The Word Before Work

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Working Without IdolatryDevotional: 1 of 4Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37)There’s a tension we see throughout Scripture. On the one hand, we are invited to delight in creation and our work with creation. “Every good gift” is from God (James 1:17) given to us “for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17). And that includes our work! Ecclesiastes 2:24 says “a person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil” because those good things are “from the hand of God.”These verses are good examples of what I call the “delight in creation” passages of Scripture. But on the other side of this perceived biblical tension, we find the “delight in Creator” passages that command us to love God above all things. This was summarized most succinctly in Jesus’s articulation of the Greatest Commandment above.So, we are called to delight in the gifts the Creator has given while delighting in our Creator above all things. Because separating these things is the essence of idolatry. Pastor Joe Rigney (whose excellent book Strangely Bright has aided me greatly in the writing of this series) says that idolatry “is the separation of the gifts from the giver and then a preference for the gifts over the giver.”In this series, I’ll put forth a framework to help you and I enjoy God’s gifts (especially our work) in a way that ensures we enjoy the Giver most—a path to delighting in our jobs without them becoming God-dishonoring, soul-sucking idols. Here’s the first of four principles to guide us towards that goal. Principle #1: Insist that Jesus is better.The next time you celebrate a massive accomplishment with your team, read an email about how your product changed someone’s life, or hold a baby in your arms after hours of hard labor, resolutely insist that Jesus is better than his gifts—even if you have a hard time seeing how. What does this look like practically? Here’s one idea: Reserve one adjective for God alone. I know a man who refuses to call anything but God “awesome.” So when he delights in created things—an incredible pizza, seeing his book hit the bestseller list, watching his daughter get married—he might describe those experiences as “good,” “great,” or even “exceptional.” But never “awesome.” Why? “Because God alone is awesome,” he says. Let me encourage you to choose an adjective that you will reserve for God alone as a means of practically insisting that Jesus is better. And may that small decision put you on a path to enjoying your work in a non-idolatrous way today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from DavidDevotional: 7 of 7I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. (1 Chronicles 29:17)After giving his considerable “personal treasures of gold and silver,” for the building of the temple, David took the time to examine his heart to see if he had given that treasure with God-honoring intent (see 1 Chronicles 29:3-17). Why? I think because David understood how easy it is to do godly things with a mix of godly and ungodly motives.I experienced this first hand just a few months ago. I had just made a decision within my business that triggered a significant financial sacrifice. But I was convicted through prayer that it was the right thing to do.Implementing this decision required that I notify some fellow believers. And as I did, these friends consistently commented on how “proud” they were of me for taking this action.It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was quietly anticipating this praise. While my motives for making this financial sacrifice were mostly pure, there was a part of me that was secretly hoping my friends would commend my decision.My confession here and David’s words in today’s passage point to an important truth: It is so easy to take God-honoring actions at work with less than God-honoring motives—to do the right things for the wrong reasons. What are we to do with that truth? Let me suggest three responses.First, confess your sinful motives to God and others. Maybe you’re in a season of working “with all your heart” as Colossians 3:23 commands, but if you’re honest, you’re not really doing so “for the Lord.” You are grinding away “for the love of money” (see 1 Timothy 6:10). If that’s you, confess that less than God-honoring motive to God and your Christian community.Second, be amazed at the grace God has shown you which is big enough to cover not just the “bad things” you do, but even the “good things” you do for the wrong reasons.Finally, don’t wait for a pure motive before you obey God’s commands. There had to have been some part of David that was motivated by the praise of others to give his treasure. But that didn’t keep him from obeying God’s commands.So it should be with us. God is calling you to take some action at work this week. Are your motives pure? No. But if you’re confessing those less than righteous motives and the balance of your heart is to honor God, take action. If you’re waiting for perfectly pure “honest intent,” you’re going to be waiting forever.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from DavidDevotional: 6 of 7David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting….Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all…Everything comes from you.” (1 Chronicles 29:10, 12, 14)The context of today’s passage adds weight to David’s words. Here’s the scene: David is addressing Israel in what was likely his final public address as king. The next day, Solomon will take David’s place and soon become the wealthiest man on earth. What would David say at the close of his forty-year reign? He chose to focus his son and his people’s attention on the truth that “wealth and honor” and “everything” good comes from God.This is a truth we see reiterated throughout Scripture. James said, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). The Apostle Paul said that even “our competence comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).Every good thing you have—from your wealth, to your success at work, to the breath in your lungs—is from God. Let me suggest three responses to that truth.First, praise God for whatever wealth and results he has given you knowing that he will only give you the amount that is perfectly suited for your good and his glory (see Romans 8:28-29). Second, steward God’s gifts according to his agenda, rather than your own. Because if he’s the giver of the gift, he gets to dictate how you use it.Finally, focus on inputs rather than outcomes. This last response is super tough for me and probably you. So allow me to go a bit deeper here. Let’s say you’re working really hard to achieve a specific goal by the end of this week. If, come Friday, you can honestly say you pursued that goal as best as you know how, you can rest before you even know whether or not you hit your target. Not because the world tells you “you are enough.” But because the results were never in your hands in the first place.Because “wealth and honor” and success come from God alone you can rest anytime you have faithfully put in the work and the “inputs”—not just when you’ve achieved your desired outcome. Christian Olympian Eric Liddell once said, “In the dust of defeat as well as in the laurel of victory, there is glory to be found if one has done his best.” Amen. Based on that truth, work hard from a position of rest today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from DavidDevotional: 5 of 7In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. (Psalm 10:4)In 1517, Martin Luther had an “aha” moment that would change the world. He realized that “the merciful God justifies us by faith,” and not by works.Where was Luther when he had this epiphany? In a grand library? Walking in a beautiful garden perhaps? No. As Luther biographer Eric Metaxas explains, “God had given [Luther] this insight while he was sitting on the toilet.”I’m not surprised, because even in Luther’s day, the outhouse was a rare place of silence and solitude, free from what C.S. Lewis called “the Kingdom of Noise” that surrounds you and me to this day.Everywhere we turn we are bombarded by external noise—nonstop emails, texts, information, and entertainment—which leads to a more dangerous internal noise that blocks our ability to think, be creative, and most importantly, listen to the voice of God.That is what David is primarily concerned with in today’s passage when he says that “the wicked man” has “no room” in “his thoughts…for God.” If that doesn’t describe most people today, I don’t know what does. “We are always engaged with our thumbs, but rarely engaged with our thoughts,” says pastor Kevin DeYoung. Which means that we are drowning out the One Input we need most. ​​We are inflicting ourselves with what Tim Keller called “the torture of divine absence.”The solution to this epidemic is simple, but not easy: We must embrace practices that help us dissent from the kingdom of noise.Let me offer one simple practice you can start implementing today. I call it my 5 Minutes of Nothing rule. Here’s what it means. If I have less than 5 minutes unexpectedly at my disposal, I do absolutely nothing at all. I refuse to fill that crevice of my day with noise.Here’s what this could look like for you today. When you show up to a Zoom meeting early and you’re waiting for the host to start the meeting, don’t check your email. When you head to the bathroom like Luther, refuse to check your phone. When you drive to the bus stop to pick-up your kids, don’t press play on your favorite podcast (even if it’s my own).What do I recommend you do instead? Be still. Pray. And make room in your thoughts for God to speak.JordanP.S. My 5 Minutes of Nothing rule is just one idea for how to dissent from the kingdom of noise. Want more ideas? I share eight more in Chapter 3 of Redeeming Your Time!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from DavidDevotional: 4 of 7You [Lord] reward everyone according to what they have done. (Psalm 62:12)I don’t believe Bucket Lists are evil. But I do believe that Christians of all people should spend less time thinking about Bucket Lists—lists of things you want to do before you die and “kick the bucket”—and a lot more time thinking about Anti-Bucket Lists—catalogs of things you will strive not to do on this side of eternity.Why? Three reasons.#1: This life is not our only chance to enjoy the best this world has to offer. As Dr. Randy Alcorn has said, “the ‘bucket list’ mentality…is profoundly unbiblical,” because Scripture makes clear that we will have all eternity to enjoy the earth’s greatest destinations (see Revelation 21:10-21), food (see Isaiah 25:6–8), culture (see Isaiah 60:1-11), jobs (see Isaiah 65:17-23), etc.#2: God will reward believers differently based on how we steward this life. This is what David alluded to in today’s passage and what the Son of David, Jesus Christ, promised more than 20 times. In Matthew 16:27, for example, Jesus echoed David by saying that “the Son of Man…will reward each person according to what they have done.”#3: Eternal rewards are almost always tied to sacrifices we make in the present. For example, in Luke 6:22-23, Jesus said that if you sacrifice your reputation at work “because of the Son of Man…great is your reward in heaven.” In Luke 12:33-34 he promised that if you sacrifice “your possessions and give to the poor” you will be rewarded with “treasure in heaven that will never fail.”For these three reasons, I have spent a lot of time drafting my Anti-Bucket List—things I am intentionally sacrificing in this life so that I can accumulate as many eternal rewards as possible per Jesus’s command.Let me give you one example from my list to illustrate.As much as I love my hometown of Tampa, FL, no city fuels my soul more than Washington, D.C. (I know—I’m a crazy person).So why don’t my wife and I move our family to DC? There are many reasons, but one is that our aging parents and grandparents are within a ten-minute drive of our current home and we feel called to help care for them as they get older. That’s a sacrifice for me personally (less so for my far less selfish wife). But knowing that I will have all of eternity to explore the greatest city of all time, I am happy to put this dream on my Anti-Bucket List, because I trust in God’s promise that he will reward me “for whatever good [I] do” in this life (Ephesians 6:8). You too can take David’s words to the bank: The Lord will “reward everyone according to what they have done.” Plan accordingly.JordanP.S. If you want to go deeper on why the concept of rewards makes believers uncomfortable, what rewards Scripture promises, how you can earn them, and what else is on my Anti-Bucket List, check out Chapter 4 of my book, The Sacredness of Secular Work!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from DavidDevotional: 3 of 7In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba”...Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (2 Samuel 11:1-4a)Many historians believe that this famous scene took place towards the middle of David’s 40-year reign as king of Israel. And today’s passage suggests that David was growing lax on the job. Samuel says that “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war,” David didn’t. He “remained in Jerusalem.” Then we’re told that “one evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.” The picture Samuel paints is of David being bored. He couldn’t sleep (perhaps due to a lack of exhaustion from a hard day’s work) and now he appears to be moseying around the palace roof aimlessly.That’s the context for David’s most notorious sin. Boredom. Slothfulness. A lack of hard work. David is Exhibit A, supporting the old adage that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” This passage reminds us that one of the reasons Christians should celebrate the gift of work is that God often uses it to keep us from sinning. How should we respond to that truth?For those of us who frequently complain about being “too busy,” (hand raised) I think we should respond by giving thanks to God. Is it wrong to lament about the “thorns and thistles” that make our work “painful” (see Genesis 3)? Absolutely not! But if you’re feeling swamped at work today, David’s story should compel you to also praise God for using even painful things like overwhelm for your sanctification and his glory.But maybe you don’t resonate with feeling “too busy.” Maybe you, like David, have started to coast through life. Or maybe you dream about spending your final years on cruise ships, beaches, and golf courses. With all due respect, there is no biblical support whatsoever for this version of “retirement.” Now, could God be calling you to trade the work you do for pay as a marketer, therapist, or general contractor for unpaid work as a mentor, tutor, or guardian ad litem? Absolutely! But to quit being productive altogether in the work of the Lord is a recipe for disaster and unfaithfulness as David so vividly demonstrates.May we be people who accurately reflect the image of God who “is always at his work to this very day” (John 5:17) and join the Apostle Paul in saying, “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me” (Philippians 1:22).

