “pedagogy” could not escape incrimination; translated from the original “paidagogia,” it means “I lead” + “boy child.” With unquestioned solemnity, the audience acknowledged the word’s patriarchal and oppressive history.
As we await the incoming storm, and perhaps for some of us, the storm is already nigh, I humbly submit to you three points of consideration:
As Christians, we must love our jobs and then be willing to give them up.
In order to be effective for the gospel, we must prayerfully consider what we will do in specific situations before they happen, and then pray for the courage to follow through.
Stay or flee, we must do so in the Lord.
Love your job (and the people at your workplace)
A few months back, I had a friend declare to me that she preferred to keep her professional life and personal life separate, and it meant that she would not befriend her co-workers. I found that perspective odd and voiced my concern at this approach toward life. After all, those of us with full-time jobs spend the majority of our waking hours with our co-workers; if we refuse to live a joy-filled, generous, and deeply nourishing life with them, then what kind of life are we living anyway?
It is true that some jobs are more lovable than others, but at minimum, we must love and pray for our colleagues. (Although it is also true that some colleagues are more lovable than others). “Kindness is disarming. Kindness can disarm meanness and cruelty. You give them no ammunition when you are kind.” These are the sagacious words my mentor shares with me as she recounts the past few months of her life; an account full of personal and professional hardships. When I reflect on the lives of my heroes of faith, they have loved their jobs and colleagues well and faithfully worked for others’ success; they viewed their work as a calling and their workplace as a mission field where the Lord had graciously placed them.
John McArthur writes, “[God] demonstrates His love to sinners through general goodness, […] we must love our neighbors -including our enemies- in the same way. We need to prioritize their general welfare. If that means a meal, clothing, money, or some other kind of assistance, we give it freely, out of a sincere desire for their good. More than that, we show them pity, compassion, and grief over their slavery to sin and the consequences that await if they do not repent.”[2]
Many years ago, I asked my professor in college if his chosen career was what he had always wanted to do. He admitted that he had hoped to attend language school to translate the Bible into other languages until the Lord showed him that teaching college (at a secular institution) was his mission field; his colleagues and students were those he needed to reach for Christ. This he did faithfully for over thirty years, and it is in large part due to his testimony and life that I grew significantly as a Christian during my college years.
A few weeks after our conversation, my friend, who had formerly been adamant about separating her personal life from her professional life, befriended a colleague. When this colleague was overwhelmed with long hours at work, she reached out to my friend and asked for assistance with picking up groceries, which my friend joyfully did, and so demonstrated the love of Christ. Some time later, the colleague even attended church with my friend.
Then, be willing to give it up
As I observe the trajectory of the professional environment around me, the last few years have brought the realization that there is a likelihood that my career might not be long; not like the way my grandpa’s life-long career in higher education was for him, nor like my mentors’ careers for them. No, there may come a day where either I will not be able to complete the tasks I am asked to do in good faith or my conscience will cost me my job.
As Jesus’ disciples were willing to give up their careers to follow Him, so each of us must be ready for the day when God might ask us to sacrifice our careers.
John Piper writes, “The tragic hypocrisy is that the enchantment of security lets us take risks every day for ourselves but paralyzes us from taking risks for others on the Calvary road of love.”[3] Piper continues by recounting 2 Samuel 10 where Joab, surrounded by the Amalekites and Syrians on all sides, declared “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.”
Joab had not been foretold of the end result of the battle and yet desired, whether win or lose, that God do what seems good to Him; so we can pray a similar prayer for our careers. Keep it or lose it, may we be people of good courage and may the Lord do what seems good to Him.
