The Christian Working Woman - Proverbs for Work Integrity

Presented by Lauren Stibgen As we dive into integrity, I have been thinking about Proverbs and how they relate to work. They are filled with wisdom, and a good roadmap for working with integrity! I thought it would be helpful to define this book of the Bible that is a home for practical wisdom as a faithful believer in Jesus Christ. In fact, if you take time to read through this book of the Bible, you might be surprised at how much people quote and paraphrase from God’s good book of wisdom! First, some facts. The word proverb is defined as “a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice.” (Oxford Language Dictionary) While Proverbs is a book of the Bible, there are common secular proverbs like curiosity killed the cat or a watched pot never boils that you may have heard. I am sure you could quip a few more. The biblical proverbs are also short, pithy sayings in general use, and this use in our case is as a guide to living a life pleasing to God. Not to be confused with a commandment or a prophesy, these proverbs are good advice to help keep us on the straight and narrow path and far from sin. We can find proverbs for just about every aspect of life ranging from family and friendship to sex and money!  And, yes, we can find many proverbs which can help guide our work. Although Proverbs is made up of 31 chapters, not all 31 have proverbs. In fact, the first 10 chapters and the last two chapters are poems that help frame our views on wisdom and the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1:7a gives us a big hint about the sum of all 31 chapters: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…. Basically, if you want to be wise, trust God; this will lead to life. If you are a fool, you won’t trust God, and this will lead to death. Proverbs compares and contrasts actions that lead to a life that thrives in wisdom and a life that leads to death. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Proverbs helps guide us in the path of life, away from sin. As believers in Jesus Christ, we know our works will not earn us this eternal life, but we also know we still will fall short and sin. Proverbs provides us with wise reminders of how we can lead lives that point others towards Jesus and not away from him. With a posture of fear, in the sense of reverence and awe towards God, we can seek wisdom in the book of Proverbs that helps us at work!