Thursday, December 23, 2010

God's role for the Employer

 
July 11, 2010

Ephesians 6:9

Looking back on 68 years of living life on planet earth, I’ve had five employers that I’ve worked for.  My first employer was H.E.B. and I was twelve years old.  After high school, I worked for Cameron Mfg. Company, and my job was to do whatever was needed, including drive the delivery truck.  At the age of twenty my next employer was the United States Army, and it was at this point that I came closer to understanding the relationship of slave to master.  My next employer was Corn Products were I worked cleaning furnaces and came out after an eight hour shift with burnt white flour covering me inside and our.  This was the job that paid for two years of college, and then I married Jan and went to work for Camco, a company that made down-hole valves for the oil field.  One again, I came close to understanding the role of slave to master, of all the jobs that I had to that point, it was the pits.   My final employer was 3M Company, where I spent forty years of my life; I worked for two divisions, and twelve bosses.

We have visited the role of the employee but does the Bible speak to the employer as well as the employee?  The answer can be found in Ephesians 6:9, “Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.”  You may have the title of owner or boss, but God is clear you’re not the big dog, you will answer to your Master in heaven.   Remember that you will reap what you sow, and your title or role is an appointment from your Master in heaven.   If you have any doubt as to what is written, let’s look at Colossians 4:1, “Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you have a Master in heaven.”

My observation is that an employer wanted one thing from his employee and that is a return on their investment in them.  All of my employers were in business to make a profit and my goal was to participate in that at the level of my assignment.  Most of my employers were just and fair, and most of the men I worked for were also just and fair, a few will find out they had a Master in heaven.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

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