Workplace Meditation Week 2: Saving Friendships (Part I)

Workplace Meditation

Saving a Worthy Friendship at Work

Bible Passage: Philemon 1:8-22

Passage Key Words: “dear friend and fellow coworker,” “given me great joy and encouragement”

Topical Key Words: consent, favor, spontaneous, brother, partner, restored

How do you keep a workplace friendship if your supervisor hates your friend? What if another coworker or work related issues starts interfering with the friendship? If the friendship existed before the job, how would you manage the conflict? The Bible provides some exemplary cases. For instance, Jonathan and David met on the job in the service of King Saul, Jonathan’s father. Both became inseparable. However, King Saul soon hated David out of jealousy and wanted to end or use the friendship with his son to harm David. To resolve the dangers facing them and their friendship, both friends shared their hearts and fears and investigated the challenges facing them, in a trusting, loyal and godly way (1 Samuel 20). In the end, they prevailed and the challenges brought them closer and protected their lives.

In another case, the friendship between Apostle Paul and Philemon faced challenges because another coworker, Onesimus, wronged Philemon. Because Paul valued both coworkers as friends, he discussed and dealt with the offenses transparently, assigned responsibility, pleaded and offered to payback for wrongs, on behalf of Onesimus. Even though he had bargaining power in his relationship with Philemon, he did not use them but rather appealed to him on “the basis of love.”

If you want to save a worthy friendship at work, some good recipes are transparency, trust, loyalty, godliness, empathy, deference and love.

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