The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have the Bible Edge
Genesis 30:27
And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.
Most know the story of Jacob. He served Laban for over 20 years as an herdsman. On his own testimony Jacob was quite a worker: This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. (Genesis 31:38-41) Laban did not dispute this, it must have been so, Jacob was a good worker. Laban did say however that he learned over those twenty years that God blessed him because of Jacob. Experience taught him that Jacob was invaluable.
In every business, whether it be a corporation, a mom-and-pop store, a small company, or a large sprawling kind of business, there are individuals that just simply do the work. They obey the rules, or they don’t, but they are profitable to those who employ them. I used to know a salesperson that broke every rule in the book but he brought in a lot of business for his company. One of this person’s customers once told me that the only reason they buy from the person is to keep them away from making sales calls on them. The type of employee that is to be compared to Jacob are those who somehow just get the job done.
The Bible Edge of a lesson that can be learned from the story of Jacob and Laban is this: be careful how the Jacobs are treated. If not, they may leave, removing their productivity from the organization. Laban did not fully appreciate or “take care of” Jacob therefore losing him to another opportunity. All the way over in the New Testament James wrote about this type of thing. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. (James 5:4)
As in all else, simply follow the advice of the Lord recorded in Matthew 7:12: Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them… In other words, take care of the Jacobs in your workplace as you would like to be taken care of.
William Howe, Ph.D.
Comentarios