Freedom and Responsibility at Work
Audio / Produced by The High CallingTranscript
An English teacher assigned her students a long essay. The writing project required several weeks and more research than most students had ever done.
One young man asked, "Do we have to do this?"
His teacher smiled. She said, "No, you don't. But you won't pass unless you do."
That's the balance between freedom and responsibility. When a supervisor asks employees to take on a new project, they can say no. When doctors prescribe medicine, their patients can refuse to take it. When consultants offer advice, the company can ignore it.
This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. A free society allows us to choose for ourselves. And then . . . we bear the responsibility for choices we make . . . in the high calling of our daily work.
Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. (James 4:17)
Ethics is about knowing and doing what is good or right, and workplace ethics is about knowing and doing what is good or right at work. For the Christian, this means applying the Bible and other resources of the Christian faith to help decide and do what is ethical or moral at work.