The Honor and the Glory of Employers
Many people go out to network, not because of Kingdom priorities, but because they need a job! Most workers want to have an employer, but some don’t want to serve one, so it doesn’t take long for their relationship with an employer to sour. Pop culture music continually resounds with songs about bad bosses, and Marxism has had a long run (150+ years!) of wild popularity in haute couture circles, averring that the very act of paying people money in exchange their time and work constitutes evil exploitation. Sometimes employers do treat workers unfairly, even as some workers fail to appreciate their employers.
In today’s climate of dramatic high unemployment in America (not to mention the rest of the world), I’d like to take a moment to honor employers. In most cases, employers take significant risks with their own money to put people to work. If they win, they may win big or small. If they lose, they can lose big. To everyone who ever put their money at risk and gave me a job, thank you! May you win big and retire well!
Employing people carries intrinsic dignity, but the Bible confers another essential honor on employers in Genesis 2. Long before the Fall or the Curse, work made up an essential element of the Creation, and God honored all workers by becoming the very First Worker (Gen. 2:2). A few verses later, Genesis reveals that God was the First Employer. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15, ESV).
Employing people is a godly thing to do. The honor of employers is to follow in God’s example as the First Employer; their glory is to treat their workers with the same love, grace, and justice God’s workers enjoy. Hooray for employers! May they carry their risks and responsibilities with God’s own integrity.