May 22, 2023
You may have wondered when you saw the title what principles
and whistles have to do with faith at work
Perhaps you thought I would talk about living out your faith
as a principal of a school, or since we’re in the middle of the NBA
playoffs I might talk sharing Christ while blowing a whistle as a
basketball referee.
Well, neither would be correct.
First of all the principles I’m talking about are spelled with
an les on the end not an al.
I heard a message recently from a friend and teacher Roger
Hadad including a portion on principles.
Values are very personal and temporary
Our society is driven by values, which are not attached to
principles
Principles are impersonal, objective and eternal
Values are temporary, based on culture and subjective
Yeshua or Jesus showed how to take principles out of
commandments, eg looking with lust is adultery
The principle behind the commandment is fidelity which can be
applied to anything (faithfulness)
Turn the other cheek-teaching something higher than the
commandment of an eye for eye which is love
Values can become something negative if not rooted in
principles
We find principles in the word by asking what’s behind the
statement we’re reading
So I’d like to challenge you be in the word regularly and
devote some of your time while in the word asking yourself what is
the principle behind what you’re reading.
Specifically as it relates to your work, what principles can
you apply to your work life.
Another question you might ask while at work is whether your
employer is encouraging you to adopt certain beliefs or you might
say values or principles. If they are, see if you can find in the
Bible verses which support what your employer is encouraging. If
you can then celebrate that your employer is encouraging biblical
principles even if they aren’t quoting Bible verses. If there is a
conflict, you now have a filter through which you can receive and
interpret these messaging you receive at work and hopefully you can
start to have a conviction about what your work principles are and
actively live Out those principles
So what does this have to do with whistles? Well, nothing
actually but I wanted to share an ah-hah moment I had at work
recently.
I was walking around my workplace and noticed a fellow
employee was whistling. I let him know I thought it was great he
was whistling and to keep it up.
In the past I’ve talked about simple things you can do to live
out your faith at work. One of them has been to smile while at
work. Another is to be encouraging to others while at work.
While I’d like to add to that list whistling. First of all,
it’s hard to have a bad mood when you’re whistling. Second of all,
there’s a good chance you could lift the spirits of a coworker
without saying but rather by puckering your lips and blowing some
air.