Love Your CoworkersSample

Work Together as Coworkers for God

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul clears up a potential conflict between himself and his coworker Apollos by emphasizing their relationship as coworkers. One is not greater than the other, but they share a common purpose of working together for the gospel. Each of them did a specific job.

To use an agricultural metaphor, Paul planted and Apollos watered. In this case as well as in our modern workplaces, coworkers have different tasks in line with their abilities, but all share a common goal of getting the job done.

By the grace of God, different people are able to play different roles in the workplace. We need to value each others’ differences, just like Paul valued the work of Apollos. Unfortunately, specialization sometimes leads to interpersonal or interdepartmental factionalism, poor lines of communication, and even personal vilification.

So it is ever more important that we take note of what Paul says about the God-given nature of different roles. Though our coworkers may be different in ways that irk us, we can love them for those differences, knowing that each of us is necessary to get the job done.

God created people to be coworkers. He warns us to deal quickly with interpersonal conflict and to guard our tongues against the kind of speech that poisons relationships. This is because working with others is so important to getting godly work done.

God asks us to go beyond simple working relationships to love our coworkers in the same way we love ourselves. He shows us an example of what that looks like in the Good Samaritan. And he cautions us through the words of Paul to value each other continuously as we work towards common purposes.

Our relationships with coworkers may be complex. Thankfully, the ways we can start loving them are simple. Pay attention to your coworkers, give them the benefit of the doubt, speak kindly about them and stand up for them when necessary. These loving actions will go a long way towards creating a positive environment where everyone is happy to work.

Prayer

God, please help me see the value in my coworkers today. I want to love them as you love them.

We hope this plan encouraged you. You can find more plans from the Theology of Work Project at www.theologyofwork.org/devotions