Are you a compassionate person? Jesus was.

We read in Matthew 9:36 that:

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

We're told that Jesus is touched with the feelings of our weaknesses because he was in all points tempted like we are (Hebrews 4:15). That continually comforts me, as I go to Jesus with my problems, knowing that he's walked this path before me, and he knows how I feel. That's how we become compassionate people—by putting ourselves in other people's shoes and feeling what they feel.

I remember a sermon where the minister challenged us to ask God to break our hearts with the things that broke his heart. Jesus’ heart was broken when he saw harassed and helpless people, people who were without any purpose in life, people who had no compass for life, no meaning in life.

Do you have any of those people working around you? They may be people who irritate you a great deal and even cause you considerable trouble. But if you looked beyond their behavior and truly saw their condition, like Jesus did, you might be able to have compassion on them.

I’ve found that as soon as I can feel compassion for someone, as soon as I walk in their shoes even for a few minutes, my entire attitude changes. I respond very differently to someone for whom I feel compassion. I do things for someone for whom I have compassion that I wouldn’t do otherwise. And in the process, I reduce my own stress immensely as I take the focus off myself and put it on the other person.

Maybe those harassed and helpless people are in your life for a reason. Perhaps they need your compassion today. Don’t you think it would be a good idea to ask God to help you recognize the people in your life who need some compassion today?

I’m offering some workday meditations this week. Short thoughts based on God’s Word, to encourage you and challenge you to keep on living out your faith where you work.

Proverbs 24:17 tells us:

“Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice.”

There was a time in my career when I worked for a very difficult man. I spent many unhappy days in that job because of the way he treated me and others. After about a year God revealed to me that I had great malice in my heart toward him.

I certainly had never thought of myself as a malicious person, but there it was all over my heart: dirty, ugly malice. I wanted bad things to happen to him. I dreamed about him making some gigantic mistake and being fired. I wished and hoped he would get his “comeuppance.” That is malice.

Years later after we had both left that company, I heard of some stumbles he had made. I guess you could say he got what was coming to him. What goes around comes around, and all that. But, by God’s grace, I had gotten rid of that malice toward him, and I was very saddened to hear that things were not going well for him. It brought no satisfaction or joy to learn that he had stumbled.

We should never gloat over someone else’s misfortune, even if they brought it on themselves. First Corinthians 13 reminds us that love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Dig deep in your heart today and see if there is any malice hiding there. If so, get it cleaned out fast and let God’s love fill your heart instead. Just ask the Lord to reveal to you any attitude of malice or gloating and to keep you from rejoicing in evil, but rather give you a concerned heart for anyone who has stumbled.

Have you ever been “passed over” for a promotion or raise that you knew you deserved? If that has ever happened to you, I don’t have to tell you how discouraging it can be not to get credit for your contributions at work. And yet, these things happen all the time.

We live and work in a world that is neither fair nor kind. That’s because the world is full of people who have a sin problem, including us! And that sin problem creates injustice of all sorts.

Injustice is one of my toughest hurdles. I always want to fight when I think my rights or someone else’s rights are being violated. As you can imagine, this tendency has gotten me into some hot water and created not a few problems in my work life.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free” (Ephesians 6:7-8).

I have to remind myself that if I serve wholeheartedly as unto the Lord, the recognitions and rewards will come in due time.

As Christians, we pick up our paychecks at our place of work, but our real job is to please the Lord and work for him. Our reward is waiting for us in heaven—but we can reap the benefits now, too. Just imagine how your stress level will drop as thoughts of vengeance and discontent are replaced with calm satisfaction over a job well done, and knowing that Jesus is pleased with you!

So, my challenge to us all is to remember all day long that we report to Jesus, and he will reward his “good and faithful servants.”

I’m sharing some excerpts from a 30-day devotional I wrote a few years ago.

Our scripture for today is Isaiah 35:3-4:

“Encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not"” (Isaiah 35:3-4).

Have you noticed that discouragement seems to be at epidemic levels? Most working environments are flooded with discouragement, and many times our homes are full of discouraging words.

As Christians, being an encourager is not an option, it's a directive. Christians should be people who strengthen the feeble and exhausted with encouraging words.

Can you think of someone in the feeble and/or exhausted category right now? Maybe it’s a co-worker or your manager. They may put on a face that says, "I have it all together and I don't need anyone.” But don't let that fool you. Just like you and me, they need to hear encouraging words, words of hope and cheer—and they need to hear them from you.

We also need to encourage people who have failed. Barnabas was that kind of an encourager. When Mark had failed and the Apostle Paul didn't want to give him another chance, Barnabas insisted on allowing Mark to travel with them. So, when they could not agree, Paul went one way with Silas, and Barnabas and Mark went another way. Later on Paul asks Timothy to get Mark and bring him for "Mark is useful to me for service," he said.

