Practicing Self-Examination
This week, commit to a process of self-examination about your work. This is a practice of submitting yourself to the Holy Spirit and asking him to make you aware of ways that you engage work in a way that dishonors God, others, and yourself. This could involve a brief reflection on the day before you head home and/or keeping a private journal or log of the things that God brings to mind throughout the days of the week. Think in terms of your relationships, words, actions, and attitudes.
- Anxiety and fear
- Greed or Pride
- Anger and frustration
- Attitudes about others
- Gossip or speaking about coworkers without respect and love
- Wasting time and slacking off
- Misleading others (boss, clients, coworkers) — by lying outright or exaggerating
- Missed opportunities to care for someone
- Not resting and having boundaries from work
- Not integrating the gospel
- Service of self over others
- Lack of mindfulness of God
Practicing Confession
In light of your self-examination, here are some simple practices of confession to engage in during the week:
- At the end of each day, reflect back on the day and receive God’s forgiveness for ways you sinned in work.
- As you practice confession at work more, simply confess things immediately as you recognize them in the moment.
- Take the risk of confessing to another trusted Christian (see James 5:16). The goal of this is to deepen our honesty and hope for transformation with a friend.
Our hope is to have a deeper awareness of areas within us (i.e. the worker) that need Christ’s renewal, even as we join him in his “renewal of all things” (Colossians 1) through our work.