Our government continues to exclude faith. Remove those religious symbols!
But what about faith in the private business? Faith in your business?
Faith isn’t discussed much in most businesses. Not explicitly. But every good and prosperous society and business is built on biblical principles – hard work, industry, treating others with respect, service, humility, etc.
Every good employee embraces and lives by these values. Ditto for employers.
Personnel manuals and annual reports also tend to stress these values—they just don’t attribute them to Jesus Christ. Similarly, many employees live their faith each day—they just don’t wear the name of their savior on the sleeve of their starched shirt.
Prayer Meeting—Noon in the Break Room
You don’t need to pitch a tent on the company lawn and hold a revival meeting to preach the good word. No, you can lead by example.
You don’t need to proselytize in the company break room to encourage others to be more like Jesus Christ. You can lead by example.
Most certainly, you don’t need to condemn others who may not believe as you do. Rather, encourage them to live out principles of fairness, honesty, hard work, faith, hope and love.
Maybe It’s Time
If you think about it, faith has helped produce some wondrous achievements, including the formation of this great nation. Perhaps many of our business leaders now serving prison time should have reviewed their history books instead of cooking the books. Somewhere along the way, displaying quality human characteristics such as truthfulness, honesty and integrity got lost as many executives and business owners were consumed by greed and the love of money – which, if you read the Scriptures, is the root of all evil.
Is it time to consider bringing faith back into the workplace? Back into government?
Is it time to re-examine our priorities?
It’s Not Illegal
It is not illegal to have faith-based discussions at work, nor is it illegal to allow employees to organize optional faith-based initiatives. What IS illegal is discrimination based on faith (i.e., religious beliefs). So don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. If it feels like the right thing to do—or you sense that this is what the employees want—consider going with it. It just might help your employees AND your business. Heck, maybe even you.
