Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. (Colossians 3:22 NKJV)

Since the rise of modernism as a philosophy of life, the pedestrian assumption about work seems to be that work is an activity that occurs in the natural world with no connection to spiritual reality.

The motive for work is generally economic in nature: workers seek to meet their own personal financial needs. Furthermore, it is assumed that one’s spiritual condition is irrelevant to work. Whether one is a theist or atheist doesn’t matter. And if one is a theist, one’s view of theism doesn’t matter. It is widely assumed that human beings have the potency, in and of themselves, to work effectively in the natural world without divine enablement.

But are these assumptions correct? Does spiritual reality have anything to do with work? Does it matter if one is a theist or not? And if a theist, does it matter if one is a particular type of theist, such as, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist?

A biblical worldview provides answers to these questions. Consider the above text that was written to first-century workers who lived in the city of Colossae. The Roman culture of the time embraced the Greek view of work—work was beneath the dignity of man and therefore performed by slaves.

In the above text (Colossians 3:22), the apostle Paul directed his comments to the slaves (workers). He commanded them to be obedient to their earthly masters (bosses). This obedience was to be from the heart, which means sincere, and was to reflect the fear of the Lord.

The term “fear of the Lord” is an Old Testament term that suggests a heart attitude of submission to and honor toward God. According to Solomon, this attitude toward God was the foundation or source of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 9:10). If knowledge is an understanding of how God’s universe works and wisdom is the skill to apply knowledge well, then to perform tasks in the natural world requires a relationship with God, the Creator of the natural world, that facilitates the impartation of wisdom and knowledge from God. This suggests that for work to be performed well, it must be performed by people who have wisdom and knowledge from God. Such workers will display the attitude known as the fear of the Lord.

Therefore from a biblical worldview, work, like all of life, is the outworking of underlying spiritual reality. The Scripture states there is one true God—the God revealed in the Bible (John 17:3); hence, there is one correct view of theism—Christian theism. And Christian theists have access to God the Creator—the source of wisdom and knowledge—therefore, this divine wisdom and knowledge, if appropriated, enables workers to produce exceedingly well in God’s universe.

Here is your business tip. To build an excellent organization requires sound spiritual reality in the hearts of management and workers. Excellent work can only be performed by people who view work as being rooted in spiritual reality and therefore perform their work assignments with wisdom and knowledge from the Lord and in the fear of the Lord. Management must seek to promote a strong spiritual culture in organizations that builds and supports spiritually sound workers. This is the only way to truly develop and deliver an enduringly excellent organizational value proposition.