How pride kills our Witness

I was listening to a sermon a few weeks ago where a pastor said, “If we are being excellent Christians we will be excellent in our jobs in the workplace as well.” I think it’s a true statement except that we tend to put our own spin on that and make it into something it’s not meant to be. Because most Christians at their work, let’s be real, are not all that awesome.

Part of the problem is that pastors and workplace begin from two different places. In ministry, I start my job with “what does God want” and “God better show up or we will never get there!” I love that many of my friends started their ministry with MPD- raising partnerships with people and getting your salary from people who support you financially. It’s incredibly difficult, but I love that it requires you to start with, “If God doesn’t show up I’ve got no backup plans.” It puts you in the right frame of mind to continue to trust Him after your finances for people’s lives, and your ministry’s goals. This is how we would start all of our missions’ trips too.

But my job as a doctor is usually defined from the get go by my own personal confidence and my own personal knowledge. My credibility comes from my own actions. That’s how I was taught, and honestly, like many other professions can get quite far professionally without God obviously intervening. On multiple occasions I wished we could have skipped 11 years of education and God still would have miraculously handed my me medical license, but somehow that never happened! When it’s all said and done, I needed that process to build the information and confidence in myself.

It does not help my patient’s if I walk into the room and they say, “oh, are you the doctor?” And I respond, “well, I mean I guess so, pretty much. Kind of.” No one wants that craziness in their provider! I do need to have confidence in what I do and who I am as a professional.

But the workplace can require us to be self-sufficient in a way that can interfere with our walk with God. I need to make my number one goal not my own knowledge, but my trust in God. Otherwise my life is built all on my own pride, and most of my day completely separated from God and doing our own thing. That’s not an excellent workplace Christian. That’s one focused on their own goals and not Gods, and that’s just pride.

I honestly hadn’t realized how proud of my own abilities I was. There’s multiple different ways our pride affects and limits our ability for God to show up in our lives at work:

Four main ways pride changes us at work:

1. Standoffish– I go to church, what more does God want from me? He should leave me alone at work.
2. Moralistic– I just need to do more so I can be better at life and Christianity. I just need to try harder.
3. Negative– Well, if God would just get me out of here and into the position I wanted then I’m sure I’d be great at it.
4. Denial– What does God have to offer me here at work anyway? I’m doing good doing my own thing.

 

Step one is to acknowledge our pride, however it may show up. Normally, we don’t even acknowledge that pride is in our lives, even though it has the power to destroy our lives, our relationships, and even our careers if we aren’t careful. But it’s that mindset that we are better than, totally capable without, or more knowledgeable than each other and then God that gets us into trouble regardless of how it surfaces. Who else feels loves when you insist you only need you? And how must God feel when we do the same to Him in our lives?

Step two is to choose to live differently. Don’t throw your ability entirely, just acknowledge that there is someone who sees even clearer, and even wiser, and even greater than you are capable of. Humility is not cursing yourself, but being thankful for your own abilities and still awed by how much more incredible God is.

And step three is to get yourself in some pride erasing, God-requiring circumstances. Try something scary. Go talk to that person you always avoid. Step out with that inventive solution you feared they would reject. Go on a missions trip! Put yourself somewhere where if God Does Not Show Up, you have no backup plan. Give yourself some opportunities to see, and believe, and pray for God to intervene in your life in a real way! And watch how trustworthy He really is when you do.

Proverbs 3:5-7: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”