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from DavidDevotional: 2 of 7[King David] asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”...When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”...So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. (2 Samuel 9:3,6-8,11)I don’t cry much, but I have wept over this passage numerous times. Why? Because I think it’s one of the best pictures we have in Scripture of Christ-like love.By the world’s standards, Mephibosheth would have been the least likely person David would have shown kindness to for three reasons.First, Mephibosheth was David’s enemy, at least by extension. When David asked if there was anyone “from the house of Saul,” that he could show kindness to, his courtiers would have been flabbergasted. I can imagine them saying, “You want to show love to one of Saul’s descendants? The guy who used to hurl spears at you while you innocently played a harp? That Saul, David!?”Second, Mephibosheth was a social outcast, due to being “lame in both feet.” In David’s day, the crippled and disabled were not looked upon with compassion. They were kept at arm's length—outside the temple, palace, and social circles of the day. Which is why Mephibosheth was stunned to learn that David would even “notice a dead dog” like him.Third, Mephibosheth was unable to repay David’s kindness. He had nothing to offer the king in return because of his social position.For those reasons, David’s announcement that he wanted to show kindness to Mephibosheth would have made absolutely no sense to the world. But it makes all the sense in the world once you understand the motivation behind David’s kindness.In today’s passage, David didn’t ask who he could show kindness to, but who he could show “God’s kindness” to. The Hebrew word there is hesed, and it is the same word David used to describe the kindness God had shown him in Psalm 86:12-13: “I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart…For great is your love (hesed) toward me.”You see, David understood that were it not for the hesed love God had shown him, he would be God’s enemy; he would be a social outcast; he would be poor. David was amazed by grace. And that is why he is intent on sharing God’s lovingkindness with others—especially enemies, outcasts, and the poor like Mephibosheth.I pray the same would be even more true of you and me because we have seen God’s hesed in the ultimate. Christ died for us when we were his enemies; when we were Eden’s outcasts; when we were spiritually bankrupt. And so, we are called to go and do likewise, laying down our lives for the Mephibosheths we live and work with.Who is a Mephibosheth you can share God’s kindness with today? Maybe it’s an enemy, competitor, or a co-worker who’s competing against you for the same job. Maybe it’s a socially awkward team member who has quietly become an outsider. Maybe it’s an intern who is unlikely to ever repay you for serving them and their career.Whoever just came to mind, commit to showing that person God’s hesed love today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from DavidDevotional: 1 of 7David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them.” (1 Samuel 17:32-36)We open our study of David with one of the most famous scenes from his life: His decision to fight the seemingly undefeatable Goliath. Saul’s response to David’s eagerness was essentially, “Pump the brakes kid. You’re crazy. And massively unqualified to go to battle against this warrior.”But David’s response to Saul is what I want you to focus on today. David didn’t flex. He didn’t point to his killer slingshot strategy. He pointed to his track record of faithfulness. He essentially said, “Sure, I’ve never killed an oversized Philistine. But I have been doing my job as a shepherd with excellence. And so, I can be trusted with this greater responsibility.”Sometimes we, like David, are eager to take on more responsibility in our work. We dream of “bigger roles” and having “greater impact” for God’s Kingdom. If our motives are mostly pure, I think God smiles on those aspirations. But in the meantime, it’s clear that he expects us to focus on our current assignments with excellence. In the words of Jesus, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10). So here’s my question for you today: Based on how you are stewarding your current responsibilities, would you expect God to trust you with more? Here are three exercises to help you answer that question.#1: Ask God to convict you one way or another. Only you and God know if you are being faithful with the work he has given you to do. So ask the Holy Spirit to reveal this truth.#2: Take the Keeper Test. Imagine that later today, you gave your two weeks notice to your boss—or, if you’re an entrepreneur, imagine you told a client you could no longer work with them. Now answer this question: How hard would your boss or client fight to keep you? If your honest answer is, “not very,” you’re probably not being faithful with the work God has put in your hands today.#3: Pretend your boss spent all last week looking over your shoulder. Would you be proud or embarrassed by how you spent your time?Take two minutes to work through one of those exercises today as a means of imitating David’s character of faithful excellence in “little things” in preparation for bigger ones.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter Vocations Part IIDevotional: 4 of 4It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-46)Imagine you live in Jerusalem in the first century. Like so many of your neighbors, you work as a farmer. One day, you’re out harvesting olives, when all of a sudden, the clock strikes noon and the sky goes dark. You can’t see your hand, much less the olive trees, and so you are forced to head inside and rest from your labor.Thousands of people must have experienced something similar the day Jesus died. The darkness that accompanied Christ’s finished work on the cross undoubtedly led many people to rest from the work of their hands that first Good Friday. But it also led to a rest for you and me today. Not a rest from the work of our hands so much as a rest from the work of our souls—the work beneath our work that so often leads us to overwork and burnout.Maybe the work beneath your work is performance—using your work to elicit the intoxicating praise of your peers. Anyone who has accomplished any level of professional success can attest that the applause of others never truly satisfies. It only leaves you addicted to the need for more.The cross is the only thing that can free us from that addiction. Once we see that God’s only Son died so that you and I could be called “children of God” (1 John 3:1), we can rest from the exhausting work of using our work to impress others.Maybe the work beneath your work isn’t performance, though. Maybe it’s fear of not having enough. Here too, Jesus’s work on the cross is the only thing that can free you. Once you grasp that God kept his promise to slay his perfect Son, you can trust that he will keep his promise to provide for all of your needs (see Matthew 6:25-34).You and I are called to work hard with our hands (see Colossians 3:23), but not with our souls (see Matthew 11:28-30). We are called to busy ourselves with the work of the Lord while we experience what Tim Keller called “the REM of the soul.” How do you experience that REM of the soul? By dwelling on the cross.Buddha’s last words were, “Strive unceasingly.” Jesus’s last words were, “It is finished.” The work beneath your work is finished, believer. So strive with your hands for God’s glory and the good of others. But refuse to strive with your soul today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter Vocations Part IIDevotional: 3 of 4But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man [Jesus]! Release Barabbas to us!” (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:18-21)For most of my life, I viewed Barabbas as a senseless murderer—the ancient equivalent of Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. But that’s likely an inaccurate portrait of this man.Many scholars believe that Barabbas (or “Jesus Barabbas” as he’s referred to in Matthew 27:17) was likely a religious zealot. As pastor Daniel Darling explains: “Many Jewish people in the first century were wary of Rome…But the cohort of zealots to which Barabbas belonged to took resistance to another level. They sought to overthrow the Roman government by any means possible…assassination plots, targeted murder, and terrorism.”If Jesus Barabbas had a mission statement for his work, it likely would have sounded similar to Jesus Christ’s—to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. But the methods of these two men could not have been more different.While Jesus Barabbas plotted the downfall of the government, Jesus Christ preached respect for the emperor (see Mark 12:13-17). While Jesus Barabbas sought to slaughter Roman soldiers, Jesus Christ “let the soldiers hold and nail him down so that he could save them” (see Matthew 27:39-44).In short, Barabbas pursued the mission of God while neglecting the methods of God. You and I are tempted to do the same thing today—to, as pastor Skye Jethani puts it, “divorce the work of Christ from the way of Christ…to separate the scope of God’s mission from the nature of God’s mission.”What does it look like for you and me to pursue the mission of Jesus while neglecting the methods of Jesus?It looks like building businesses so that we can give generously to missions, while failing to pay our employees and contractors fairly (see James 5:1-5). Or working “heartily as unto the Lord,” without ever questioning whether the products our employer sells are “true…noble…and right” (see Philippians 4:8). Or spending so much time doing “the work of the Lord” that we neglect abiding with the Lord as we do that work (see John 15:4).You’re unlikely to commit murder like Barabbas today. But you are likely to join Barabbas in pursuing God’s mission apart from God’s methods. Pray for the Lord’s help to pursue his mission with his methods today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter Vocations Part IIDevotional: 2 of 4While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22)We’re