God in the Workplace

Bible Study

Allison D. Pelphrey

• Editorial: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Año: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781098086527

Who do you work for? What do you work for? What is the role of the Christian in the workplace? God in the Workplace: Bible Study by Allison D. Pelphrey explores these questions, along with many others that affect every Christian in the workplace each day. Follow along as she shares both her defeats and victories of learning to live out her Christian faith in the workplace and as she challenges the reader to search their heart and seek a deeper relationship with God.

Chapter 5

Managing Stress

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

—Hebrews 12:1

I’m sure you’ve heard these words, “Stress is a killer!” That’s because it’s true. An article I read a while back, Yet Another Reason to Avoid Stress, from WebMD stated, “In one of the first studies to show a link between mental stress and death, researchers at Yale University School of Medicine have found that stress may lead to sudden death.”

Not to make light of it, but that statement made me instantly think of the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son. (Oh my, I am dating myself here.) Every time Fred Sanford, played by Redd Fox, would hear distressing news, he would grab his chest with one hand and wave his other to the heavens and cry out, “Oh! Oh! This is the big one! I’m a dyin’! I’m comin’, Elizabeth!”

While Fred’s behavior evoked a lot of laughter out of me as a child, as an adult, I’ve experienced the seriousness of this personally in the workplace! When I was a thirty-something professional in the high-pressure field of Information Technology and a single mother, I found myself under an extreme amount of stress. At times it became debilitating.

Stress is one of the most googled subjects on the Internet. Google “how to relieve stress,” and you’ll find upward of sixty to seventy million results. Countless times, I’ve heard someone, or even myself, utter the words, “I’m so stressed out!” It’s become common and almost expected that we live in a state of stress.

Stress, in a nutshell, is anxiety and fear. It is felt throughout the whole person. It can have negative effects on our physical health, emotional health, mental health, and spiritual health. It affects our relationships and family, finances, work, cognitive function, and even how we serve God as believers. It affects men, women, and children all the same. Stress can result from traumatic experiences, heavy life responsibilities, or a lack of mental, emotional, and spiritual stability. It can come from being overwhelmed with projects and deadlines. Often, the stress will come from unmet expectations in the workplace as well. For example, opportunities that we believe should be ours but remain out of reach.

Let’s not forget money. Many lives have been destroyed because of financial loss or through striving to gain material wealth. Then there are those pesky humans we have to deal with daily. Those challenging work relationships! Maybe it’s a difficult boss or an irritating coworker that rubs your last nerve and sends your blood pressure skyrocketing.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as follows: “In a medical or biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension.” Sadly, most people look for ways to get temporary relief through drugs or alcohol, which just leads to even more stress, while others spend thousands of dollars on professional counseling or gym memberships to help them manage the stress.

So now we know how man defines and manages stress, let’s look at how God defines it and what He suggests we do about it.

Our anchor verse for this chapter, Hebrews 12:1, tells us, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” The Greek word for weight in this scripture is báros. The first definition refers to physical property, a weight. Secondly, weight or báros can mean something that has value or significance. The final meaning is something that carries personal or eternal significance. It refers to encumbrance or impediment.

Did you catch that last phrase, “encumbrance or impediment” (i.e., carries personal and eternal significance)? God’s Word tells us that we are to lay aside everything (every weight) that encumbers (restricts or burdens) or impedes (delays or prevents) our personal and spiritual growth! It was fully intentional that the writer of Hebrews joined “weight” and “the sin that besets us” together in this verse. I believe the point he’s making is that there is a point where living in a stressful state becomes sinful.

Hang with me here. Stress is a weight, a burden, an impediment to growth. It is also unavoidable in this life. We are faced with a hundred different opportunities to be stressed every day. So what’s the answer?

The answer is that how we respond to stress determines where we stand in God’s economy. From my own past experience, once I entered into that stressful state of mind, where I felt it, lived it, and owned it, the stress became my focus. Anything that takes my focus off God (i.e., anything that occupies more of my mental processes than God) is idolatry, and that is sin.

Chronic stress also reveals a lack of faith. When I meet people who live in a constant state of unrest (i.e., stress and anxiety), it never fails that I soon find out that their walk with God is weak and sometimes nonexistent. They have a level of distrust of God’s sovereignty that they’re usually not even aware of, which leads to discontentment in every area of their lives. The stress becomes so prominent in their lives that it becomes their god (idolatry). When you’re around a person like this, it’s palpable, as the spirit of fear fills the whole room.

One of the clearest examples of how God expects us to deal with stress is Philippians 4:6–7, which tells us to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds.”

Let’s break it down.

Be anxious for nothing

That’s a directive, not a suggestion. God gives us commandments knowing fully that by ourselves, we cannot comply. It is only by what follows that we are able to obey Him.

But in everything

Everything means all things. This means every area of our lives, including the secret areas we think we’ve hidden. We are to open them up to God. Because whether you want to admit it or not, He already knows; God is just waiting on you to get real with Him. Confess to Him.

By prayer

There’s the first aid He offers: communication with the Father. God designed us for relationship, for communication, first and foremost with Him. But it’s not just about talking to God, it’s also about being in His presence and listening for Him to res...