How to Trip Your Boss

Scheduled Reading (click to read):
Jeremiah 52:31-Lamentations 3:7; Psalm 119:165-171; Proverbs 27:17-19; Titus 1:6-2:10

Selected Passage:
Titus 2:1-10

Attractive Gospel vs The Stumbling Block. How to trip your boss may not sound like a good idea, and it never is - not in a physical sense nor in the spiritual. In Titus 2 we read some specifics on what a virtuous man, woman, and slave (or in our case - employee) should look like. Specifically, I'd like to look at what a good employee looks like.

The single most emphasized characteristic Paul chose to point out is TRUSTWORTHINESS. Don't steal from your master. Since most people reading this devotional, or should I say, since both people who read this devotional, are not slaves, I will say that our closest application of this principle would be toward our bosses. Essentially Paul is saying that if we serve our bosses honestly and do not steal from him - either by cheating on our time or by stealing his product, supplies, or intellectual property - we make the Gospel attractive, and have a chance at reconciling him or her to The Lord God Almighty.

So this isn't a matter of watering down the Gospel to make it more appealing. It is a matter of obeying the teachings of Jesus to make our faith believable.

Our actions should make faith in Jesus more attractive. Jesus said that HE would be the stumbling block, not us.  There are those who use this statement to justify extremely offensive actions such as saying "God hates fags" or bombing abortion clinics or burning copies of the Koran. I do not believe that this is what Jesus had in mind. Far from it. His Gospel is simple, yet unbelievable. It requires FAITH in Jesus. This requirement in itself is enough to cause many to stumble.

Jesus DID NOT mean that OUR actions should be an obstacle to people entering the Kingdom. In fact, the polar opposite is true. Once people encounter the obstacle of faith in Jesus, they should be able to look at others who claim they have placed their faith in Him for their salvation. When they do look at us, they should see a lifestyle that confirms such a belief.

To do anything else is to trip our boss into hell. It won't be faith in Jesus that keeps him or her out. It will be you and me - living out a life that denies OUR faith in Jesus - that sticks our foot out into their path. Woe to us who provide such an obstacle to those who would seek Jesus.