Objectives and End Users – Part III

An objective is defined in the business world as: the goal intended to be attained (and which is believed to be attainable). The end user is defined as: The person or group who will use the product produced by the project. Most jobs have objectives, some more clear than others, that employees should strive to accomplish usually for the result experienced by the end user. I will return to this concept after asking you this question: when it comes to your job, when was the last time you asked God, “what are you doing here?”

Think about it, what is God doing at your job? I can guarantee you that he has an ultimate goal, an objective. I guarantee this because he told us his objective in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Not only did he share his mission with us, but he extended the opportunity to become a part of it to us (Matthew 28:19-20). God told us to go throughout all the earth, and we have. But something integral to the plan is missing. We need to hold the perspective that aligning ourselves with God’s mission does not mean dis-aligning ourselves with our positions.

The body of Christ is called to have a heart for others and us as individuals are each called to have a heart for our place of work. Hear me, you will never make a dent for the kingdom until you actually care for the people who work there. We must pray and believe that they would come to know Jesus. We must care about their general well being, and the well being for our companies. Do you care that our company is healthy? Are you interested in the new products, services, ideas, etc? Or do you jut go with the flow and hope to make a difference once you can get your co-worker to have an “intentional conversation” over a caramel frappuccino? Before you are concerned with getting your co-workers to engage with you outside of the workplace, concern yourself with adding value to where God has you and trusting that will be a testimony in itself.

Somewhere between the time of Daniel and today we have lost a work ethic that brings glory to God. Too often, we don’t call upon God for wisdom. We don’t stop to take time and think about what we read that morning or heard in church the day before, simply put: we don’t have the heart of a servant. In the beginning of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar did not know or fear God, but Daniel is still excellent at his job. What are we reading our bibles for if we don’t apply our bibles to our customers. Instead of being slow to speak, we act like everyone else around us, or even worse. We forget that Jesus is using us in every moment in every way. We go to work with our agendas and hangups and we forget who the end user is because we have forgotten our objective. We can see what’s wrong at work, but can we get beyond that. Our mindsets should not just be for us to make a workplace better spiritually but in other ways.

We should desire for our companies to be financially prospering, and not just because it looks good on you but because you are called to serve. I mentioned Daniel earlier, because he served an ungodly man, but his heart was for God and he made his boss look GOOD! In Daniel 4:19 Daniel writes, “my lord may the dream be for those who hate you and enemies.” Daniel was taken into slavery, this man practiced things that did not represent his God, but you hear Daniel’s heart bleed out. Rather than waiting for your boss to drown, or for that nasty co-worker to get fired for a mistake you caught but didn’t bring to their attention. We need to be like Daniel and believe for those we work for and with and put that faith into action of being excellent at what we do. Daniel writes in chapter 4 verse 34 “At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.” This ungodly king came to know the living God because of his employee. The king and those around him were the end users Daniel had in mind when he focused each day on where God had placed him and what he needed to do to glorify God with everything he had.