WHAT TO DO TODAY
Thou hast made the moon to mark the seasons, the sun knows it’s time for setting.
Psalm 104:19 RSV
Today is the last day of 2010. Tomorrow dawns a brand new year! Are you ready for it? Well, before the New Year is upon us, here’s an important reminder: Don’t overlook today! Today, you were handed from God 24 hours to live life to the fullest. That's 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. Sometimes we get so busy and distracted we miss the fact that each rising, sun brings new opportunities and adventures on this planet we call Earth. God gives us one new day at a time so that we aren't distracted by the future or paralyzed by the past. So, today may be the last day of the year, but today is also the first day of the rest of your life. Make the most of today! Enjoy God's gift to you on this New Year's Eve. You can accomplish a great deal with the 1440 minutes in a day. Today, stop and take advantage of all that God has provided for you.
The greatest commodity you have at your fingertips is time. Everyone has the same amount of time to use or waste today. The happiness in your life depends on how you use your time. Periodically I need to take an evaluation of how I am using my time. This little list helps me keep perspective:
Take time to THINK — it is the source of power.
Take time to PLAY — it is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to be FRIENDLY — it is the road to happiness.
Take time to LOVE — it is a God-given privilege.
Take time to READ — it is a fountain of wisdom.
Take time to PRAY — it is the greatest power on earth.
Take time to LAUGH — it is the music of the soul.
Take time to GIVE — it is too short a day to be selfish.
Take time to WORK — it is the price of success.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Work With Heart
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men. Col. 3:23
This verse raises three basic questions:
1) What is your work?
2) What is your motivation to work?
3) Whom do you work for?
Your Work
Colossians 3:23 was addressed to slaves. Though you may slave at your job, the Colosse workers were actual slaves—conquered peoples in service to Roman citizens. They had menial, routine, and dangerous days and little control over their work. By contrast, we usually have options for the kind of work we do. And a degree of control over how we do it. Ironically, with freedom and control come a great deal of responsibility—and therefore stress! Colossians 3:23 reminds us that God cares about our work regardless of our station—whether we are day laborers or corporate executives. Whatever we do for work, our relationship to God can affect how we do our work.
Your Motivation
The word "heartily" means to put heart into—to perform with a positive attitude. But that can be a tall order! Especially when work is going poorly, or the boss is dissatisfied, or problems (or problem people) hinder us from getting work done.
How can we "put heart into" our efforts under adverse circumstances? The rest of verse 23 is the answer: We decide whom we are working for. We'll look at that in a moment. But first, consider that to work heartily is as much about motivation as character. If you find yourself miserable at work, it may be the wrong job for you. A clear connection exists between job fit and joy and satisfaction. So if you grit your teeth driving to work, perhaps you need to identify how God designed you, then seek a job that makes better use of that design. Unlike the Roman slaves, you probably have options. (Of course, keep doing your best while in your current job.)
Your Boss
No matter your employer—even if you're self-employed—your ultimate boss is the Lord. Every time you take a phone call, send an email, make a decision, converse with a coworker, deal with a customer, break for lunch, or cash a paycheck, the Lord sees your work. That truth ought not to cause fear, but joy! You work for the Lord! The Lord who is good, fair, and honest. The Lord who gave you your talents. The Lord who gives you work itself as a gift (see Eccl. 5:18-19). The Lord is the boss every one of us wants. According to Colossians 3:23, we do work for Him. If we take that perspective with us to work—we can work with joy.
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men. Col. 3:23
This verse raises three basic questions:
1) What is your work?
2) What is your motivation to work?
3) Whom do you work for?
Your Work
Colossians 3:23 was addressed to slaves. Though you may slave at your job, the Colosse workers were actual slaves—conquered peoples in service to Roman citizens. They had menial, routine, and dangerous days and little control over their work. By contrast, we usually have options for the kind of work we do. And a degree of control over how we do it. Ironically, with freedom and control come a great deal of responsibility—and therefore stress! Colossians 3:23 reminds us that God cares about our work regardless of our station—whether we are day laborers or corporate executives. Whatever we do for work, our relationship to God can affect how we do our work.
Your Motivation
The word "heartily" means to put heart into—to perform with a positive attitude. But that can be a tall order! Especially when work is going poorly, or the boss is dissatisfied, or problems (or problem people) hinder us from getting work done.