Prayerfully consider what you will do, then pray for the courage to do it
You might wonder what I did at the conference about stating my preferred pronouns. I stated them. Nothing shocking; they were not preferred, they were, quite simply, the grammatically correct pronouns to refer to me in the third person. Nevertheless, in the moment, my mind raced for what I ought to do. I could not find a compelling reason to refrain from giving my “preferred” pronouns, after all, they were not a lie, and yet, it felt like I was participating in strangely cult-like behavior that made me wonder if I was being cowardly on some level. Should I have walked out? Should I have given a speech about the non-preferred nature of pronouns? Did I do the right thing? Or is there another way?[4], [5]
Those frantic few moments of trying to decide what to do and say made me realize that I need to consider what I ought to do in similar moments for the future. We cannot trust that we will make a thoughtful decision spontaneously, though by God’s grace, we might make the right one. Each of us should decide what we will say or do before these encounters occur, and when they come, our will might succumb to anxiety and nerves and our courage might threaten to fail us, but God has promised His Spirit to speak through us.[6] As Erwin Lutzer bluntly asserts, “volunteering to be a hero doesn’t make you one!”[7] Nevertheless, Lutzer continues, “God is looking for heroes who know their own weaknesses and are reliant on His strength. We are called to be humble heroes.”[8]
May He enable us to do what we have determined to do.
Stay or Flee, do so in the Lord
I have wondered if staying in a secular environment is indulgent or if fleeing to a Christian one is cowardly; the truth is neither could be true, or both could be true. For now, I am staying because God has called me to stay, though as we have established already, perhaps not permanently. There have been times in history where it was right for one to stay and another to flee. John Piper states, “So it is right to flee, and it is right to stay. One may escape, and one may endure hardship. When to flee and when to stay is an agonizing question for many missionaries and urban workers and Christians in secular workplaces with great opportunity and great conflict.”[9]
I found the following passage from John Bunyan to be especially insightful:
The same man may both fly and stand, as the call and working of God with his heart may be. Moses fled, Exodus 2:15; Moses stood, Hebrews 11:27. David fled, 1 Samuel 19:12; David stood, 1 Samuel 24:8. Jeremiah fled, Jeremiah 37:11-12; Jeremiah stood, Jeremiah 38:17. Christ withdrew himself, Luke 9:10; Christ stood, John 18:1-8. Paul fled, 2 Corinthians 11:33; Paul stood, Act 20:22-23…
There are few rules in this case. The man himself is best able to judge concerning his present strength, and what weight this or that argument has upon his heart to stand or fly… Do not fly out of a slavish fear, but rather because flying is an ordinance of God, opening a door for the escape of some, which door is opened by God’s providence, and the escape countenanced by God’s Word. Matthew 10:23… If, therefore, when thou hast fled, thou art taken, be not offended at God or man: not at God for thou art his servant, thy life and thy all are his; not at man, for he is but God’s rod and is ordained, in this, to do thee good. Hast thou escaped? Laugh. Art thou taken? Laugh. I mean, be pleased which way soever things shall go, for that the scales are still in God’s hand.[10]
After a lengthy recount of the saints of old in the Old Testament, the writer of Hebrews instructs us:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:1-2
So, finally, dear brothers and sisters, let us be diligent in studying the testimonies of these witnesses so that whether we stay or flee, we follow in their glorious footsteps.
Footnotes
[1] Rod, Dreher, Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents (New York, NY: Sentinel, 2020).
[2] John MacArthur, Stand Firm: Living in a Post-Christian Culture (Orlando, FL: Ligonier Ministries Publishing, 2020), 46.
[3] John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003), 81.
[4] Colin Wright, “When Asked ‘What Are Your Pronouns,’ Don’t Answer,” Reality’s Last Stand, February 19, 2022, https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/when-asked-what-are-your-pronouns.
[5] As is often the case with articles of this nature, I recommend the comment section to the reader. This same article was published as a WSJ Op Ed on February 4, 2022.
[6] Matthew 10:16-20
[7] Erwin W. Lutzer, No Reason to Hide: Standing for Christ in a Collapsing Culture (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2002), 31.
[8] Ibid, 32.
[9] Piper, 74.
[10] John Bunyan, The Works of John Bunyan, Vol. 2, ed. George Offor (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1991), 726.