in a four week series exploring what the vocations of some of the characters of Easter can teach us about our own work today. This morning, we turn our attention to someone in the background of today’s passage: The unnamed woman or man who baked the bread Jesus used at the Last Supper.Scripture gives us zero detail on who this person was. But I think it’s safe to assume that they viewed baking this bread as just another mundane task on their to-do list, much like you might view the emails you have to type, the papers you need to grade, or the nails you have to hammer today. And yet, today’s passage shows that God used the work of this baker’s hands to accomplish something extraordinary. Their bread helped Jesus reveal something about himself—namely the way his body would break to redeem the whole of creation on Good Friday.This is not the first time Jesus used bread to reveal a spiritual truth. In John 6, Jesus pointed to another piece of bread to point out that he was the “the bread of life.”The bakers of the bread in these passages point to an important truth—namely that the things you and I create at work have the power to reveal things about the Creator God. Here’s how pastor Joe Rigney put it:“…it's not merely that God's creation reveals who Jesus is. Human culture reveals who Jesus is. Jesus says that he is the bread of life, not the grain of life. Grain is something that God makes. Bread is something that people make out of the grain that God makes. That's what culture is—a mixture of God's creation and man's creativity. And this tells us that not only is creation designed to reveal God, but human culture is also capable of showing us what God is like.”The question then is this: What is your work revealing about God today? Are the emails you’re typing, the papers you’re grading, and the nails your hammering revealing God’s excellencies? Can people look at your business and see God’s character of grace, mercy, and justice in the way you treat your team, vendors, and customers? Is the way you engage with your co-workers reflecting a God who loves his enemies?Like the baker’s bread, your work has the power to show the world what God is like. Work to ensure you’re revealing an accurate and winsome picture of him today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter Vocations Part IIDevotional: 1 of 4…a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor….Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:2-3)Because you’re subscribed to my devotionals, I’m confident you’ve overcome the unbiblical hierarchy that elevates the calling of pastors and missionaries above the work of mere Christians who work as entrepreneurs, accountants, and baristas.But if we’re not careful, another hierarchy of callings can slip into our thinking—one that elevates the work of mere Christians most clearly “changing the world” above the work of those of us who are simply sustaining and serving it. Prosecuting human traffickers matters, but not selling insurance. Curing disease matters, but not waiting tables. Teaching kids matters, but not writing novels. This too is an unbiblical way of thinking. All throughout Scripture, God shows that he values work beyond its “usefulness.” He creates trees that are helpful and beautiful (see Genesis 2:8-9). He decorates cities with 5,600 miles of seemingly superfluous gems (see Revelation 21:10-21). He makes it rain in uninhabited deserts, apparently because he thinks that sounds fun (see Job 38:25-27).In short, God doesn’t limit his work to the useful. Sometimes he does work the world would call useless. And in today’s passage, we see Jesus encouraging Mary to do the same.This scene took place the night before Palm Sunday—just days before Jesus’s death. While we can’t be certain what Mary did for work most days, on this night, she engaged in the work of washing Jesus’s feet with her most precious perfume.“But one of [Jesus’s] disciples, Judas Iscariot…objected,” saying, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages” (see John 12:4-5).Judas, like so many of us today, was obsessed with function. “How impractical!” we can hear him screaming. But check out Jesus’s response: “Leave her alone,” he told Judas (John 12:7). Because what Mary did brought a smile to Jesus’s face. And that was enough, because bringing a smile to God’s face is the essence of worship. What does that mean for you today? It means you can joyfully lean into the job you love making donuts or building software—even if your work isn’t solving one of the major problems of our age. It means you can spend a few extra hours on that project for your client in the name of God-glorifying craftsmanship—even if you can’t point to an increase in ROI.If you, like Mary, are doing your work in a God-honoring way, then you can feel freedom from the tyranny of utility. Because 1 John 3:22 says that when “we keep his commands,” we “give him pleasure when he sees what we are doing”—even if the world can’t see the “use” of our labor.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 5 of 5I will show you the most excellent way…love…keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:5)Tim Goeglein collapsed in his White House office. His secret life of plagiarism had been found out and the guilt and shame were literally crippling.A couple days after his resignation, Goeglein received a call. His former boss, President George W. Bush, wanted to see him.Terrified, Goeglein entered the Oval Office, looked President Bush in the eye, and began his groveling apology: “Sir, I owe you…” But the President wouldn’t let Goeglein finish his apology. “You’re forgiven,” Bush said.Goeglein was certain he misunderstood what the President said, so he attempted to apologize twice more until Bush said, “You know, Tim, grace and mercy are real. I have known grace and mercy in my own life and you're forgiven. We can talk about all of that [referring to Goeglein’s plagiarism] or we can talk about the last eight years.”Throughout this series, we’ve been studying what Paul called “the most excellent way” to live and work, chronicled in the famous “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13. Today, we conclude with a look at Paul’s words that love “keeps no record of wrongs,” a truth beautifully exemplified by President Bush.But the ultimate example of course—and the ultimate motivation for us to keep “no record of wrongs”—is the love God has shown us by removing our sins “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:11-12).Now, keeping “no record of wrongs” is not the same as “forgive and forget.” For starters, it’s impossible to literally forget many sins committed against us. It’s also unwise. If you’re a principal of a school and a teacher is accused of sexual abuse, you’re called to forgive them, but it would be the height of folly to allow that teacher to come back to work the next day.So what does it look like to keep “no record of wrongs” at work? At a minimum, it looks like extending forgiveness to the wrongdoer. But I think Christ’s example leads us to do more than that. I think it calls us to pray for the wrongdoer and their flourishing, to refuse to consider past wrongdoings when evaluating someone’s current performance, and to avoid sharing details of a co-worker’s sins and shortcomings with those who don’t truly need to know.Does it sound impossible to live and work in this loving way? It is apart from Christ in us. May we abide in him daily so that we’re so filled up with a sense of his love for us that we can’t help but extend the overflow of that love to those we work with. For this is “the most excellent way.”Jordan P.S. If you want to go deeper on what true biblical forgiveness looks like at work, listen to Tim Keller and I discuss that topic here.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 4 of 5I will show you the most excellent way…Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:4-5) To the church in Corinth, Paul promised to show them “the most excellent way” to steward their spiritual and vocational gifts. He then proceeded to launch into the famous “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13 explaining what Christian love is and what it is not.Of all the attributes Paul lists, not being “self-seeking” may be the rarest in the modern workplace. We live at a time when the idea of self-sacrifice is viewed as naive at best and career-ending at worst. But self-sacrifice is the way of The Way, Jesus Christ.In Philippians 2:3-4, Paul says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition…Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”You can almost hear Paul’s readers screaming, “How, Paul!?” To which he says, “Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” who “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” for us (Philippians 2:5-7).In other words, it is only as we meditate on the example of the One who “chose meekness over majesty” that we will be able to love in a way that is “not self-seeking.”What does it look like practically to work in ways that are not self-seeking? There are infinite answers to that question. Here are just three.#1: Listen to understand—not to win. Oftentimes we hear what our co-workers are saying, but we don’t actually listen, because we’re mentally calculating how we will respond in order to pivot the conversation towards our agenda. Paul’s command to not be self-seeking compels us to truly listen and understand the needs and desires of others.#2: Open your calendar to those who can’t serve you. Any of Ancestry.com’s thousands of employees can get one-on-one time with CEO, Deb Liu—even an intern. Why? Because Deb isn’t self-seeking with her time. She is seeking the needs of her team as she explained on my podcast.#3: Serve first, sell second. Commenting on today’s passage, a marketer named Debbie La Bell told me, “Our culture says ‘love yourself first,’ and then out of the resources of your self-love, you'll have the capacity to love those around you. Whereas Jesus tells us to love one another and trust him to provide what we need.” And that leads her team to create marketing messages that serve way more than they sell. These three actions aren’t meant to be prescriptive, but inspirational. Take a moment right now to pray and think about where God is calling you to replace self-seeking with self-sacrifice in your work today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 3 of 5I will show you the most excellent way…love…does not boast. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:4)George Washington Carver had captivated the United States Congress. It was January 1921, and Carver was testifying about the dozens of different foods he had learned how to make out of peanuts: ice cream, cereal, pickles—the list went on and on. Amused, one congressman asked where Carver learned how to do this. “From a book,” Carver replied. What book? the congressman wanted to know. “The Bible,” Carver said. “I didn’t make these discoveries,” Carver explained. “God has only worked through me to reveal to his children some of his wonderful providence.”What a terrific example of the “the most excellent way” Paul calls us to at work: without boasting. The NASB translates this passage as saying, “love does not brag.” The NKJV says “love does not parade itself.” Because that is the example we have in Christ, the perfect personification of love.John 8:53 records a religious leader asking Jesus, “Are you greater than our father Abraham?” Christ, of course, had every reason to boast and answer that question in the affirmative. But instead, he replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me” (John 8:54).That’s the rationale behind Paul’s command to “not boast.” I don’t know about you, but it is hard for me to boast about nothing. Maybe I’m just an excitable, exuberant guy, but I think all of us feel the need to boast in or praise something.Scripture seems to agree, which is why I think God’s Word doesn’t just tell us what not to boast about. It also encourages us to boast about three things.#1: Boast about the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 1:31). This is what we saw in George Washington Carver. When offered an opportunity to boast in his professional accomplishments, he pivoted to boast in God.#2: Boast about your weaknesses (see 2 Corinthians 11:30). Why? Because when we’re transparent about our weaknesses and we succeed, it allows us to point to the Lord as the source of our strength. #3: Boast about others. Paul had no problem boasting about his co-workers (see 2 Corinthians 7:4). Neither should we. I was reminded of this recently when speaking with a reader who really impressed me. I was about to invite this guy onto my podcast, but before I could, he said, “Man, you should have my boss Tim on your show!” Here’s my challenge for you this morning: Identify one thing you’re tempted to boast about today—closing a deal, getting a promotion, whatever. Next, jot down how you can reframe your boast to brag not in yourself, but in the Lord, your weaknesses, or others.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 2 of 5I will show you the most excellent way…love is kind. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:4)If you had to describe Fred Rogers (of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fame) in a single word, it would likely be kindness—a virtue he learned from his father.According to Fred’s biographer, Maxwell King, Jim Rogers made it a habit to “walk through the rows of manufacturing machines,” in his businesses, “addressing each employee by name, inquiring about their work and about their welfare.” Those inquiries helped Jim Rogers discover financial pain in the lives of his employees, which he frequently offered to alleviate. When Jim died, his journal recorded “thousands of ‘loans’ that were never collected.”The kindness of Fred Rogers’s father led to extraordinary acts of kindness of his own—stories of which have literally filled many books. So it should be with us. As we meditate on the kindness of our Heavenly Father, it should lead us to model that same kindness to those we work with as this is part of “the most excellent way” Paul is calling us to in 1 Corinthians 12-13.We know what kindness looks like. The challenge for us busy professionals is seeing the needs of those who need kindness the most. How can we spot opportunities to show God’s kindness to those we work with? Here are three ideas.#1: Ask co-workers about their welfare—not just their work. See Jim Rogers as Exhibit A.#2: Schedule one-on-ones where work is the only thing not on the agenda. If you’re a leader in your organization, consider borrowing this practice from my friend Sean Kouplen, CEO of one of the fastest growing banks in America. As Sean shared on my podcast, managers at his bank are required to spend 30 minutes with every direct report every week just to check-in on them personally. These meetings are crazy costly by the world’s standards, but crazy valuable by God’s, as they unearth tons of opportunities to show kindness to those in need.#3: Refuse to hurry. It’s impossible to show kindness without first seeing a need for kindness. And it’s impossible to see a need for kindness when you’re constantly in a rush (see Jesus, Jairus, and the hemorrhaging woman as case-in-point in Mark 5:21-43). Want to spot opportunities to show kindness to your co-workers? Budget plenty of margin into your day.Jesus said the world will know that we are his disciples, not by what we say we believe, but by our love for one another (see John 13:35). Find one opportunity to show your love of Jesus by demonstrating uncommon lovingkindness to a co-worker today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 1 of 5Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you’re bound to see today’s passage popping up in your social media feeds as a reminder of how God calls us to love our significant others. But the context of this passage was not primarily marital love. Paul was writing about how to steward spiritual and vocational gifts.After listing out gifts such as teaching, healing, and helping, Paul says this: “And yet I will show you the most excellent way….If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (see 1 Corinthians 12:31 - 13:1). And then, a few verses later, he launches into the famous, “Love is patient, love is kind,” etc.Paul’s point is that you can be the most exceptional teacher, filmmaker, or entrepreneur on the planet. But if you work without love, you are “nothing” (see 1 Corinthians 13:2). While the world may call your work excellent, God does not.Over the next five weeks, we’ll zoom in on five of Paul’s descriptions of love from today’s passage that are most difficult to live out at work. Let's start here: “Love is patient.”That client whose constant delays make your life difficult? That boss who can’t stop micromanaging you? That little one who’s always barging into your home office? You and I are called to show love to these people through our patience with them. Why? Because “the Lord…is patient with you” and me (see 2 Peter 3:9). We deserved death after just one sin (see Romans 6:23). But God showed immense patience with us prior to salvation and continues to demonstrate patience with us today in our sanctification. Thus, we are called to be ludicrously patient with those we work with.How? Here are three ways to cultivate patience with those we work with today. #1: Get specific about where God is patient with you. I’m in a season of habitually failing to love a certain “enemy.” The Lord is patiently sanctifying me here. And being cognizant of his patience with me has led me to be more patient with others who struggle with different sins.#2: Remember that if not for God’s grace you’d struggle with the same shortcomings. If you value punctuality and are impatient with those who are late, remember that were it not for God’s grace, you too would be habitually tardy.#3: Pray for patience. Right now, ask for God’s power to follow “the most excellent way” of loving those you work with through your patience with them today!

Pre-order The Sacredness of Secular Work today and you could win an epic trip for two to celebrate the sacredness of your “secular” work in a castle, vineyard, cathedral, and more! Entering to win is simple: Step 1: Pre-order the book on Amazon or one of these other retailersStep 2: Fill out this formNO PURCHASE NECESSARY. US Residents, 18+. Visit jordanraynor.com for full rules, entry steps (incl alternate entry), prize details, odds & other info. Void where prohibited.

Pre-order The Sacredness of Secular Work today and you could win an epic trip for two to celebrate the sacredness of your “secular” work in a castle, vineyard, cathedral, and more! Entering to win is simple: Step 1: Pre-order the book on Amazon or one of these other retailersStep 2: Fill out this formNO PURCHASE NECESSARY. US Residents, 18+. Visit jordanraynor.com for full rules, entry steps (incl alternate entry), prize details, odds & other info. Void where prohibited.

Pre-order The Sacredness of Secular Work today and you could win an epic trip for two to celebrate the sacredness of your “secular” work in a castle, vineyard, cathedral, and more! Entering to win is simple: Step 1: Pre-order the book on Amazon or one of these other retailersStep 2: Fill out this formNO PURCHASE NECESSARY. US Residents, 18+. Visit jordanraynor.com for full rules, entry steps (incl alternate entry), prize details, odds & other info. Void where prohibited.

Pre-order The Sacredness of Secular Work today and you could win an epic trip for two to celebrate the sacredness of your “secular” work in a castle, vineyard, cathedral, and more! Entering to win is simple: Step 1: Pre-order the book on Amazon or one of these other retailersStep 2: Fill out this formNO PURCHASE NECESSARY. US Residents, 18+. Visit jordanraynor.com for full rules, entry steps (incl alternate entry), prize details, odds & other info. Void where prohibited.

Pre-order The Sacredness of Secular Work today and you could win an epic trip for two to celebrate the sacredness of your “secular” work in a castle, vineyard, cathedral, and more! Entering to win is simple: Step 1: Pre-order the book on Amazon or one of these other retailersStep 2: Fill out this formNO PURCHASE NECESSARY. US Residents, 18+. Visit jordanraynor.com for full rules, entry steps (incl alternate entry), prize details, odds & other info. Void where prohibited.