How can we "put heart into" our efforts under adverse circumstances? The rest of verse 23 is the answer: We decide whom we are working for. We'll look at that in a moment. But first, consider that to work heartily is as much about motivation as character. If you find yourself miserable at work, it may be the wrong job for you. A clear connection exists between job fit and joy and satisfaction. So if you grit your teeth driving to work, perhaps you need to identify how God designed you, then seek a job that makes better use of that design. Unlike the Roman slaves, you probably have options. (Of course, keep doing your best while in your current job.)
Your Boss
No matter your employer—even if you're self-employed—your ultimate boss is the Lord. Every time you take a phone call, send an email, make a decision, converse with a coworker, deal with a customer, break for lunch, or cash a paycheck, the Lord sees your work. That truth ought not to cause fear, but joy! You work for the Lord! The Lord who is good, fair, and honest. The Lord who gave you your talents. The Lord who gives you work itself as a gift (see Eccl. 5:18-19). The Lord is the boss every one of us wants. According to Colossians 3:23, we do work for Him. If we take that perspective with us to work—we can work with joy.
Monday, October 4, 2010
SELF-CENTERED OR CHRIST-CENTERED LIFE
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?" (Matthew 16:24–26)
We all begin life totally self-centered. With time and experience, most of us become less so, more invested in others. But the transition is neither automatic nor easy. Throughout our lives, our culture pushes us toward self-centeredness . . . and, that is no way for adults to live. In fact, it is opposed to life as God intends it.
Contrary to cultural pressure, Jesus calls us into life centered totally in Christ. In our text, Jesus issues three interlocking demands. When obeyed, these mandates lead us out of self-centeredness into life in joyful service to others.
"Deny yourself!" means saying no once and for all to self-interest, which constricts and destroys our true selves, others, and our environment. Jesus knows we are created for something grand. But until we repudiate all that fosters self-preoccupation, we will never participate in anything of lasting value.
"Take up your cross" willingly—today and every day. Jesus calls us to center our daily lives on, in, for, and through him. Publicly, life in Him includes suffering, ridicule, even death. Our culture supports a privatized Jesus and public religious behavior as long as it never offends, challenges, or opposes worldly principalities that oppose The Man and His message. Christ-centered living daily accepts the occasions God places in front of us to serve in the name and power of Jesus. Thus we take up our cross daily; but the world is hostile to such selfless freedom.
Abiding in Him, we slowly and surely become more like Him. Through the power of His presence in the center of our will, Jesus transforms us from the inside out, lifting us from the sludge of self-centeredness to the freedom of centered selves in sacrificial service to others. Such is the way to secure whole, centered, and abundant life that endures forever.
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?" (Matthew 16:24–26)
We all begin life totally self-centered. With time and experience, most of us become less so, more invested in others. But the transition is neither automatic nor easy. Throughout our lives, our culture pushes us toward self-centeredness . . . and, that is no way for adults to live. In fact, it is opposed to life as God intends it.
Contrary to cultural pressure, Jesus calls us into life centered totally in Christ. In our text, Jesus issues three interlocking demands. When obeyed, these mandates lead us out of self-centeredness into life in joyful service to others.
"Deny yourself!" means saying no once and for all to self-interest, which constricts and destroys our true selves, others, and our environment. Jesus knows we are created for something grand. But until we repudiate all that fosters self-preoccupation, we will never participate in anything of lasting value.
"Take up your cross" willingly—today and every day. Jesus calls us to center our daily lives on, in, for, and through him. Publicly, life in Him includes suffering, ridicule, even death. Our culture supports a privatized Jesus and public religious behavior as long as it never offends, challenges, or opposes worldly principalities that oppose The Man and His message. Christ-centered living daily accepts the occasions God places in front of us to serve in the name and power of Jesus. Thus we take up our cross daily; but the world is hostile to such selfless freedom.
