1. In our work, we can properly distinguish between good and bad if God’s Holy Spirit dwells in us.¹³⁹ God’s Spirit opens our eyes to what is good and bad in our work. God’s Spirit frees our mind, enlightens our thinking, grants us moral wisdom to know what is good and bad.¹⁴⁰ What is good is after all not what people think is good but what God thinks is good. God’s will is the law in our work.¹⁴¹ Therefore, it is important to strive for spiritual maturity to be able to discern good and evil.
2. Faith helps us ask in our work how God once intended the work to be and how He intends it to be now.
3. Faith helps us see our work from God’s perspective. Looking at work with God’s eyes helps us see the good. If we perform work that we are ashamed of to God, then it cannot be good work.¹⁴² If we make decisions on which God cannot sign off, then these are not good decisions.¹⁴³ If our job would shock Jesus when He comes back to earth, it is not the right job. Determining what is good is not just about whether something can bear the light of day, but whether it can bear the divine light.¹⁴⁴ Therefore, we work in the world with the thought that we are doing it in heaven before God.
4. Faith helps us do our work as if we were directly working for Jesus. By seeing Jesus in the people we work with, we cooperate with Him in our work, care for Him, help Him, purchase from Him, sell to Him.¹⁴⁵ Seeing other people in this way helps us in determining what is good. Thus, it is Jesus and not the devil who works at the competitors; it is Jesus and not the devil who works at the regulators; it is Jesus and not the devil who works at the activist groups.
5. God does not prescribe in detail how we should behave in our work; He has given us divine wisdom to determine this for ourselves. If God did not trust us in this, He would have made a detailed rule book for work.
6. God does not whisper to us either what we should always do in our jobs. If God were to dictate our behavior, it would block our path to moral wisdom and maturity. Instead, God gives us His Bible, a conscience and mind, prayer, and a community of faith. In this way, God empowers us to determine what is right and wrong in our work.¹⁴⁶ With our renewed thinking through faith,¹⁴⁷ God gives us discernment so that we can determine the best course of action in our work.
7. The renewal of our thinking does not mean God demands that we become a totally new person. God created us as authentic beings; our personalities remain part of our identity here on earth and later in eternity. Therefore, we do not have to succumb to the temptation of finding our identity in a stereotype of the ideal working Christian. Following Jesus Christ does mean allowing Him to curb the excesses of our personality.
8. God rules in our work through His moral laws. God created the world so that what is good is not only good for God but also for the world. Good works are not only appreciated by God but are also valuable to the world. By doing good, we ourselves function better, and so do our communities and society. Sin in the work leads to destruction because God has made the world in such a way that the bad ultimately punishes itself. By learning the moral laws in our work, we learn to know better God’s will.
9. If we want to work with God rather than against Him, we must choose to observe the boundaries He sets instead of trying to realize everything possible in work. Being God’s image and likeness requires learning to discern where blessings are to be found in observing the boundaries He sets.
10. God loves ethics in our lives and works because He is ethical. He is the source of what is good. Ethics without Him is without foundation.
11. Although we cannot and do not need to think about God all the time during our work, we may know that God does think about us all the time.
12. The way we discern God’s will for our behavior and the way we apply it in the workplace are encompassed by the relationship God has established with us. We love God because He first loved us, and we show that love in how we treat others.¹⁴⁸ Love is the heart of work ethic.¹⁴⁹

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Questions

1. Does the Holy Spirit give me moral wisdom in my work? And if so, which moral wisdom? If not, why not (yet)? (#1 and #5)
2. When I look at my own (intended) work, how did God (ever) intend that work? (#2)
3. How often do I look at my work from God’s perspective to determine what is good and bad? (#3)
4. Now if I were to look at my work with the eyes of God, would I see bad things happening and good things not happening? (#3)
5. Do I perform any work that would shock me if Jesus were to come back to earth at that very moment? If so, would it not be better to stop or change this work? (#3)
6. Do I see Jesus in the people at my work? What does this mean for what I do and allow in my work? (#4)
7. In my work, do I treat others as if they were Jesus? (#4)
8. In my work, do I treat organizations as if Jesus were working there? (#4)
9. To what extent am I utilizing the resources God gives me to nurture and develop my moral wisdom? (#6)
10. What are God’s moral laws in my work? (#8)
11. What are the moral boundaries that God has set in my work? (#9)
12. Do I think God loves ethics? If so, to what extent would God love the ethics at my work? (#10)
13. How would I describe the role God has in determining what is ethical and unethical in my work? (#1-12)
14. What are the things in my work that I refuse based on my Christian faith but that others accept? In other words: What do I do in my work that a non-Christian would not do; what do I not do that a non-Christian would do?