Pre-order The Sacredness of Secular Work today and you could win an epic trip for two to celebrate the sacredness of your “secular” work in a castle, vineyard, cathedral, and more! Entering to win is simple: Step 1: Pre-order the book on Amazon or one of these other retailersStep 2: Fill out this formNO PURCHASE NECESSARY. US Residents, 18+. Visit jordanraynor.com for full rules, entry steps (incl alternate entry), prize details, odds & other info. Void where prohibited.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Beyond the Great CommissionDevotional: 5 of 5Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)I’ve said this multiple times throughout this series, but allow me to say it once more: The Great Commission to “make disciples” is indeed great! But it’s far from the only thing Christ has called us to do. And there are serious problems with treating it as such. We’ve seen three of those problems thus far in this series:Jesus never didIt neglects the other aspects of God’s kingdomIronically, it makes us less effective at the Great CommissionHere’s the fourth problem with treating the Great Commission as the only commission: It blocks you and me from seeing how our work matters for eternity—how, in the words of the Apostle Paul, our “labor in the Lord is not in vain.”If the Great Commission is the only commission, then our work has value only when leveraged to the instrumental end of evangelism. And if our work has only instrumental value, then most of us are wasting most of our time. That’s terribly disheartening because God has “set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). To quote the inimitable Alexander Hamilton, we all “wanna build something that’s gonna outlive” us. We want this life to count for the next one. But if we can’t see how that’s possible, we lose purpose, hope, and a deep sense of connection with God as we go about our days. Leo Tolstoy, the writer of classics such as War and Peace, once said that it was this idea that “brought me to the point of suicide when I was fifty years old…It is the question without which life is impossible…It is this: what will come of what I do today or tomorrow?...Or expressed another way: is there any meaning in my life that will not be annihilated by the inevitability of death which awaits me?”That is the question, isn’t it? What is the purpose of building a business, working a register, or planning an event if those actions don’t lead to an opportunity to share the gospel? Sure, they are means of loving our neighbors as ourselves in the present (see Matthew 22:39). But beyond the here and now, how do those actions matter for eternity?So long as we see the Great Commission as our only commission, it will be impossible to answer that question. Which is why I wrote The Sacredness of Secular Work, to help you see how 100% of your time at work can matter for eternity and not just the 1% of time you spend “sharing the gospel.” The book releases January 30 but you can pre-order it today on Amazon or one of these other retailers!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Beyond the Great CommissionDevotional: 4 of 5The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. (Psalm 37:23)The Great Commission is indeed great. But as we’ve been exploring in this series, there is great danger in treating the Great Commission as the only one Jesus left us. One of those dangers is that it ironically makes us less effective at the Great Commission. Why? Because it makes Christians feel guilty for working in the very places most likely to make disciples!Dr. Michael Green, an expert on the explosion of Christianity in the first few centuries, says that the historical evidence “makes it abundantly clear that in contrast to the present day, when Christianity is . . . dispensed by a professional clergy . . . in the early days the faith was spontaneously spread by informal evangelists,” who shared the gospel “in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls.” That was true in the early church, and likely to be true for the foreseeable future as non-Christians are more reticent than ever to darken the door of a church and entire nations are closing their doors to Christian missionaries. But when the Great Commission is the only one we hear preached and when the only people we see on the stages of our churches are pastors and “full-time missionaries,” those of us who work as entrepreneurs, baristas, and accountants inevitably feel guilty about working anywhere other than the mission field. Most dramatically, that guilt will lead us to leave the very workplaces where we’re most likely to make disciples. At a minimum, it will make us half-hearted creatures while we stay there. For the last two years, I have been working on a book that will be released in January called The Sacredness of Secular Work to help you see how your work matters for eternity even when you’re not “sharing the gospel.” But do you know what’s interesting? I’ve shared the gospel more in the last two years than I have in the ten years prior. Why? Because once you understand how 100% of your time can matter for eternity and not just the 1% when you get to explicitly share the gospel, it makes you come fully alive. And fully alive people attract the lost like craft coffee attracts hipsters.Psalm 37:23 says that “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” God doesn’t just delight in watching you walk a co-worker through the Romans Road. He delights in every Zoom meeting you lead, every diaper you change, and every Uber you drive with excellence and love and in accordance with his commands. May that truth lead you to be fully alive as you work for his glory today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Beyond the Great CommissionDevotional: 3 of 5As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.…And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. (Matthew 10:7-8, 42)When Jesus called his disciples to “proclaim” that his kingdom had come, he instructed them to “heal,” “cleanse,” and “give.” Not just evangelize and “save souls.”Because of that, I’m confident that Scott Harrison and his team at charity: water are doing “kingdom work” by giving clean water to millions of the world’s poorest image-bearers. But some Christians disagree. For example, a wealthy Christian we’ll call Bill once told Scott: “We're not going to give to charity: water because you're not a Christian organization. If those people don't know Jesus, they're going to burn in hell anyway. You need to be giving the gospel along with clean water.”Bill’s response may sound harsh, but it’s actually quite rational if the Great Commission is the singular mission of the Christian life as so many church leaders are suggesting today. This pervasive message leads people like Bill to believe that the only work that’s truly “kingdom work” is the work of “winning souls” and gaining new citizens of God’s kingdom.But Scripture makes clear that God’s kingdom contains more than just the Sovereign and his subjects. The kingdom is also marked by: beauty (see Isaiah 35; Revelation 21:9–21)justice (see Isaiah 30:18; 61:8)order (see 1 Corinthians 14:33)abundance (see Isaiah 25:6–9; 49:10; 65:22; Joel 3:18)cultural excellence (see Isaiah 60; Revelation 21:26)a sense of belonging (see Psalm 68:6) a sustainable earth (see Isaiah 51:3; Revelation 11:15–18)That’s a partial list of what God longs for us to experience with him for eternity. But when we treat the Great Commission as the only commission, we make it easy to ignore these “non-soul” aspects of the kingdom. The implication is that building an abundance of clean water doesn’t matter. Cultivating beauty as an artist or hairdresser doesn’t matter. Creating order or a sense of belonging on your team doesn’t matter. Unless, of course, those things are currently in vogue and can be leveraged to the instrumental end of “sharing the gospel.”This misguided thinking leads to the fair accusation that Christians are “so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” But as New Testament scholar N.T. Wright aptly points out, “It is when the church . . . acts with decisive power in the real world—to build and run a successful school, or medical clinic, or a credit union for those ashamed to go into a bank. . . that people will take the message of Jesus seriously.”Amen. To that end, cultivate the kingdom values listed above in your work today. And watch how God uses your “kingdom work” to make others long to meet our King!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Beyond the Great CommissionDevotional: 2 of 5After his suffering, [Jesus] presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3)Last week, we saw that for the very first time in Church history, many Christians today have interpreted the “Great Commission” to “make disciples” as the singular mission of the Christian life.If that’s true, then most of your work is meaningless. The product you’re building, the beauty you’re creating, the car you’re repairing—none of it matters unless you can leverage those things to the instrumental end of “sharing the gospel.”Believer, this is an egregious lie. And a crazy dangerous one for reasons we’ll explore over the next four weeks. Here’s the first problem with treating the Great Commission as the only commission Jesus left us: Jesus himself never did!Today’s passage tells us that Jesus spent forty days speaking “about the kingdom of God” after his resurrection. I did the math. There are 3,456,000 seconds in forty days. The Great Commission takes roughly twenty seconds to read out loud. Do we really think Jesus intended for us to interpret what he said in 0.00058% of this time as the exclusive mission of the church? I don’t think so. But many people argue that the Great Commission should be the end-all be-all for Christ-followers because the command to “make disciples” was the last one Jesus spoke before ascending into heaven. But actually, it wasn’t. Check out the full passage: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19–20) If Christ meant for us to interpret the call to make disciples as the only commission of the Christian life, he could have said so. But he didn’t. Instead, he used his address before his ascension to reiterate the importance of obeying “everything” he commanded during his time on earth.Believer, I pray you’ll have an opportunity to share the gospel with a co-worker today. But even if you don’t, please know that today can still matter greatly for eternity.1 John 3:22 says that “we keep [God’s] commands and give him pleasure when he sees what we are doing.” That means when you simply “let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’” and do what you say you’re going to do at work (Matthew 5:37), when you “do good” to your enemies and competitors “without expecting to get anything back” (Luke 6:35), and when you “pray…in secret” at your desk (Matthew 6:6)—all of that obedience contributes to God’s eternal pleasure. May that encourage you and motivate you to “obey everything [Christ has] commanded you” to do today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Beyond the Great CommissionDevotional: 1 of 5Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19–20) One of the deepest and most dangerous lies in the Church today is that this passage—often labeled the “Great Commission”—is the singular mission of the Christian life.This, of course, has tremendous implications for our work. Because if the Great Commission to “save souls” and “make disciples” is the only thing that matters for eternity, then most of us are wasting most of our time.This is what many of us are being told explicitly by church leaders! In the words of one influential pastor, “The consequences of your mission [and here he’s talking exclusively about the Great Commission] will last forever; the consequences of your job will not.”But here’s what’s fascinating: Treating the Great Commission as the only commission Jesus left us is brand spanking new in church history. According to three faculty members at the conservative Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, “Before at least the seventeenth century, the [Great Commission] was largely ignored when discussing the church’s missional assignment.” So how on earth did the Great Commission functionally become the only commission modern Christians feel called to? Perhaps part of the reason is the label we’ve attached to Jesus’s words in Matthew 28, turning it from a commission to the singular “great” one. But here’s what’s mind-boggling: The term “Great Commission” isn’t even part of the original biblical manuscripts. It’s a man-made heading that, as the preface to the NIV Bible warns, is “not to be regarded as part of the biblical text.” And get this: The label “Great Commission” didn’t even show up in popular print until the late 1800s when Hudson Taylor coined the term to recruit people to serve as missionaries in China. The term “Great Commission” is not a part of the inerrant Word of God. It’s simply the catchiest marketing slogan of the modern missions movement.Now the command itself? That’s a different story! Hudson Taylor was right when he said, “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.” Lest I be misinterpreted, let me say this as clearly as I can: The Great Commission is indeed great! It’s just not only. Why is it so problematic to treat the Great Commission as the only commission Jesus gave us? Here are just four reasons: Jesus never didIt neglects the other aspects of God’s kingdomIronically, it makes us less effective at the Great CommissionIt blocks us from seeing the full extent of how our work matters for eternityJoin me over the next four weeks as we unpack each of these four dangers in detail together!