Abiding in Him, we slowly and surely become more like Him. Through the power of His presence in the center of our will, Jesus transforms us from the inside out, lifting us from the sludge of self-centeredness to the freedom of centered selves in sacrificial service to others. Such is the way to secure whole, centered, and abundant life that endures forever.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
RISING AFTER THE FALL
In King Lear, Shakespeare’s Gloucester says, “I stumbled when I saw.” Newly blind, he recognizes his old way of seeing the world led to his fall from courtly power. Behind him stands the New Testament’s Saul of Tarsus, the zealous persecutor of Christians, whose illusions of righteousness are taken away on the road to Damascus. Blinded by a vision of Christ, he must be led by hand to town, where he awaits the unknown ministrations of Ananias and a merciful return to clear-sightedness as the extraordinary Apostle Paul.
Spiritual awakenings often take place in darkness, in a place to which we have descended or fallen. We find ourselves in the midst of a living-death. The life we have so carefully constructed turns out to have the straightened dimensions of a grave. At the beginning of the spiritual life we are often most aware of life as a problem.
There’s a plucky response to life’s tight places that advises, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” This is spiritual Darwinism. We are invited to see our dilemmas as external adversities that allow us the opportunity to gain admission, through heroic struggle, to the company of survivors: the happy few.
Although there’s nothing wrong with self-initiative in the face of adversity, the spiritual life—because of its source and destination—has a different dynamic. The great spiritual pilgrims have always recognized that crisis is not an opponent but an opportunity. External adversity, even violence, can bring with it an interior clarity when we are prepared to accept the truth of our situation as God sees it. Acceptance, not struggle, is the key.
For both our first awakenings to our spiritual death and our ultimate spiritual reconciliation are shaped by the same loving hand, God himself. Shakespeare’s Gloucester reflects first on his own illusions, and I imagine Paul must have spent many days ruing his persecutions, but God, in his loving kindnesses, embraces the sinner before he is aware of his sin and prepares his banquet of forgiveness before the person has any notion of attending.
When I went through a time of crisis in my own life, I benefited greatly from counseling, and I’ve long reflected on why. The most powerful dimension of counseling, I’ve decided, was having someone root for me. My weekly therapy sessions were a steady reminder that an intelligent, caring person thought I was worth something—in fact a good deal—despite how I had alienated others in my life. I’ve come to see that my counselor embodied the love of God for me. His championing of my life reminded me that God’s love begins with our creation—the birth of each of us in God’s image. And it continues with the reconciliation made possible in Christ, who seeks to restore and complete the good work begun in us. These abstractions formed, in a manner, the working relationship between my wise friend and me, becoming real and tangible.
This experience helped me to understand that from first to last God loves us—even when we are preoccupied with how we have rebelled against God. The “spiritual journey” involves nothing so much as turning around to receive the embrace of someone tapping us on the shoulder.
In King Lear, Shakespeare’s Gloucester says, “I stumbled when I saw.” Newly blind, he recognizes his old way of seeing the world led to his fall from courtly power. Behind him stands the New Testament’s Saul of Tarsus, the zealous persecutor of Christians, whose illusions of righteousness are taken away on the road to Damascus. Blinded by a vision of Christ, he must be led by hand to town, where he awaits the unknown ministrations of Ananias and a merciful return to clear-sightedness as the extraordinary Apostle Paul.
Spiritual awakenings often take place in darkness, in a place to which we have descended or fallen. We find ourselves in the midst of a living-death. The life we have so carefully constructed turns out to have the straightened dimensions of a grave. At the beginning of the spiritual life we are often most aware of life as a problem.
There’s a plucky response to life’s tight places that advises, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” This is spiritual Darwinism. We are invited to see our dilemmas as external adversities that allow us the opportunity to gain admission, through heroic struggle, to the company of survivors: the happy few.
Although there’s nothing wrong with self-initiative in the face of adversity, the spiritual life—because of its source and destination—has a different dynamic. The great spiritual pilgrims have always recognized that crisis is not an opponent but an opportunity. External adversity, even violence, can bring with it an interior clarity when we are prepared to accept the truth of our situation as God sees it. Acceptance, not struggle, is the key.
For both our first awakenings to our spiritual death and our ultimate spiritual reconciliation are shaped by the same loving hand, God himself. Shakespeare’s Gloucester reflects first on his own illusions, and I imagine Paul must have spent many days ruing his persecutions, but God, in his loving kindnesses, embraces the sinner before he is aware of his sin and prepares his banquet of forgiveness before the person has any notion of attending.