You don't have to fill in too many blanks to see what happened. Barnabas had taken Mark, taught him, encouraged him, and Mark had become a profitable servant of Jesus Christ. Obviously, Paul recognized this, too, and I imagine Paul learned a valuable lesson from Barnabas. It is really important to encourage people at times of failure.

If you know someone who is struggling with failure, encourage them. They need to know that all is not lost, and they can go from where they are. My challenge to you is to encourage at least one feeble and exhausted person today.

I’m going to share some Workplace Meditations from a thirty-day devotional I wrote a few years ago. I think they’ll give you encouragement—and something to ponder each day.

I want to talk about the power of “I’m sorry.” A good friend of mine told me that the biggest difference between her and her co-workers who are not Christians is that she apologizes a lot more than they do! She struggles with things in her life, just like you and I do. But she is willing to say, "I'm sorry," and I'm convinced her apologies are witnesses to the power of Jesus.

Have you recently lost your temper with a co-worker, told a lie to your manager, or deceived a customer in some way? If so, your conscience probably hasn't stopped bothering you, and that’s good. When our own sin doesn’t bother us, we are in a very dangerous position. A prickling conscience is one way God prompts you to take advantage of his offer to forgive you and purify you; all you have to do is confess.

Maybe you’re wondering how you could ever be a witness for Jesus since you know you've failed and others know you've failed and what's more, you may fail again. But everybody struggles with failure, and those who are not Christians have no good way to deal with the guilt that often accompanies failure. One of the best ways to witness is to own up to our own failures, make restitution where necessary, and share that God is a forgiving and restoring God.

I can remember when God used a specific failure on my part to help a struggling Christian co-worker understand that God would forgive and restore him when he failed. I really blew it in front of him, and I didn't want to go back in that office. But God clearly told me to go back and be very honest about my failure, which is what I did.

Obviously, it would have been better not to fail, but isn’t it great that God uses even our shortcomings? Don’t let some failure or fear of failure keep you from being a bold witness for Jesus. Remember, he can turn your ashes into beauty, if you will let him.

Have you been in a bookstore lately? If so, no doubt you’ve noticed that more and more the store is devoted to gifts and cards and less and less to books. Why is that? I suppose there are lots of reasons, but the facts are, reading books is becoming a lost art! Certainly, the internet and electronic media have contributed to this, and our ever-shortening attention spans as well. But reading a good book is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and others.

I’m going to suggest a few classics that I highly recommend you read. I truly believe every Christian would benefit from reading these books.

First, I want to recommend a book by C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. As the title suggests, Dr. Lewis’s purpose was to present Christianity in its most basic form and explain why he had come from an atheistic belief to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. He was a wonderful, deep thinker and was called the most original Christian writer of the last century. Let me quote from the chapter entitled “What Christians Believe”:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about (Jesus): ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with a patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (Page 55-56)

What an ingenious and brilliant summary of who Jesus claimed to be and indeed who he is. And this book is full of this kind of beautifully written truth and doctrine. If you haven’t read it yet, you can easily find a copy or download it. If you have read it, it’s well worth re-reading. Again, the name is Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. He wrote many other wonderful books but started with this one. It should be on every Christian’s must-read list.

Another book I consider a classic is Knowing God by J. I. Packer. I’ve read this book three or four times, and I tell you, it has definitely helped me get to know God better. Dr. Packer is a theological professor, but don’t worry—it is written in easy-to-understand and yet very rich words. Let me quote one of my favorite paragraphs—and it was difficult to choose only one, because virtually every page in my book is marked and highlighted:

“There is unspeakable comfort—the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates—in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me. There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellowmen do not see (and am I glad!), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend and desires to be my friend and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.” (P. 37)

Dear friends, this is a book you need to read—more than once. Again, its title is Knowing God by J. I. Packer.

The third book I want to recommend is a tiny book—you can easily read it in one...

Did you ever look around you on your job and see how many of your coworkers are just trudging through their job, hating every minute of it, griping and complaining about it all the time? That’s not an unusual scenario. As a Christian, you have a marvelous advantage over those you work with who don’t yet know Jesus as Savior. Do you know what that advantage is? It is the power of prayer.

Advantage: Your job can be transformed into a ministry.

The Bible teaches us that we can do everything we do to the glory of Jesus Christ. So, even those mundane, perhaps boring elements of your job, those things that don’t appear to have any eternal significance, can be transformed into meaningful activity through prayer.

Here’s how that works. You begin praying about every aspect of your job and every person you deal with in your job. You ask God to bring glory to himself through your performance on your job. As you face each individual day, you pray for the agenda for that day, praying that you will be a good ambassador for Jesus Christ throughout the whole day. You ask God to use your words, your body language, the quality of your work effort, your attitude, and all your interactions with people as lights in a dark world.

When you start praying like that on a daily basis, you will discover that God begins to use you in ways you can’t even imagine. People will ask you the most incredible questions that give you opportunities to share your faith. Others in need of comfort will talk to you, as you listen and show compassion. You’ll discover that mundane activity turns into meaningful conversations or quiet prayer meetings with you and the Lord.