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from JosephDevotional: 5 of 5You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20)Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery which led him to Egypt and his unjust incarceration. But God orchestrated these events to eventually put Joseph in a position of power second only to Pharaoh. When his brothers needed Joseph to save their lives, they understandably feared that Joseph would choose to retaliate. But Joseph did the unexpected. He forgave them and claimed that “God intended” all his hardship “for good.” Of course, it’s unlikely that Joseph ever described his circumstances as a slave and prisoner as “good.” But looking back over the course of many years, he could see how God used his suffering for a greater redemptive purpose. One day, you and I will be able to do the same, if not on this side of eternity, then the other. That truth doesn’t make the pain we feel today any less real or horrible. But it does give us hope.What hardships are you experiencing in this season of work? Have you lost a job? Been a victim of injustice? Or are you simply not as far along in your career as you once dreamed? Trust in the hope that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). How can you be certain of this truth? First, by looking at Joseph. And second, by looking at the One Joseph points to. Like Joseph, Jesus was sold by his brothers and unjustly imprisoned. But Jesus went even further, letting “the soldiers hold and nail him down so that he could save them.” God used the crucifixion—the darkest moment in history—for good. Thus, we can be confident that he will make good on his promise to work our hardships—infinitesimally small compared to Christ’s—for our good and his glory. Rejoice in that concrete hope today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from JosephDevotional: 4 of 5Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me….I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you….But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (Genesis 45:4-5, 7)After Joseph was released from prison, he was appointed by Pharaoh to lead Egypt through a seven-year famine. Now, Joseph is one of the highest ranking government officials in Egypt, and through God’s power, an exceptionally good one. For seven years, Joseph organized efforts to store up Egypt’s agricultural abundance. And when the famine hit, Egypt was so well prepared that “all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere” (Genesis 41:57). As today’s passage reveals, “all the world” included Jacob’s other sons, Joseph’s long-lost brothers.Now remember, it is through Jacob’s family that God promised to redeem the world. That promise couldn’t be fulfilled if the family died out due to this global famine. And while God could have miraculously provided food for Jacob and Joseph’s brothers, he chose to work through the miracle of Joseph’s mundane government work.The same is true today. While God could choose to miraculously alleviate poverty, he does so primarily through the miraculous work of entrepreneurs creating jobs. While God could miraculously feed us through food raining down from the sky, he does so primarily through the miraculous work of chefs, servers, and grocery store clerks. And while I pray that you are using your miraculous work to explicitly point people to Christ, Joseph reminds us that simply loving our neighbors as ourselves through our work matters to God. Commenting on today’s passage, one commentary says, “​​If we ever have the impression that God wants us in the workplace only so we can tell others about him...Joseph’s work says otherwise. The things we make and do in our work are themselves crucial to God and to other people.”Amen. May that truth be a great encouragement to you to do your work with excellence and love today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from JosephDevotional: 3 of 5Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” (Genesis 41:15-16)Joseph was in prison unjustly. So when the guards told him that the Pharaoh needed his skills, Joseph must have sensed some hope that maybe, just maybe, his talents as a dream interpreter could earn him a literal get out of jail free card.With that context, we almost expect Joseph to trumpet his own abilities to Pharaoh. But when Pharaoh gives him that opportunity, Joseph deflects the glory that could have so easily been his.What remarkable humility! Even though he was in the fight of his life where the temptation to glorify himself through his work must have been strong, Joseph recognized that it is God, not us, who produces results through our work. And thus, he alone deserves the glory.Ironically, it was that humility that led Joseph to be so bold. The biblical text implies that Pharaoh had already asked countless other wise men to interpret his dream before concluding that “no one” could do it. But Joseph walks up and essentially says of Pharaoh’s request, “No problem.” Because Joseph recognized that it was God working through him, he knew that God could use him to do work others deemed impossible.Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a writer, a teacher, a stay-at-home-mom, or a designer, you have an unfair advantage. You have the God who is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” living inside of you (see Ephesians 3:20). Let that truth inspire you, like Joseph, to boldly take on the problems nobody else will touch. Because when you succeed, God alone will get the glory!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from JosephDevotional: 2 of 5Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him (Genesis 39:20-21a)Joseph, the treasured son of Jacob, was sold into slavery by his brothers and eventually wound up in Egypt working for Potiphar, an Egyptian official. And right from the start, Joseph proves to be exceptionally good at his job. Genesis 39:2-3 tells us that “The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered...the Lord gave him success in everything he did.” Seeing this, “Potiphar put [Joseph] in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned” (Genesis 39:4). But after refusing to go to bed with Potiphar’s wife, Joseph is wrongly accused of sexual harassment and thrown in prison. In sum, Joseph goes from a state of helplessness as a slave, to a position of power in the palace, back to a place of great weakness as a prisoner. And yet, “there in the prison, the Lord was with him.”So “the Lord was with Joseph” in the palace and “the Lord was with him” in the prison. He was with him on the mountaintop of his career and in the deepest valley.If you’re in a season of flourishing at work—en route to the metaphorical mountaintop of your career—take a moment to recognize that it is only because the Lord is with you. If that’s not you, and you feel stuck in a vocational valley due to injustice, a bad economy, or your own missteps, take heart: The Lord is also with you. And as long as you have him, you can say “Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Why? Because it is God’s presence that you and I need most. And his presence is available to us whether we’re in the proverbial palace or prison of our careers. I love how pastor A.J. Sherrill articulates this idea: “Every moment of every day, the most significant happening in the entire universe is the radical availability of God’s presence.” Amen. With that in mind, embrace God’s radical presence as you work today. Don’t just work for God but with him. Talk to him. Be mindful of his presence. Experience his love. And let that experience of his love compel you to extend that love to those you serve through your work!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from JosephDevotional: 1 of 5Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more…His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. (Genesis 37:5, 8)God has given you a dream for your work. Maybe it’s doubling your business so that you can provide more jobs that lead to human flourishing. Maybe it’s writing a book to help others learn from your mistakes. Maybe God has given you a dream for an entirely different career than the one you hold today. If you have breath in your lungs, I’m confident that God has given you a dream for your work. But I’m also confident that there are many moments when you feel a disconnect between your dream and your present reality—a gap between what God has placed in your heart and what he has placed in your hands. Joseph understood the pain of staring into that gap better than most. In today’s passage, we see God giving Joseph a vocational dream inside a literal dream. Joseph’s vision was that one day he would be in a position of authority so great that even his elder brothers would be subject to him. In Genesis 41, we see this dream become a reality when Joseph is 30 years old. But today’s passage occurred when Joseph was just 17 (see Genesis 37:2). There was a 13 year gap between the giving of Joseph’s dream and the fulfillment of it. And the details of what happened in that gap are some of the most heart-wrenching in Scripture. Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery. He was falsely accused of sexual harassment. He was unjustly imprisoned and forgotten by the very people he helped in prison (see Genesis 37-39).This life looked like a far cry from the dream God gave him as a teenager. How did Joseph respond to the painful gap between his vision and his reality?He worked with diligence on the work God had given him to do even if it wasn’t his (literal) “dream job” (see Genesis 39:1-6). He chose to obey God rather than taking shortcuts to power (see Genesis 39:6-10). And most of all, he cultivated his relationship with God (see Genesis 41:37-45).In short, Joseph focused on faithfulness to the Dream-giver over the fulfillment of his dreams.You and I would be wise to do the same. Joseph reminds us that God’s people don’t abandon their vocational dreams, but we do make them secondary to obedience to and relationship with the Dream-giver. Because without God, your professional dream—whether fulfilled or not—will always become a nightmare.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Common Grace & Uncommon WorkDevotional: 5 of 5For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good….for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. (Romans 13:4,6)Let’s face it: The brand of Christianity isn’t so hot right now. By and large, non-Christians perceive us to be judgmental and unloving, increasingly retreating into subcultural enclaves to sit on Facebook to rage about “the culture” rather than engage it.Here’s something you can do today to help solve this problem: Celebrate the good in a non-Christian’s work. More than that, tell them that you see God working through them to do good in the world.That’s what we’ve seen throughout this series on common grace! God gives good gifts of provision and vocational skill to “the righteous and the unrighteous” (see Matthew 5:45). And he works in this world through believers and non-believers alike as we see in Romans 13:1-6.And so, while we will not agree with everything non-Christians do in their work, we are free to call out what they do for the common good via God’s common grace as nothing less than God’s work in the world. And that can have a profound impact on the lost, as my friend Mike Kelsey has learned.As Mike shared on the Mere Christians podcast, he was having lunch with a non-Christian friend of his who is a talented poet. Mike told his friend, “Hey, man. I know you don't even know what you believe, but you're doing God's work. God is using you in the ways that you craft words and write poetry and write books…you're blessing people through your gifts.”When I asked Mike how his friend reacted, he said, “He was stunned that I would say that.” Because this guy assumed that he was simply “a salvation project” for Mike. But by taking the time to see his friend and call out the God-given goodness in his work, Mike gave his friend a new and far more winsome picture of what it means to be a Christian.Throughout this series we’ve been looking at responses to common grace that lead to uncommon work. Here are all five:Common grace leaves us dumbstruck at the goodness of God.Common grace leads us to be good to our enemies.Common grace frees us to learn from and work with Christians and non-Christians alike.Common grace forces us to decouple our success from our faithfulness.Common grace allows us to celebrate the lost and change their perception of Christianity.Regarding that fifth response, let me encourage you to do what Mike Kelsey did today. Find a non-Christian who God is clearly using to deliver his good gifts to the world. Encourage them to that end. And watch what God can do with your response to his common grace!