When I went through a time of crisis in my own life, I benefited greatly from counseling, and I’ve long reflected on why. The most powerful dimension of counseling, I’ve decided, was having someone root for me. My weekly therapy sessions were a steady reminder that an intelligent, caring person thought I was worth something—in fact a good deal—despite how I had alienated others in my life. I’ve come to see that my counselor embodied the love of God for me. His championing of my life reminded me that God’s love begins with our creation—the birth of each of us in God’s image. And it continues with the reconciliation made possible in Christ, who seeks to restore and complete the good work begun in us. These abstractions formed, in a manner, the working relationship between my wise friend and me, becoming real and tangible.
This experience helped me to understand that from first to last God loves us—even when we are preoccupied with how we have rebelled against God. The “spiritual journey” involves nothing so much as turning around to receive the embrace of someone tapping us on the shoulder.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Working Well: A Theology of Work
Before sin ever entered the world, God created work to be a part of our experience. Scripture records, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Gen. 2:15). Adam took care of the garden and named the animals as well. The goal of his work was to order things. The Hebrew word for this idea is shalom. Shalom means "peace," but it's more than just a state of being. Shalom implies a state of peace because all things are in their proper order. The purpose of work is to order things appropriately. Work accomplishes shalom.
This means that work is not our enemy. Even God works. Work was actually designed by God to make life more glorious and rewarding. Participating in meaningful work is a central key to happiness. It has been said, "An idle man is a wretched man."
Charles Kingsley wrote, "Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance, self-control, diligence, strength of will, content, and a hundred other virtues which the idle never know."
But the whole work concept was sullied after the fall of the human race. The Genesis narrative reports that work became a thing of dread and stopped being the joyful way we administered shalom in the world. Instead, work became "painful toil" producing "thorns and thistles," not peace and order (Gen. 3:17-18). Sin brought a curse that would radically change the character of work on this earth. God told Adam: "All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it." Enter: stress, pressure, manipulation, coercion, greed, workaholism, and the rest. (In verse 19, the Bible refers to this as "sweat.") Exit: joy, peace, satisfaction, and fulfillment. Sweat-work replaced joyful work and aborted our sense of Kingdom purpose. But that isn't where the story ends.
Though work became burdensome under the curse, Jesus' work at Calvary redeemed, or rescued, work from the domain of pain and sweat and brought it back to the land of shalom. This is why work is so sacred for the believer: it's a huge part of God's dream for each Christian.
A Theology of Work
The Bible has much to say about work. Paul wrote: "Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don't just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ's servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you're really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free" (Eph. 6:5-8 MSG).
Paul's theology is clear: work is a sacred thing, something done with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. That means that when the Christian works, he or she works for God. How cool is that?
God Is Our Source
When you see God as your source and your job as simply one of the vehicles God uses to provide for you, work becomes less stressful. Christians should see their jobs as a gift from God, not a provision of human origin. If you embrace this truth, you can work without fear of losing your job. And if you do lose a particular job, since your real boss is God, you can know he'll provide for you. God is our source in two ways.
1) He gives us the life, breath, gifts, energy, and capacity that enable us to produce an income. Scripture declares, "Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth" (Deut. 8:18).
This whole God-is-my-source thing is really what's at the heart of tithing—giving 10 percent of our income to the work of God. Tithing helps us remember that God is our source. Tithing was practiced all the way back to Abram—before he was known as Abraham, the father of faith:
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Gen. 14:17–20)
Later in this same chapter of Scripture, Abram told the king of Sodom, who was trying to give him a reward: "I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich' " (vs. 23). He knew God was the one who had given him the ability to produce wealth.
Christians who work must intentionally embrace the idea: no one makes us rich but God. We tithe to remind ourselves of that. We tithe to calibrate our souls to that. Deep within our hearts, each of us must know and declare: God is my boss; God is my source. That brings great comfort.
2) God promises to take care of his own. One of the names God revealed to his people to show his character is the Hebrew Jehovah-Jireh. It literally means, "the God who provides." You don't have to go far into Scripture to discover that God loves to lavishly provide for his creation. The Garden of Eden was a place of abundance. It offered a cornucopia of food and other natural resources, and it was said, "The gold of this land is good" (Gen. 2:11 MSG ). Jesus was careful to point out that God acts as creation's caring Father in providing for the physical needs of everything from flowers to birds to human beings. He asserted that a person's faith was too "little" if he or she was worried that God wouldn't tend to such things (Matt. 6:26–30).
