HSE, ESG and YHWH-Selah83-CMAW180

S HSE, ESG, and YHWH We're told, either directly or indirectly, that there's no place for religion or faith in the workplace, or another way of saying this is that we should be focused on our company's goals and not our own religion when we're working.  I actually heard an executive say in a Town Hall meeting with employees once "leave your religion at home." I don't know if you've noticed, but there's an increasing focus in the workplace, particularly among larger corporations, on goals that seem to be outside of their primary mission or purpose, goals that seem to be about issues that are larger in scope and impact than simply the product or service that the company produces. I'm thinking specifically in terms of the acronyms HSE and ESG.  HSE stands for Health, Safety and Environment.  I work on a lot of projects related to safety and I actually sat in on a 10 hr OSHA training this past week, but this topic has been on my mind for a while.  Safety is a huge deal in the manufacturing industry.  While you can argue there's a profit motive behind spending time and money toward a safe work environment as well as protecting the environment, I think the motive goes beyond profit in most cases and is about "doing the right thing".  ESG is a more recently used acronym and stands for Environmental, Social, Governance.  You'll hear different opinions on what ESG is about depending on the person's point of view or worldview.  Let me start with a definition from Wikipedia, which says that ESG is an approach to evaluating the extent to which a corporation works on behalf of social goals that go beyond the role of a corporation to maximize profits on behalf of the corporation's shareholders.  You may wonder, sometimes, why the company you work for devotes so much of their intracompany messaging towards issues like Climate Change and advocating for the LGBTQ community.  In a nutshell, it's because of ESG.  There are advocacy groups which pressure corporations to take a stand on these issues, but more and more stock market investment decisions are being based on what kind of ESG score a company has.   While one issue worth considering is why companies are so focused on these issues, as well as whether they should be, I think the more important question to ask is what positions they are taking on these issues and how are they trying to influence how their employees think about these issues.   While we could talk about the more controversial issues like how more and more companies throw their weight behind Pride Month and advocate for LGBTQ rights through the year, I think it's interesting to think about what seems to be a less controversial subject which is safety.  We can all agree it's important to be safe at work and that we want everyone to go home the same way they came to work, correct?   On the one hand, I would agree that safety is important.  As believers, is safety our most important goal when we go to work?  I like the quote from C.S. Lewis's book the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  When someone asks at the end of the book if Aslan, who represents Jesus or Yeshua, is safe, someone responds that no, He's not safe, but He's good.   As a Torah observant believer in Yeshua, I would say that my #1 goal at work is to be obedient to Torah, which can be summarized, as Yeshua did, to love God and to love others.   My main point here is not to debate whether or not we should focus on safety in the workplace. I think we should focus on safety.  My main point is that the workplace is a place where people gather with a variety of goals and beliefs, some are held by each of us individually, and some are held, or at least advocated by, leaders or our employers.  To say there's no place for religion in the workplace is disengenious, because I see forms of religion, or you might say beliefs and values, expressed more and more in the workplace.   We can honor and support various causes emphasized by our employers provided they do not go against what God has said in His Word.  Sometimes that line is blurred and hard to define.  I would encourage you take your religion to work, be close to God throughout your workday, honor God as you feel led to do so while at work.   We are under our employer's authority and should not take that lightly, but we are also under a higher authority as believers.   When we signed those papers our first day at work, we entered into a form of covenant, but we have a greater and an eternal covenant with our Creator.   E   Examples of humbling statements: I don't know what I'm doing can you help me?-BM I got All kinds of excuses why I Didn't return your call but none of them are any good-JT   Can use past interviews   L   1 Thess 4:10a-11a "But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands"   A   Torah Talk on 7/30, good discussion on how to know when you're being led by God, and various aspects of getting good counsel   https://youtu.be/P_1wQ50i5R4 https://www.patreon.com/christianmenatwork https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/christianmenatwork H Dad jokes from the Country Living website:   "Why do fathers take an extra pair of socks when they go golfing?" "In case they get a hole in one!"