Hard Work and Righteousness

"Hard work and righteousness" is the moto I have as my computer screensaver and wallpaper at work. What do I mean by that? I mean that we need to both work hard and be righteous in our work.

Righteousness at work, to me, means being honest in dealing with customers and suppliers and fair when dealing with staff. It means loving the brothers and sisters I work with and not being stressy/snappy/rude. It means not wasting time and being punctual. It means not taking advantage of my position to have enjoy benefits that others in my department don't get. It means not using the fact no-one checks up on what I am doing to use work time to do things for myself.

Hard work means getting the work done quickly so we make the most money (quite an important factor in a production environment). It doesn't mean stressing out and dashing about so you kill yourself trying to do things to meet unrealistically short deadlines. Hard work means that when there is a slow patch we can use the time to do things we don't usually get around to. Hard work doesn't mean that there is not time to appreciate those around you. Hard work means there is a satisfaction in having done a good days work, and you can take a break/holiday knowing the work will still get done. Hard work means doing what you do the best you can.

Working hard on its own does not guarantee God's honour. There are a lot of people in the business world who work very hard, are very succesful, and are cut-throat/dis-honest/exploiting others in their business dealings.

Likewise, sitting around being holy will not get the work done- it's a balance. Some well holy famous people like monks and nuns have said that their work is a prayer. They don't divide between "work" and "worship" 'cos they know the presence of God in everything they do- that's a lot to live up to!

There is plenty in the Bible both about working hard and being honest (righteous) in work.

For now, I'm going to keep that as my moto and aim to get a bit nearer the goal.