But some take offense when people talk about trusting God for financial and material needs. They think doing so is being selfish. They believe we don't have the right to pray about anything but spiritual matters and that, since God knows what we need before we ask him (according to Matt. 6:8), we should leave the whole enterprise in his hands. But God wants us to trust him with every part of our lives, not just the spiritual parts. When you listen to Jesus, it's obvious that earth is God's province and that he loves to deliver our "daily bread."
Watching God provide for us impacts us spiritually. The Bible says that one spiritual result of God's provision is joy (Deut.16:15). But there's more: we feel his love and embrace; it breeds hope for the future. God's provision fosters wonder and awe. Jesus said that if we know how to give good gifts to our children, "how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matt. 7:11). It's sweet to discover that God really is our Father.
Remember that God is your source. When you get that paycheck, thank God. Tithe. By doing so, you are declaring, "You are my source, God." Make sure you tell him you know that he's responsible for delivering your daily bread.
Before sin ever entered the world, God created work to be a part of our experience. Scripture records, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Gen. 2:15). Adam took care of the garden and named the animals as well. The goal of his work was to order things. The Hebrew word for this idea is shalom. Shalom means "peace," but it's more than just a state of being. Shalom implies a state of peace because all things are in their proper order. The purpose of work is to order things appropriately. Work accomplishes shalom.
This means that work is not our enemy. Even God works. Work was actually designed by God to make life more glorious and rewarding. Participating in meaningful work is a central key to happiness. It has been said, "An idle man is a wretched man."
Charles Kingsley wrote, "Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance, self-control, diligence, strength of will, content, and a hundred other virtues which the idle never know."
But the whole work concept was sullied after the fall of the human race. The Genesis narrative reports that work became a thing of dread and stopped being the joyful way we administered shalom in the world. Instead, work became "painful toil" producing "thorns and thistles," not peace and order (Gen. 3:17-18). Sin brought a curse that would radically change the character of work on this earth. God told Adam: "All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it." Enter: stress, pressure, manipulation, coercion, greed, workaholism, and the rest. (In verse 19, the Bible refers to this as "sweat.") Exit: joy, peace, satisfaction, and fulfillment. Sweat-work replaced joyful work and aborted our sense of Kingdom purpose. But that isn't where the story ends.
Though work became burdensome under the curse, Jesus' work at Calvary redeemed, or rescued, work from the domain of pain and sweat and brought it back to the land of shalom. This is why work is so sacred for the believer: it's a huge part of God's dream for each Christian.
A Theology of Work
The Bible has much to say about work. Paul wrote: "Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don't just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ's servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you're really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free" (Eph. 6:5-8 MSG).
Paul's theology is clear: work is a sacred thing, something done with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. That means that when the Christian works, he or she works for God. How cool is that?
God Is Our Source
When you see God as your source and your job as simply one of the vehicles God uses to provide for you, work becomes less stressful. Christians should see their jobs as a gift from God, not a provision of human origin. If you embrace this truth, you can work without fear of losing your job. And if you do lose a particular job, since your real boss is God, you can know he'll provide for you. God is our source in two ways.
1) He gives us the life, breath, gifts, energy, and capacity that enable us to produce an income. Scripture declares, "Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth" (Deut. 8:18).
This whole God-is-my-source thing is really what's at the heart of tithing—giving 10 percent of our income to the work of God. Tithing helps us remember that God is our source. Tithing was practiced all the way back to Abram—before he was known as Abraham, the father of faith:
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Gen. 14:17–20)
Later in this same chapter of Scripture, Abram told the king of Sodom, who was trying to give him a reward: "I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich' " (vs. 23). He knew God was the one who had given him the ability to produce wealth.
Christians who work must intentionally embrace the idea: no one makes us rich but God. We tithe to remind ourselves of that. We tithe to calibrate our souls to that. Deep within our hearts, each of us must know and declare: God is my boss; God is my source. That brings great comfort.
