During the Split Chapel discussion panel this morning (which was great), Tim Cane made a very relevant point about Christians and our work ethic.  Tim owns his own company, and he made the point that he's hired a few Christians before and has been very disappointed in how they work.  I've heard other people say this as well — that many employers don't expect professing Christians to work hard.Tim said that often, especially when Christians work for other Christians, they have a sense of entitlement.  They feel like they deserve something special because their boss or their co-workers are believers, too.  This is sad, wrong, and detrimental to the testimony of Christ.

I've noticed this attitude often among Christian communities I've been around.  Whether it be students to professors, lower-level leaders to higher-level leaders, or peers-to-peers, we have very selfish and lazy expectations.  We tend to expect that if we're late, everyone around us will understand.  We expect our superiors to extend deadlines for us.  We don't think that people around us will be frustrated if they have to remind us two or three times to take care of something.  If people don't call us on these things, we just think that everything's ok and that everyone "understands."

In short, we expect grace.  We expect grace and are surprised by accountability instead of expecting accountability and being surprised by grace.  This is a very dangerous and ungodly attitude.  Instead, work hard, fulfill all your commitments (even the smallest ones), be early (not just on time), don't make people remind you about things you said you would do, meet your deadlines, keep your word even when it hurts, ask for forgiveness and accept the consequences instead of making excuses, expect and appreciate accountability and discipline, and never demand grace.  Living this way will honor Christ in the most practical ways.

I'm grateful for this reminder today, and I hope to live this way over the next week.