MERRY CHRISTMAS

Welcome back to Olabusola's Review...
It's Christmas Season and I wish you all beautiful season.

Today we are looking at Coach Akin Afolabi's article

Christian Employee Series

His Birth, Implications for My Workplace

People all over the world today celebrate Christmas because God decided to give a gift to the world. Although, the gift of God may be lost on most people, many have nevertheless embraced that act of gifting around this festive period.

Kids look forward to Santa Claus delivering them gift on the Christmas day, friends exchange gifts, employers seize the opportunity to show their employees they care (By the way, did you get a bag of rice and oil this year?), hampers fill up everywhere and many other forms of exchanges. The act of gifting associated with Christmas is so important that all over the world, the day after Christmas is dedicated to it (Boxing Day).

To people, giving is a very important aspect of Christmas, but to God, Christmas is the giving of His only begotten Son to save the world, including you and me (John 3:6).

Giving has four major aspects that determine the impact of the gift.
We have 1.the Giver, 2.the purpose of the giving, 3.the gift and 4.the receiver. In the world, the giver could be anyone that gives and more importantly is the purpose of the giving and the gift. The purpose of the giving usually determines the size of the gift. For instance, if you want to appreciate someone for giving you a business deal worth millions of Naira, you will get a gift that reflects the magnitude of the business so that the person can be so happy to want to give you another business deal. You don’t attempt to give a worthless gift so you don’t jeopardise the next business opportunity.

Imagine God giving His only begotten Son to you when you don’t have anything to offer Him, when you were deep in sin. It shows how important His purpose for giving is that He did not withhold His son.

As far as Jesus Christ, the Gift is concerned, God is the giver and His main purpose for giving us the gift is to reconcile us back to the lost glory of man as contained in Genesis 1: 26 – 28 (Msg.) God’s original purpose for man was to have someone on earth;

- Who is created in the image of God (Spirit man)
- Reflects the nature of God
- Have an oversight on the Earth and every animal and plants
- Prospers in everything he does
- Reproduce using the resources God gave
- Fill the earth
- Take charge

The sin of the first Adam defeated this purpose and it was necessary for a second Adam (Jesus Christ) to come and through the act of justification make us legally qualified to fulfil God’s original purpose by the power of Jesus (Galatians 4:4-5).
This has great implication for us as Christian Employees who understand that our place of work is our mission field. The Gift is meant to equip us to fulfil the purpose of God for us at our places of work.

Permit me to share some of the implication of the gift of His birth for your job. See Isaiah 9: 6 & 7.

1. Governance of your career is upon Him. This places you in a position to experience events at your place of work that transcends your HR policies and all the standards put in place by your organisation. He has the final authority over everyone that takes decision in your organisation and turns their heart anywhere He wills (Pro 21:1) to favour you so that you can fulfil your purpose. When you are threatened by a superior authority at work, always remember that the one in charge is Jesus, the gift of God to you and He decides what the superior authority does. Do not fret, because He will turn his/her heart to do things that will favour you as He is in charge, and hence, you are in charge

2. He becomes your Career Counsellor. The primary function of a Counsellor is to help you identify and understand the resources available to you and how you can use them to achieve your work goals and overcome your challenges. This means that you have a Counsellor whose opinion can never be faulted. Whatever He says is sacrosanct, just do it

3. He is Mighty enough to save you from all career challenges. His mightiness means that there is no challenge you can ever go through at work that He is not able to succumb. This reminds me of one of Coca Cola’s ad where an elder brother was always harassing his younger brother. But when the younger brother was being harassed over a bottle of Coke by some other boys, the big brother showed up and the bullies disappeared, knowing that the big brother was strong enough to deal with them. There will always be bullies at work (situations or people) but you have a big brother in God in whose presence mountains skip like ram. Always be conscious of this

4. He is your Everlasting Godfather. If you are familiar with the godfather’s syndrome, you will appreciate better what it means that you have a godfather through Jesus Christ. A true father provides for his children’s need. He protects them from evil and does not leave them to suffer. He corrects them when they err and provides counsels to guide them in life. The children in return make their father happy by obeying him. Such is the relationship you have with the gift of God to you. And being an everlasting Father, He never dies, so He is always there with you. You have a true father in Him to run to for your needs at work, to correct you, protect you and counsel you. You also owe it to Him as a duty to show your colleagues at work the son/daughter of whom you are by your good conducts, reflecting the nature of your father

5. He is the Peace at work. Peace as we know it is not the calmness experienced in the absence of trouble, but that which we experience in the midst of tribulations. Our places of work are full of challenges every day but the gift of God to us promises us peace in the midst of it all. When you feel like giving up at work, remember He is your peace and trust Him to calm the situation.
His words says that “by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col 1:16). All the challenges you can ever face at work are under His control even if they were initiated by powers and principalities that operate at your place of work or from your village. If you seek cover under the shadow of His wings, you can be assured of peace.

The last aspect of giving is the receiver. Giving is not complete until there is a receiver and physical acceptance of a gift does not mean it has been received. A friend can collect a gift from you physically but grumbles in his heart about the gift. The state of the heart of the receiver therefore matters in the giving and receiving chain.

A Christian employee may or may not experience the benefits of the gift depending on how the gift is received. We must receive the gift wholeheartedly if it would profit us. One thing that is very sure is that the gift will fulfil its purpose when it is received.

As you celebrate Christmas, I want to remind you not to be lost in the festivity, but make sure you have the gift which can prosper you in your work life as well as other aspects.

“A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth” Proverbs 17:8

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in Advance!

Akindele Afolabi
Author, Christian Employee Series