2) God promises to take care of his own. One of the names God revealed to his people to show his character is the Hebrew Jehovah-Jireh. It literally means, "the God who provides." You don't have to go far into Scripture to discover that God loves to lavishly provide for his creation. The Garden of Eden was a place of abundance. It offered a cornucopia of food and other natural resources, and it was said, "The gold of this land is good" (Gen. 2:11 MSG ). Jesus was careful to point out that God acts as creation's caring Father in providing for the physical needs of everything from flowers to birds to human beings. He asserted that a person's faith was too "little" if he or she was worried that God wouldn't tend to such things (Matt. 6:26–30).
But some take offense when people talk about trusting God for financial and material needs. They think doing so is being selfish. They believe we don't have the right to pray about anything but spiritual matters and that, since God knows what we need before we ask him (according to Matt. 6:8), we should leave the whole enterprise in his hands. But God wants us to trust him with every part of our lives, not just the spiritual parts. When you listen to Jesus, it's obvious that earth is God's province and that he loves to deliver our "daily bread."
Watching God provide for us impacts us spiritually. The Bible says that one spiritual result of God's provision is joy (Deut.16:15). But there's more: we feel his love and embrace; it breeds hope for the future. God's provision fosters wonder and awe. Jesus said that if we know how to give good gifts to our children, "how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matt. 7:11). It's sweet to discover that God really is our Father.
Remember that God is your source. When you get that paycheck, thank God. Tithe. By doing so, you are declaring, "You are my source, God." Make sure you tell him you know that he's responsible for delivering your daily bread.
Friday, September 10, 2010
YOUR WORK IS HOLY
You will spend over 100,000 hours of your life working. This is more than anything else you'll do except sleep. What is the meaning or purpose of our working? Do we work because we have to, or because it is a "High Calling"?
Flying the friendly skies at 37,000 feet as I write this, I start wondering about the plane and the "high calling" of daily work. At 37,000 feet, I sure hope the pilot thinks of his or her work as a "high calling." I want that pilot to think highly of the safety of the folks flying. Is it a "calling"? Is it holy work?
What about the flight attendants? They, too, have considerable responsibility for the safety, enjoyment, and sense of well-being of the passengers in this airborne community. Is this also holy work, God's work? Does God care about the enjoyment and comfort of airline passengers? What about the critical workers on the ground—from mechanics to staff, ticket agents, and baggage handlers? Do they have a high calling? Does God have a purpose, and are God's purposes satisfied or limited by what they do and how they do it? Certainly God is interested in people traveling safely. Is God also interested in their enjoyment, satisfaction, return on investment, etc.?
Looking around the plane at my fellow passengers, I wonder which ones have a high calling in their daily work, a call from God to do what they do well, a call to love God through serving others. Guessing occupations (from my stereotyped impressions), I see someone who I assume is a pastor or Christian educator—reading religious material and writing notes. Certainly he has a high calling. We usually affirm that this is the highest calling, but that's a gross misunderstanding of "calling."
Another passenger has a laptop open with a screen full of mathematical material. She is an engineer of some sort, I assume. Does she have as high a calling? I notice a business executive, an attorney, a young soldier, a rancher, and a musician. Do any of them have a high calling? Is their work from God, and does it have anything to do with God's purposes?
You could ask the same question of the young mother with two small children in the row in front of me, the grandparent near the bulkhead, the retirees headed off for a vacation, or the college student headed home. Though none of them work for pay, do they have a high calling? Maybe theirs is the most important, the most sacred, the highest calling.
Just what makes work sacred? What is a high calling?
For some, the work we do five or six days a week is the means, the necessary evil, we must endure to enjoy one or two days of leisure, and "to put food on the table," we say. Do you ever work obsessively or feel like a slave to your work? Or, are you able to take time off for rest and renewal that enables you to put your energies back into the other five or six days? Do you say TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) or TGIM (Thank God It's Monday)? Does God ordain and call us to our work?
The word "call" comes from vocare. We get the word vocation (a "call" or "summons") from it. Biblically it is used primarily for our being "called" to live in Christ, in relationship with God through Jesus. We belong to Christ, and our work is to believe, to glorify and enjoy God. It is our "high calling," our highest calling. Our daily work, whatever that is, is also a high calling. It is to be directed toward fulfilling God's purposes.
