Victorian factories were dark places. Fatalities were high, and workers often lived in poverty. “How can the working man cultivate ideals,” George Cadbury asked, “when his home is a slum?” And so he built a new kind of factory for his expanding chocolate business, one that benefited his workers.
The result was Bournville, a village of more than three hundred homes with sports fields, playgrounds, schools and churches for Cadbury’s workers and their families. They were paid good wages and offered medical care, all because of Cadbury’s faith in Christ.
Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). This prayer can help us imagine, as Cadbury did, what our workplaces would be like under God’s rule, where our “daily bread” is earned and our “debtors” forgiven (vv. 11–12). As employees, it means working with “all your heart . . . for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). As employers, it means giving staff what’s “right and fair” ( 4:1). Whatever our role, whether paid or voluntary, it means tending to the wellbeing of those we serve with.
Like George Cadbury, let’s imagine how things could be different if God were in charge of our neighbourhoods and workplaces. Because when He is, people flourish.
By Sheridan Voysey
REFLECT & PRAY
What would your workplace or neighbourhood look like under God’s rule? How could you pray and work towards this vision?
Loving God, please help me to see what my workplace or neighbourhood would look like under Your rule and empower me to bring change where I can.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Matthew 6:9-13, commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer, might more correctly be titled the Disciple’s Prayer because Jesus wanted to teach His disciples how to pray (v. 9; Luke 11:1). Christ gave this model, or pattern, because He didn’t want His disciples to utter self-centred, exhibitionist prayers like the hypocrites (Matthew 6:5) or to babble ritualistic, meaningless words “like [the] pagans” ( v. 7). Jesus wants us to pray in a way that affirms our relationship with God: to revere and honour Him as our heavenly Father in our dedication and service (v. 9); to carry out His plans for this world and to live out His kingdom priorities and will for our lives (v. 10); to depend on Him and trust Him to provide for our physical and spiritual sustenance (v. 11); to become forgiving people because we’ve been forgiven ( v. 12); and to be victorious in overcoming temptation, sin, and Satan (v. 13).
K. T. Sim
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