Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ^[1]

1 John 5:3

The way I see it: I have always thought that loving other people at work is hard and difficult. I have been wrong. Faith in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit do not make love burdensome.

The Greek word for burdensome is βαρύςb, εῖα, ύ: pertaining to that which is difficult in view of its being burdensome—‘burdensome, troublous.’

• καὶ αἱ ἐντολαὶ αὐτοῦ βαρεῖαι οὐκ εἰσίν ‘and his commandments are not burdensome’ 1 Jn 5:3.
• In rendering ‘his commandments are not burdensome,’ it may be necessary in some languages to translate ‘it is not difficult to do what he has commanded.’^[2]

Why it matters: We are not victims. We are born of God and hence “overcome the world” and the way of the evil one. We are born to love our colleagues. And we will.

How to start and grow in love at work: If love is not a burden, and yet it feels that way to us, how do we get started? How do we grow?

Start with service of others at work: Jesus always challenges us to be servants and serve others. Jesus would say your focus in work is to be a servant and a slave. Always be last. Sacrifice and put others first. That is all there is to do. It never changes. When we do that, we will be made first. That may include what others call leadership positions. Our choice is to serve. Because of our service, others may choose to make us first. Jesus was quite explicit about the cost of following Him. Discipleship requires a totally committed life. We must be all in. We must give up everything for Jesus.

Move to compassion with our co-workers: Service always is love in action. Layered in with compassion and we see that love is not a burden. The chart below, while of a secular origin (HBR), is right on target. Is our focus on making sure we are here “to help”. It is not a burden to have compassion and seek to help our colleagues. It is a simple question to always ask: “How can I help you?”

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 5:1–5.

^[2] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 245.