WORK COMES FROM GOD
Work was God's loving idea from the beginning, in and through creation. After reporting the creation of male and female on the sixth day, the writer of Genesis quotes God as saying,". . . your descendants will live over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. . . . Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and guard it" (Gen. 1:28, 2:15).
The first glimpse we have of the human person in Scripture shows someone working as a farmer and manager of the rest of creation—joyously, purposefully tilling the ground and exercising respectful stewardship over all the earth.
The Bible portrays work as part of God's very nature. "If God is the worker," Elton Trueblood wrote in his book Your Other Vocation, ". . . then men and women, in order to fulfill their potentialities, must be workers too. They are sharing in creation when they develop a farm, paint a picture, build a home, or polish a floor." We are exercising our dignity as creatures made in God's likeness when we work. Our work is the dual task of continuing God's creative process and taking good care of what God has entrusted to us.
There is hardly a human occupation that does not in some way involve being a coworker, a cocreator with God. We are sharing in God's work. We are expressing God's image in our work.
WORK IS TO BE DIRECTED TO THE WELL-BEING OF SOCIETY
Our destiny as "made in the image of God" includes participation in God's work of developing, maintaining, and enhancing community. Our work is to benefit the civil society in which we live and work. In addition, we're called to be creative. What is the creative element of your work? What is the common benefit of your work? "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's hunger meet," Frederick Buechner wrote.
In the biblical understanding of work (for all of life for that matter), there is no separation between that which is sacred or secular. The sacred-secular distinction comes from Plato and Greek dualism. The Bible knows nothing of that distinction. All work is sacred since God created and uses that work to sustain God's creation and participate in God's purposes.
WORK IS A PRIMARY WAY IN WHICH WE HONOR AND WORSHIP GOD
Avodah is a Hebrew word that means both worship and work. Paul encourages the Colossians, "And whatever you do, . . . do it all in the name of Jesus giving thanks to God . . . whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Col. 3:17, 23). It is a high calling!
Perhaps the most powerful expression of our giving thanks to God comes through the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Here we see bread and wine on the Lord's table. These elements, the products of many hands and minds, come to the table, are blessed by God, and become for us the body and blood of our Lord. When in that process did worship begin or cease? "Here is the perfect symbol of the unity of work and worship," wrote Alan Richardson, "the strange unbreakable link that exists between the bread that is won in the sweat of man's face and the bread of life."
Passing a construction site, a pedestrian asked three bricklayers what they were doing. The first said that he was earning a living to feed and clothe his family. The second said, "I'm throwing these bricks together to build a wall." The third responded, "I am helping to build a cathedral for the glory and worship of God." What a difference your perspective makes in giving meaning to your work!
What is your work? Is it a High Calling? You bet it is, every creative and caring and beneficial aspect of it. May we work hard and well and enjoy it more each day. Then we will be able to say, "Thank God it's Monday—and Friday—and Sunday!"
GO TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE NOW
You will spend over 100,000 hours of your life working. This is more than anything else you'll do except sleep. What is the meaning or purpose of our working? Do we work because we have to, or because it is a "High Calling"?
Flying the friendly skies at 37,000 feet as I write this, I start wondering about the plane and the "high calling" of daily work. At 37,000 feet, I sure hope the pilot thinks of his or her work as a "high calling." I want that pilot to think highly of the safety of the folks flying. Is it a "calling"? Is it holy work?
What about the flight attendants? They, too, have considerable responsibility for the safety, enjoyment, and sense of well-being of the passengers in this airborne community. Is this also holy work, God's work? Does God care about the enjoyment and comfort of airline passengers? What about the critical workers on the ground—from mechanics to staff, ticket agents, and baggage handlers? Do they have a high calling? Does God have a purpose, and are God's purposes satisfied or limited by what they do and how they do it? Certainly God is interested in people traveling safely. Is God also interested in their enjoyment, satisfaction, return on investment, etc.?
Looking around the plane at my fellow passengers, I wonder which ones have a high calling in their daily work, a call from God to do what they do well, a call to love God through serving others. Guessing occupations (from my stereotyped impressions), I see someone who I assume is a pastor or Christian educator—reading religious material and writing notes. Certainly he has a high calling. We usually affirm that this is the highest calling, but that's a gross misunderstanding of "calling."
