Your life is God’s gift to the world. So, make the best out of your time here on earth. French philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre suggested that “humans are moral creatures because our collective existence requires each person to continuously make choices about what we ought to do in regard to others.”
Ethics is primarily a communal, collective enterprise, not a solitary one. It is the study of our humanity of relationships with each other. We are all in this universe to work together for the good of the whole. No one can claim that they made whatever they have accomplished in life on their own. The product that we consume more than likely came from others who worked to produce our goods and services.
If ethics is a part of life, so too are work, labor and business. Work is not something detached from the rest of human life, but rather man is born to labor, as a bird to fly. Work ethics require that on occasion we act on behalf of the interests of another. This notion is in line with biblical teaching that “we are our brother’s keeper.”
So, when we do what pleases God for others, we are in his will. You might ask the question how do I please God? The lesson we learn from biblical stories particular about Joseph is surprisingly simple. Do what pleases God. When a friend offers you illegal drugs: Do what pleases God. When your coworker shows you a way to cheat: Do what pleases God. When the temptation to speak ill about someone: Do what pleases God.
How can you please God? Do what is right as a sacrifice to the Lord and trust the Lord. This is how you please nim and when you please God you are representing what he expects out of all his creation. The bottom line is this: humanity is better when all of us are working for the good of each other. When we respect each other’s life based on the person and not on other attributes of the person then we are honoring God’s creation.
Remember that your faith is the key to doing what is right. Faith isn’t empty hope or simply a positive confession of something. Faith is recognizing something that’s already a reality even though it cannot yet be seen. In and of itself, faith has no creative power; it just affirms what already exists in the unseen world and in what God has promised, knowing that in his time it will come to pass because it is his will. So, as you go through the day, do what is right toward all of humanity and Never Give Up! Never Give Up! Never Give Up!
By Chaplain Ghosten
chaplain@lhp.net