Then instead of dreading that job, or wishing you didn’t have to work there, you’ll begin to realize that God has a higher purpose for putting you there, and instead of just going to work every day, you’re going to a place of service, a ministry in the midst of the marketplace. Now, that makes it much easier to go to work each day. And it all begins with daily, on-going prayer on the job. It’s an advantage beyond belief. Don’t let it pass you by!

I have written and published a Prayer Journal, and you may find that helpful in developing a deeper prayer life.

I’ve been pointing out some of our incredible advantages as believers in the workplace because we have the privilege of prayer. Here’s another one.

Advantage: You can be positive in a negative world.

While everyone else around you is griping and complaining all the time, you can remain positive and joyful because each day you can pray for God to control your thoughts. Every time you start to think or say something in negative mode, to complain about the company or the boss or a coworker, stop in the middle of that thought or sentence and turn it into a prayer. Instead of wallowing in the self-pity and negativity of the moment, you have the advantage of staying positive and joyful regardless of the circumstances.

Advantage: You can be peaceful instead of stressed-out. Paul wrote to the Philippians:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Because we have this invitation to present every anxious situation to God in prayer, we don’t have to be stressed out even when others are falling apart around us. Isn’t that an incredible benefit?

Are you taking advantage of giving over all your anxiety to the Lord? I hope you’re not trying to carry that burden yourself. Jesus is ready to take your heavy burden and give you a light one, as soon as you present your situation to God in prayer. And when you do, the stress of the situation goes away. People pay tons of money to try to get rid of stress, and we have the secret weapon ready to be used at any time—prayer!

It’s little wonder that our enemy does everything possible to keep us from praying very much, because he is fully aware of the great advantage we have through prayer. The power of heaven is unleashed in our world through prayer. The blessings of God are showered on us through prayer. The wisdom and guidance we need so often to make good decisions can be found in prayer. The comfort and assurance that keep us going come through prayer. It’s our secret weapon and our great advantage. What a shame when we don’t use it like we should.

What is your greatest advantage as a Christian in the workplace? You may be scratching your head, trying to think if you have an advantage. I want to assure you that you do, and that advantage is prayer.

Advantage: You can deal with difficult people much better.

Most of our frustrations are caused by people—right? So, what do you do when you’re dealing with a difficult coworker or boss or customer? Well, because we have the power of prayer as believers, we have an amazing advantage when it comes to dealing with people, even difficult ones.

First, you want to pray for all the people in your work world regularly. Ask God to help you see those people the way he sees them. Call them by name and specifically pray for each of them as much as possible.

Then, ask for wisdom on how to deal with the difficult relationships. Got a boss that seems impossible? Have you ever asked God to show you how to handle that boss? Or do you just gripe and complain about the boss? That won’t do any good, but prayer changes people! Whether it changes you or your boss or both, you’ll find it much easier to deal with a difficult boss when you devote daily prayer to that person.

“A king’s wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will appease it” (Proverbs 16:14).

A king represents those in authority over us, and when you have a difficult boss, one who gives messages of death, if you are wise, you can appease that boss.

How can you be wise?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

You can have the advantage of godly wisdom in knowing how to deal with difficult people. God’s wisdom is better than an advanced degree is business!

I’ve been praying James 1:5 for years, recognizing my great need for wisdom in all areas. It began to dawn on me not long ago that I had made some pretty wise decisions, which didn’t really seem like me at all. Then I thought, “Well, of course; you’ve been asking God for wisdom, and he has answered your prayer.” It’s a great advantage to be able to pray for God’s wisdom.

Sometimes we Christians like to see ourselves as disadvantaged in our workday worlds. We can get a bit paranoid about being picked on or isolated or laughed at. But the truth is, as believers we have an immense advantage over non-believers in our work worlds, because we have a secret weapon: prayer.

Our days go better when we start with prayer. Here’s another important benefit prayer affords us.

Advantage: You have a way to deal with crises.

All day long as a believer you can send up prayer to the Lord, silently and quickly. So, when anything unusual arises, when any problem surfaces or something is not going the way it should, you have this ever-present resource for help and guidance. This is one of your greatest benefits as a believer.

When you face a crisis or some great need, you can pray right then and there, and God will guide you and comfort you and rescue you. Have you tried it on the job? Did you think God’s arm was too short to save you in a job-related problem? Never!

When you don’t know the answer to a predicament, pray. When you’re faced with a task that seems too large, pray. When you can’t figure out what you should or should not do, pray. When it looks like things are going down the tubes, pray.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

The Lord is waiting to hear from you and deliver you out of your trouble.

Now, I want to make it clear that prayer is not a magic wand we wave to demand God’s help. Prayer is not a method for persuading God to do what we want him to do. Prayer is the way we get in line with what God wants to do in any given situation. It is the way God changes us. It is the way we relinquish our worries and cares and allow God to be God in our lives.