Another passenger has a laptop open with a screen full of mathematical material. She is an engineer of some sort, I assume. Does she have as high a calling? I notice a business executive, an attorney, a young soldier, a rancher, and a musician. Do any of them have a high calling? Is their work from God, and does it have anything to do with God's purposes?
You could ask the same question of the young mother with two small children in the row in front of me, the grandparent near the bulkhead, the retirees headed off for a vacation, or the college student headed home. Though none of them work for pay, do they have a high calling? Maybe theirs is the most important, the most sacred, the highest calling.
Just what makes work sacred? What is a high calling?
For some, the work we do five or six days a week is the means, the necessary evil, we must endure to enjoy one or two days of leisure, and "to put food on the table," we say. Do you ever work obsessively or feel like a slave to your work? Or, are you able to take time off for rest and renewal that enables you to put your energies back into the other five or six days? Do you say TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) or TGIM (Thank God It's Monday)? Does God ordain and call us to our work?
The word "call" comes from vocare. We get the word vocation (a "call" or "summons") from it. Biblically it is used primarily for our being "called" to live in Christ, in relationship with God through Jesus. We belong to Christ, and our work is to believe, to glorify and enjoy God. It is our "high calling," our highest calling. Our daily work, whatever that is, is also a high calling. It is to be directed toward fulfilling God's purposes.
WORK COMES FROM GOD
Work was God's loving idea from the beginning, in and through creation. After reporting the creation of male and female on the sixth day, the writer of Genesis quotes God as saying,". . . your descendants will live over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. . . . Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and guard it" (Gen. 1:28, 2:15).
The first glimpse we have of the human person in Scripture shows someone working as a farmer and manager of the rest of creation—joyously, purposefully tilling the ground and exercising respectful stewardship over all the earth.
The Bible portrays work as part of God's very nature. "If God is the worker," Elton Trueblood wrote in his book Your Other Vocation, ". . . then men and women, in order to fulfill their potentialities, must be workers too. They are sharing in creation when they develop a farm, paint a picture, build a home, or polish a floor." We are exercising our dignity as creatures made in God's likeness when we work. Our work is the dual task of continuing God's creative process and taking good care of what God has entrusted to us.
There is hardly a human occupation that does not in some way involve being a coworker, a cocreator with God. We are sharing in God's work. We are expressing God's image in our work.
WORK IS TO BE DIRECTED TO THE WELL-BEING OF SOCIETY
Our destiny as "made in the image of God" includes participation in God's work of developing, maintaining, and enhancing community. Our work is to benefit the civil society in which we live and work. In addition, we're called to be creative. What is the creative element of your work? What is the common benefit of your work? "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's hunger meet," Frederick Buechner wrote.
In the biblical understanding of work (for all of life for that matter), there is no separation between that which is sacred or secular. The sacred-secular distinction comes from Plato and Greek dualism. The Bible knows nothing of that distinction. All work is sacred since God created and uses that work to sustain God's creation and participate in God's purposes.
WORK IS A PRIMARY WAY IN WHICH WE HONOR AND WORSHIP GOD
Avodah is a Hebrew word that means both worship and work. Paul encourages the Colossians, "And whatever you do, . . . do it all in the name of Jesus giving thanks to God . . . whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Col. 3:17, 23). It is a high calling!
Perhaps the most powerful expression of our giving thanks to God comes through the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Here we see bread and wine on the Lord's table. These elements, the products of many hands and minds, come to the table, are blessed by God, and become for us the body and blood of our Lord. When in that process did worship begin or cease? "Here is the perfect symbol of the unity of work and worship," wrote Alan Richardson, "the strange unbreakable link that exists between the bread that is won in the sweat of man's face and the bread of life."
Passing a construction site, a pedestrian asked three bricklayers what they were doing. The first said that he was earning a living to feed and clothe his family. The second said, "I'm throwing these bricks together to build a wall." The third responded, "I am helping to build a cathedral for the glory and worship of God." What a difference your perspective makes in giving meaning to your work!
What is your work? Is it a High Calling? You bet it is, every creative and caring and beneficial aspect of it. May we work hard and well and enjoy it more each day. Then we will be able to say, "Thank God it's Monday—and Friday—and Sunday!"
GO TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE NOW
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