Today I will:
"And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40 (ESV)
Wisdom dictates that those things that last the longest are deserving of the most attention. Your company or business won't make it into eternity, but the people you touch through it might. How much more important is it then to value those you work for-or those who work for you-than it is to use them to get ahead? Ten thousand years from now, what will be the more valuable investment?
Our human nature and culture have indirectly taught us that the easiest way to build ourselves up is to tear others down. Rather than working to grow ourselves, or even investing in others to help them grow, we are too often satisfied to simply reduce everyone to the lowest common denominator for the sake of feeling adequate. Such attitudes, however, can unravel a great deal of good. As Ecclesiastes 10:1 says, "Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor,"
In the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus stated that the only way to physically bless Him was to physically meet the needs of others-even the least of them. If this principle is true, then not only does our charity matter, but so does our treatment of others in the workplace. Perhaps we need to go beyond the question of "What would Jesus do?" to ask "If the person in the cubicle next to me were Jesus, what would I do?"