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Love is the only force that can help you rise above the pettiness, competition, and gossip that occasionally occurs in the workplace. Sometimes people who spend their working hours embroiled in office politics merely lack constructive ways to handle situations that come up at work. Instead, they "eat each other alive" and stress clutches at their insides. The old adage is true: Any time you attack others, you destroy them—and yourself. And you put yourself in bondage.

Freedom, on the other hand, is the ability to respond with love, no matter what's going on around you. The best way to rise above office politics is to allow love to guide you. You can continually ask God, "How can I show love to those involved in this situation?" Then act on whatever insight you gain. When you sense that no one can take away your choice to do what is loving, then you know you are free indeed! (See also Deuteronomy 5:20, 21; Esther 7:1-6; Matthew 20:20-28; Colossians 3:22-4:1; James 3:5-18.)

Good Words to Remember:
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13

Today's Challenge:
Do you respond with love or pettiness to office politics? Give an example.

Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian Bible Studies.