Your Greater Leadership Purpose at Work

Last week I spoke to a group of men at my church on the subject of  “Spiritual Engagement at Work.” To kick things off on a positive note, I opened by asking the following question:

“How many of you feel a gaping disconnect between your spiritual lives and your work?”

Without hesitation, all twenty hands in the room sprung into the air like pistols at a shoot-out.

So. This is a problem.

But I am not really surprised. Because most of us go through our entire careers without thinking about the greater spiritual purpose for the work that we do. Instead, we do what we think is expected of us – to deliver results, to serve the customers, to build shareholder value – all the while trying to keep the paychecks coming each week. And for those of us with a hefty dose of ambition, we may take things a bit further by chasing a future bright with promotions, raises, greater authority and the fullest realization of our leadership potential. But in either case, we tend to focus on the pressures and demands of getting the job done rather than fooling about with the lopsided notion of an underlying spiritual connection.  

Yet we’ll complain to anyone who lends an ear about the lack of spiritual fulfillment in our roles at work, the need for greater meaning in our lives and the earnest desire for serving a God who, we’ll gleefully admit, is everywhere.

Except, apparently, at work.

Now, look: if we can bring ourselves to acknowledge that our all-present, all-knowing, infinitely loving and powerful God is already present in the office cubicles, on the manufacturing plant floor and in the paneled corporate suites, then surely the problem is not with Him, it is with us.

We’ve got to do a better job of revealing God’s presence in the workplace.

To continue reading, please click here to head over to my post at The High Calling Blogs.

 Thanks to nAncY for the photo.