I don’t believe I’ve ever handled stubborn and ignorant people very well, because I was one of them. There’s the saying that “it takes one to know one”. Well, I am ashamed to say that I do not have a very good relationship with my boss. Since I work at a pure Korean company based in USA, upper management is always filled by people from Korea who are sent here for 1-2 terms (term=2years). As you can imagine, there is a very big cultural and mentality difference. Because of this, there were a couple of occasions where I had a discussion or argument with the boss.
Today was another one of those days. I had forgotten to do something minor and was eventually called in. To him, the problem was that I was not being efficient because I was not doing things his way and by his method. On any other given day, I would have stated my case and probably have gotten into an argument but as I was contemplating opening my mouth I remembered what Peter said.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. (1 Peter 2:13-15)
So I kept my mouth shut, gave a weak smile and nodded my head. Things ended pretty quickly after that.
Did I feel good about what happened? No. Did I feel good that I kept my tongue from potentially launching daggers? Yes. Was God pleased? Yes.
I didn’t submit to my boss today nor was I being a “yes man”. I submitted to God. Even though I don’t get along with my boss, it’s ultimately God that placed him there. Probably to teach me a lesson about keeping quiet and to not be so rebellious, but it does not mean that I will stay silent if I am asked to perform illegal, immoral or unethical actions by leaders.
I pray that God will continue to provide me with patience and the willingness to please Him, to learn to submit and obey. By submitting and obey human authority, I am in fact returning the glory to God and God alone.
Related posts:
- Obedience to God’s Authority and My Boss I have a confession and sobering repentance that I want...
- Power and Authority On Saturday night I had the chance to attend an...
- Digesting the Word Makes My Stomach Turn I finally learnt what it meant for the Christian life...
- Are You a Lukewarm Christian? So what is a lukewarm Christian? To put it briefly,...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
[...] the previous post where I wrote about an experience I had with my boss, although I disagreed with him and wanted to get my side of the story in, I kept [...]
[...] written a couple of previous posts where I had disagreements with the authority of my boss. Each of those times, I thought I was in the right by remaining silent and not wanting to disagree [...]