What is the balance between putting others above yourself and standing up for yourself, particularly on the job? When do you lay down the robe of passivity to protect your job?
Matthew 5:10-12 states, ““Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
What does this passage imply? Are we to be doormats to be trodden on under any circumstance or is there a point when we stand up for ourselves? The Christian life is about balance, and I have often wondered where these two extremes can harmonize. It is very clear by this passage and others that we are not to push others down in our own endeavors. Looking out for self even at the cost of hurting others is clearly unbiblical. However, is it completely biblical to always turn the other cheek? Jesus states in Matthew 5 that we are blessed, or counted as fortunate if people lie against us on His account and our reward in heaven will be great. There have been instances when Christians have been lied about at work and have lost their jobs because of it. I would like to know if they would have been right to bring the truth to light, dispelling lies and protecting their jobs as well.
I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this. Where is the balance between defending oneself and turning the other cheek, or should we even attempt to balance the two?
April 23, 2008 at 12:06 am
Let me ask this, through the lens of the first century economy how do we define our work places? Are we Merchants/self-employed? Are we servants? Or are we merely hirelings? I believe that we have to define the relationship between ourselves and our work before we can answer the proposed question because I believe that the Scripture treates each of these differently.
The “equal” is commanded to act justly and fairly as he deals other “equals” as well as with servants, hirelings and all who may be his property.
The servant is part of the household and has certain priviledges aforded them according to rank and ability within the household structure.
The hireling is just that, cheap labor, working for wages.
Where would you say our work-a-day economy falls?
I, personally, believe we fall somewhere in between hirelings and servants. I believe Joseph is the best example we have in Scripture as to how we are to act in that role.
April 23, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Nice flag. (Gadsden Flag)
When I want to respond to mistreatment, I think it is helpful to consider my motives. If it is about my pride and my ego, then clearly it’s not a good idea. If it is about protecting another person, maybe that’s ok. If I do not respond to mistreatment, but it’s out of fear — that isn’t what God has in mind. Just a few thoughts.
April 26, 2008 at 9:07 am
Chris,
I like your approach - examine the motives. Selfish motives are clearly un-Christlike. I think many workers, and even Christian workers, would rather take the offense than lose their jobs over unfair treatment. However, I think God is sovereign and we can let Christ be our judge in matters such as this, rather than fighting back. After all, our Supreme Example did not revile back when he was persecuted. Thanks for the insight!
June 3, 2008 at 8:55 am
[...] Doormat Christianity: How much personal offense should a Christian put up with? [...]
June 12, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I found this site while doing a search for “don’t tread on me” images. The reason I was searching for this is because I was going through my bible and found some notes I had made regarding the question: why does the medical profession use a snake in it’s symbol/logo? Why did the early Americans have a flag with a snake on it with the statement “Don’t Tread on Me”?
Here’s the answer:
The whole world lies in wickedness (or the wicked one).
America is a lie.
God says in Psalm 91:13:
“Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”
But we say “don’t tread on me” as a snake?
America is an evil wicked nation. It was not founded on God the Father of Jesus Christ. It was founded under a mish-mash of pagans, Christians, atheists etc. If it were truly Christian then how do we end up with 50 million dead babies due to abortion (child sacrifice to Molech)?. God did provide a place where the Gospel could be freely preached but now it is time for judgment against a nation that has forgotten Him (Psalm 9:17)
We are soon about to cross over into Matthew 24:9. The earth (God’s creation) and the world systems (satan’s creation) are tribulating with birth pangs as the manifested end time church is about to be put forth preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ - not this watered down garbage that the world has seen to this point. The world is Roman and Rome HATES Christians.
Are you a real Christian? Have you counted the cost? Will you have enough to go through the hatred and mockery?
He is coming soon. There is not much time to prepare.
http://www.jesuscult.org
July 8, 2008 at 11:30 pm
OK.
I’ll try to address this from bottom to top.
Yes, Jesus is coming soon. I don’t have any idea how much time there is, but we’d better be prepared.
Of course we will “have enough” if we are truly born again because we will have the Spirit of God dwelling in us (assuming you mean “enough” is in reference to what we need to go through hatred and/or mockery).
I’m not sure if the world is Roman. I know it is anti-christ and while its inhabitants are mostly being influenced and often controlled by the Enemy, it is still subject to the sovereign power of its Creator. Maybe “Rome” (I assume you mean Roman Catholicism) does still hate Christians; at one point it definetly opposed true Christianity.
The whole thing about “treading on me as a snake” has absolutely nothing to do with what Steph was talking about. But I guess it makes for an interesting tirade.
America is not technically a lie. Its a country. The people in America can lie, just as you and I can. Hope you can understand this. Saying America is a lie is kind of like saying McDonalds is salty. Actually the company can’t be salty. French fries can be salty, but not companies.
As far as snakes and the medical profession, that all comes from Greek mythology. I don’t think that this means that the whole world lies in wickedness. Yes, the whole world (assuming you mean the people in it) does lie in wickedness because of its relationship to Adam, but having snakes on a flag or on a doctors office sign doesn’t prove this or even suggest it. The two thoughts simply don’t support each other.