In this lesson, students learn about the blessing of a good work relationship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o48GTsB31s0
Devotion
Colossians 3:23-24
23 Whatever you do, keep working at it with all your heart, as for the Lord and not for people, 24 because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Keep serving the Lord Christ!
At some point, you will probably have a job. At first, every employee is glad to have a job, but soon, they become resentful of their pay and think they deserve a raise. Perhaps it is true that employees are underpaid. Perhaps at times, even Christians should ask for a raise.
The Bible passage for this devotion tells us to work for the LORD. he is the one who has our whole life in mind and will provide for our every need.
If we are employees, we also need to remember that our workers share in the fruits of the company and should be paid accordingly. Christians in charge of a company know the great weight of keeping the company going not just for themselves, but for their employees, too.
Jesus never failed in his work. Even at 12-years-old, He told His parents that He had to be about His Father's work. And He completed it all the way to the end when He said, "It is finished." Indeed He had done what needed to be done so that we could go to heaven. How easy then it should be for us to do the work we have to do with joy knowing the joy that is to come.
The lesson Employere
2 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”[a]
Ruth 2:7 Compare Septuagint, Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain
The lesson Employee
8 For that reason, even though I have plenty of boldness in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 I am appealing to you, instead, on the basis of love, just as I, Paul, am an old man and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. 10 I am appealing to you on behalf of my child Onesimus.[a] I became his father while I was in chains. 11 There was a time when he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him (who is my very heart) back to you. Welcome him.[b] 13 I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might serve me in your place while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your kindness would not be the result of compulsion, but of willingness. 15 Perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a while: so that you would have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but as more than a slave, as a dear brother. He certainly is dear to me, but he is even more of a dear brother to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 And if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, have written this with my own hand: I will repay it—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 Yes, brother, I am asking for a favor from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
22 Just one more thing: Prepare a guest room for me, because I am hoping to be given back to you in answer to your prayers.
Footnotes
Philemon 1:10 Onesimus means useful. See the play on words in verse 11.
Philemon 1:12 Some witnesses to the text omit Welcome him.
Ruth in Boaz's Field by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld