Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:10-12
Even when you’re right to speak up, there may be repercussions to using your voice. There may be forces that oppose God’s ways in your workplace, such as greed, fear, selfishness, or just plain stubbornness. These other voices may have the power to oppose you. After you speak up, you might find your work more stressful and difficult in the short term.
Jesus suggests the distinct possibility that you may be “persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (Matthew 5:10.) This often happens in the workplace. If you point out your boss’ unfair promotion patterns, you may be denied promotion yourself. If you question the ethics of a marketing campaign, you may simply be thrown off the project. And if you’re the whistle blower on serious misconduct at work, you may be threatened or fired or both. There can be real costs to speaking up.
And yet there are benefits too. When speaking up is the right thing to do, the benefits extend beyond your current work experience and beyond the people you see every day. There is a spiritual component of taking the right action. As Jesus puts it, “your reward is great in heaven” when you are persecuted for doing the right thing (Matthew 5:12). You should even be “glad” to be in the company of others who have suffered for speaking up. After all, Jesus points out that the prophets, who like him announced God’s kingdom, were persecuted. Seen in this light, speaking up can be a holy activity whose results last longer and touch more people than just your own life and career.
When to speak up is a tricky question that only you can answer with God’s help. Still, if you speak up for the benefit of others, if you balance anger with humility, and if you are brave in the face of real costs to yourself, then you can consider yourself “glad” to be in God’s company. Speaking up in this manner is something you can do with and for Jesus.
Prayer: God help me to speak truthfully, humbly, and bravely. Be my company when I go to work today, Lord Jesus.
Further Exploration: If you enjoyed this plan, find more plans from the Theology of Work Project at https://www.theologyofwork.org/devotions
Author: Theology of Work Project
Theology of Work Project Online Materials by Theology of Work Project, Inc. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.theologyofwork.org
You are free to share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work), and remix (to adapt the work) for non-commercial use only, under the condition that you must attribute the work to the Theology of Work Project, Inc., but not in any way that suggests that it endorses you or your use of the work.
© 2014 by the Theology of Work Project, Inc.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, Copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