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Common Grace & Uncommon WorkDevotional: 4 of 5The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. (Psalm 145:9)I was talking with a friend recently who explained how he felt called by God to quit podcasting because of how much anxiety it was causing him.Every one of this guy’s friends was telling him that he needed the podcast to grow his business. But he shut down the show anyway. And then, his business exploded.Reflecting on this series of events, my friend said, “It just goes to show that God rewards doing business his way.”“Ummmmm, not so fast,” I said.I went on to lovingly explain to my friend that it may be true that God’s blessing was tied to what he perceived to be an act of faithfulness. But not necessarily. While there are certainly eternal rewards tied to working “as unto the Lord” (see Colossians 3:23-24), temporal rewards are not always connected to our righteousness. To quote my college statistics professor, “Correlation does not imply causation.”Because, as we’ve seen throughout this series on common grace, God gives good gifts to “the righteous and the unrighteous” (see Matthew 5:45). That truth has a number of practical implications for our work including this: Common grace forces us to decouple our success from our faithfulness.If, in the words of today’s passage, “the Lord is good to all” and not just the faithful, then my friend can’t connect his success to his obedience. Because there are plenty of people not working “as unto the Lord” who are succeeding by the world’s standards every day!The same is true for you and me. If you get a promotion today or land a new customer, it’s not necessarily because you’ve had a consistent quiet time this month. And conversely, if you don’t land that promotion, it’s not necessarily because you forgot to tithe on Sunday. Remember, Job was “blameless and upright” (see Job 1:1) and yet he lost everything both personally and professionally!Common grace reminds us that God doesn’t do good to us because we are good to him. He does good to us because he is good. May that truth lead you to follow his ways as you work today—not so that he will bless you, but because he created and redeemed you for his glory.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Common Grace & Uncommon WorkDevotional: 3 of 5When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?...His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. (Isaiah 28:24,26)I was recently asked to speak to a group of pastors about Redeeming Your Time, my book that examines God’s Word and bestselling time management books for wisdom about how we can be maximally productive for God’s glory.Before I took the stage, a pastor spoke and passionately called the audience to ignore “secular” business books. The essence of the man’s message was that, “The only book you need is the Good Book.”When it was my turn to speak, I knew I couldn’t bite my tongue. So I addressed the pastor’s comments head on and said, “We might not ‘need’ these ‘secular’ business books per se. But God in his common grace has given great wisdom to Christians and non-Christians alike and we would be foolish not to learn from them.”I was expecting somebody to throw a rotten tomato. Thankfully, I got a bunch of “amens” instead. Because the pastors in the audience understood the truth embedded in today’s passage.Isaiah says that “God instructs” farmers and “teaches” them “the right way.” But notice this: The passage doesn’t say that God instructs only God-fearing farmers. As we’ve seen throughout this series, the doctrine of common grace teaches us that God makes it “rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (see Matthew 5:45). He reveals truth to God-fearing farmers and God-hating farmers—to Christian authors and non-Christian ones.What does that mean for you and me? Here’s the third response to common grace I want you to see in this series: Common grace frees us to learn from and work with Christians and non-Christians alike.I know Christians who will only work for Christian employers, hire Christian vendors, retain Christian attorneys, and watch films made by Christians. Do you see how common grace destroys that thinking? If not, hear this from the late great Tim Keller: Of course, all non-believers have seriously impaired spiritual vision. Yet so many of the gifts God has put in the world are given to nonbelievers….So Christians are free to study the world…in order to know more of God; for as creatures made in His image we can appreciate truth and wisdom wherever we find it.Amen. So go out and freely and joyfully learn from and work with believers and non-believers alike today, knowing that every true and good gift is ultimately from God!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Common Grace & Uncommon WorkDevotional: 2 of 5Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. (Luke 6:27)Last week, we began exploring how our work should be uncommonly shaped by the reality of common grace: the goodness God shows to “the righteous and the unrighteous,” his friends and his enemies (see Matthew 5:45).Today, we’ll see that common grace should lead us to be good to our enemies.Interestingly, that’s the context of Matthew 5:45. Jesus said, “I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…because [God] makes his sun rise on both evil and good people, and he lets rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:44-45).You see it right? Jesus is saying that we should do good to our enemies because of God’s common grace! God is so good that he longs to do good to “the righteous and the unrighteous.” And he’s calling you and me to be the conduits for his blessings.Now, you may not have anyone at work you’d describe as an “enemy.” But do you have a boss who’s hard to love? Or a co-worker who’s spreading lies and gossip about you? Or a competitor who’s knocking-off your product? Of course you do. Everyone is currently working with or for someone they consider to be less than friendly. God isn’t calling you simply to “do no harm” to that person. But to proactively bless them! What does that look like practically?Let’s say someone on your team (an employee, vendor, etc.) did a terrible job on a project, costing you a lot of time, energy, money, and maybe even social capital. They did such a bad job that they were fired or taken off of your team. Loving this “enemy” could look like:Praying that God would bless them in their careersGiving them feedback to help them in their future career (instead of, as I’m tempted to do, write the person off and get back to work)Proactively writing a LinkedIn recommendation that focuses on the things the person did do wellOffer them forgiveness for how they wronged youRefusing to speak poorly about them with those who remain on the projectI’ve been in the situation above and have not loved my “enemy” well. But the doctrine of common grace reminds me that I’m called to do better next time. Because God is seeking to do good to the righteous and the unrighteous. With that in mind, love your enemies well at work today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Common Grace & Uncommon WorkDevotional: 1 of 5[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45)When the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 that “it is by grace you have been saved,” he was referring to God’s saving grace: the grace that, through Christ, saves human beings from their sins.Separate from saving grace is the doctrine of God’s common grace: the goodness God shows people regardless of their relationship with or faith in him.That’s what Jesus was referring to in today’s passage when he said that God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Matthew 5:45). Christ was saying that, while God is the source of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17), God chooses to give those gifts to “the righteous” and “to ungrateful and evil people” (Luke 6:35).So, while only Christians are recipients of God’s saving grace, every human being is a constant recipient of God’s common grace.God does good to you and your atheist co-worker who claims God doesn’t exist, your competitor who lies and cheats, and your boss who slanders the name of Christ. God “sent rain” and food to Mother Teresa and to Hitler. How should you and I respond to the reality of God’s common grace?I don’t know about you, but if I’m honest, my first reaction to that truth is anger—a reaction the psalmists are very familiar with (see Psalm 73 and 94 as just two examples).But common grace also leads me to astonishing awe at the goodness of God. And a profound sense of gratefulness that God was good to me before I was hidden in Christ and that he continues to bless me today when I disobey the One who obediently went to the cross on my behalf.Throughout this series, I’ll share 5 responses to common grace that lead to uncommon work. Here’s the first: Common grace should leave us dumbstruck at the goodness of God.Take a moment right now to marvel at the goodness God has shown you and non-believers. And let that remembrance of his grace lead you to extend goodness and blessings to everyone you work with today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Thanks for Thorns and ThistlesDevotional: 5 of 5As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:9-11)In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry stumbles upon an enchanted mirror. Unlike normal mirrors, this one does not show the reflection of the person standing in front of it. Instead, it shows a reflection of “the deepest, most desperate desire” of that person’s heart.But the object inside the mirror is just a mirage—a tantalizing vision trapped on the other side of the glass. This, of course, drives the mirror’s visitors mad with frustration. But you and I both know this is a blessing in disguise. Because even if they were able to get their hands on the object of their affection, unless that object was Christ, it would inevitably disappoint.My temptation, and I think yours, is to look to our careers for the very thing Harry was searching for inside that mirror—complete and cosmic joy. But as Jesus makes clear in today’s passage, our joy will only be made complete through his love.Not through our families. Not through our health. Not through landing a promotion, selling your business, or being recognized in your field.And so, we can praise God for the days when our work feels like less than complete joy. Because our “painful toil” is reminding us that Christ alone can fully satisfy us. For this reason, John Mark Comer says this:“I think the curse is a blessing in camouflage. It’s God’s love in disguise. His mercy incognito. Because the curse drives us to God. If it weren’t for the curse…we would look to whatever it is we do for work or rest, and we would find it. And nothing could be more disastrous for the world than God’s image bearers finding identity and belonging and even satisfaction apart from him.”Should we lament over cursed work? Absolutely! Because God didn’t design our work to be painful (see Genesis 1-2 and Isaiah 65).But as we’ve seen in this series, we can also praise God for the blessings he brings us through cursed, frustrating, painfully difficult work. Because “thorns and thistles”:Force us to rely on GodHumble us and compel us to rely on othersLead us to long for eternity with Christ when work will be perfect once againCreate empathy that helps us to make work less painful for othersEnsure that nothing but Christ will ever fully satisfy usIn light of those truths, give thanks for the thorns and thistles you encounter in your work today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Thanks for Thorns and ThistlesDevotional: 4 of 5Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4)When I was researching my next book, I read tons of dense books with “paragraphs” that spanned entire pages—sometimes multiple pages. Every time I approached another mammoth passage, I felt exhausted before I even began reading. It felt like the cognitive equivalent of staring up at Mount Everest before an ascent.After complaining about my own pain long enough (first-world problems, I know), the Lord reminded me that I’ve written some long paragraphs myself. And if long paragraphs made my work feel arduous, my longwindedness probably makes your reading feel arduous too.So I went back through the manuscript I was writing and took a machete to the document, chopping every paragraph down to size.That’s a small example of one reason I think we can all give thanks for the “thorns and thistles” that make our work difficult: Painful work can create empathy that leads us to make work less painful for others. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, thorny work can lead you to, “look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).Let’s apply this principle to your own work today. Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the number of meetings you’re being asked to attend this week. Instead of sitting in your own frustration, what if you channeled that pain into love for your neighbor? What if you looked at the meetings you’ve invited others to and questioned whether or not those meetings would serve them well?Or let’s say you’re frustrated by emails that distract you at all hours of the day. Instead of focusing on “your own interests,” what if you looked “to the interests of others” who work for you? What if you sent them a message letting them off the hook for feeling like they have to respond immediately to your emails so that they can work with less distraction?If you took those actions, you could certainly give thanks for the thorns and thistles in your work, because they will have led you to better love your neighbor as yourself.Spend a couple of minutes in silence this morning naming which aspects of your work are most frustrating to you. Pray that God would allow that pain to lead to creative ideas for making work less painful for those you work with. And then give thanks that God can use even the broken things of this world for his glory and the good of others.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Thanks for Thorns and ThistlesDevotional: 3 of 5Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. (John 19:1-3)God never intended for work to be painful and frustrating. According to Genesis 1 and 2, work was God’s first gift to humankind!But when sin entered the world, the curse broke every part of creation, including the world of work. God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you” (see Genesis 3:17-18).That backstory makes the Romans’ choice of a “crown of thorns” for Jesus all the more interesting. Knowingly or not, the Romans used a thorn—this symbol of the curse—to crown the One whose resurrection would overturn that curse. It is precisely because Christ allowed himself to be crowned with thorns that, three days later, we could sing:No more let sins and sorrows growNor thorns infest the ground;He comes to make His blessings flowFar as the curse is found.And Scripture makes clear that Christ’s blessings flow even to our cursed work. In Isaiah’s prophetic vision of the Eternal Heaven on Earth, he reports God as saying:“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth….[My people] will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit…my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain.” (Isaiah 65:17, 21-23)No more thorns and thistles. No more painful toil. No more leaving the office demoralized by how little “real work” you got done. This is work as it was always intended to be and always will be on the New Earth.Throughout this series, I’ve argued that we should lament and give thanks for the “thorns and thistles” that make our work difficult today. Everything we’ve just seen points to the next reason why: We should give thanks for thorns and thistles because they can lead us to long for eternity. And the more bitter our work in this life, the sweeter the hope of perfect work with Christ will be.When your work feels painful today, look to Jesus’s crown of thorns and remember that redemption does indeed flow far as the curse is found—even to the thorns that thwart your work. And thank God for the thorns and thistles that lead you to hope for the day when you will “long enjoy the work of your hands.”

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Thanks for Thorns and ThistlesDevotional: 2 of 5When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble. (Proverbs 11:2)A few weeks ago, I was having dinner with one of my favorite authors—someone who has sold millions more books than I have.I was picking my friend’s brain on publishing and book marketing, when all of a sudden, he started asking me questions about marketing children’s books.Given the massive respect I have for this person, I was really taken aback by his questions. “Why are you asking me about book marketing?” I asked.My friend replied, “Because I have not cracked the nut on children’s books, and honestly, it’s been a bit frustrating. You, on the other hand, seem to have figured this out.”After muttering some false humility, my friend cut me off by quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Jordan,” he said, “Everyone I meet is my superior in some way.”I love that perspective. And my friend only had it because of the frustrating “thorns and thistles” he has experienced in his work (see Genesis 3:17-18).Last week, we saw that we should give thanks for thorns and thistles because they force us to rely on God. But we should also thank God for our “painful toil” because it forces us to rely on others. That’s a tremendous blessing for two reasons.First, when we rely on others we get wisdom! The pain caused by “thorns and thistles” leads to humility and that humility leads to wisdom (see Proverbs 11:2). Second, when we rely on others they get blessed! Because you are giving them a chance to use their God-given gifts to serve you. If the person you’re relying on is a believer, you’re giving them a chance to earn eternal rewards by helping you (see Ephesians 6:8)!What problem can’t you seem to solve in your work today? Don’t pridefully keep it to yourself. Share your struggles with someone who can help. And thank God for the thorns and thistles that forced you to rely more on him and your neighbor.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Thanks for Thorns and ThistlesDevotional: 1 of 5To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.” (Genesis 3:17-18)"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." I don’t know who coined this popular piece of fortune cookie wisdom, but I can tell you they never read Genesis 3.After sin entered the world, God said that work will be “painful toil…all the days of your life.” Not “painful toil…until you choose a job you love.” Work will be frustrating until the New Earth (see Isaiah 65:17-23).Now, I love what I do. I’ve never been more confident that creating content like these devotionals is the work God created me to do. And Lord willing, I’ll be helping you connect the gospel to your work for the next 50 years.But even though I love my work, it sure feels like work some days. It’s hard, frustrating, and exhausting at times.But here’s what I’m learning: Even though God never designed work to be painful (see Genesis 1 and 2), there are still great blessings to be found in the curse. There are reasons to give thanks for the “thorns and thistles” that make work difficult.Over the next five weeks, I’m going to share five of those reasons with you. Here’s the first: We should give thanks for thorns and thistles because they force us to rely on God.Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”But if all of our paths were already straight, we wouldn’t see much of a need to “trust in the Lord with all our heart” would we? And so, we can thank God when we can’t see which path to take in our work because our lack of clarity forces us to “walk humbly with our God” (see Micah 6:8).Where is the path painfully unclear in your work today? Are you frustrated with a boss or client and not sure how to deal with them? Are you unclear on how you’re going to hit payroll this month? Are you simply burnt out and don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel?Lament over your “painful toil.” Then go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to “make your paths straight.” Then thank him for the “thorns and thistles” he’s using to lead you to rely on him.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the PsalmsDevotional: 7 of 7“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.” (Psalm 50:23) “Glorify” is one of those Christianese terms we use so much that its meaning can feel muddled. So, when you read a passage like 1 Corinthians 10:31 that urges you to do “whatever you do…for the glory of God,” you might understandably wonder what that looks like practically—especially in the workplace.Let’s look to God’s Word to remove some of the mystery together. Here are just five ways Scripture says you can “glorify” God at work today.#1: Give thanks. Psalm 50:23 makes clear that simply thanking God for the gift of your work and the fruit it’s producing “glorifies” him.#2: Do good work. Jesus said, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The Greek word ergon that we translate to “good works” here literally means “work, task, [and] employment.” And so, you can be confident you are glorifying God today when you simply do your work with excellence, love, and in accordance with his commands.#3: Trust God’s promises. Romans 4:20 tells us that Abraham “gave glory to God” when he “did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God.” We can do the same. God has promised you will work without the curse for eternity (see Isaiah 65:17-22), that he is working “all things” for your good (see Romans 8:28-29), and that somehow your work is “not in vain” (see 1 Corinthians 15:58). Simply trusting in these promises glorifies him!#4: Share the gospel (and your belongings). In 2 Corinthians 9:13, Paul says that your co-workers “will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them.”#5: Sacrifice your freedoms. The context of 1 Corinthians 10:31 (“whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”) is Paul urging his readers to sacrifice their freedoms for the good of others (see 1 Corinthians 10:23-33). And so, you can be confident you are glorifying God when you, for example, sacrifice the freedom to work from home so that you can better build relationships with the lost. Or give up your right to drink alcohol in front of a co-worker who doesn’t.Those are just five of the many ways you can glorify God at work. I pray they will motivate you to look at every interaction, project, and meeting as an opportunity to bring glory to your heavenly Father today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the PsalmsDevotional: 6 of 7Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you….What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? (Psalm 116:7, 12)A friend of mine was watching a kid play his heart out on the basketball court even though his team was up 20 points. After the game, my friend asked the boy why he was hustling so hard when victory was guaranteed. The kid’s response was perfect: “Because I love my coach.”That’s a pretty good picture of what David is getting at in Psalm 116.In verse 7, David instructs his soul to rest. Why? Because “the Lord has been good” to him. As we express gratitude for the things God has already done in and through our work, we can rest and be content even if the Lord doesn’t provide anything else in the future.In short, thankfulness is a path to rest. But it’s not just a path to rest. In verse 12, David says that rest is a path to ambition—to leave it all out on the court, if you will. “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?” David asks. In other words, in view of the Lord’s graciousness, what can I do to serve him? David understood that ambition to do the Lord’s work was a proper response to the good things the Lord had given him. How much more true is that for us who know the ultimate good that was done for us on the cross?The goodness God has shown us in Jesus Christ should lead us to thankfulness and rest. But it should also lead us to great ambition—not to earn our salvation, but as a worshipful response to it (see Ephesians 2:8-10).Take a moment right now to meditate on how “the Lord has been good to you” this past week. Thank him for the projects you’ve completed at work, the impact your work is having in the lives of customers and your team, or just the fact that you have work and income. Once you’ve given thanks, take a moment to rest in the goodness of God. And then allow that rest to lead you to work “heartily as unto the Lord” as a response of worship today (see Colossians 3:23)!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the PsalmsDevotional: 5 of 7[God] makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth...All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. (Psalm 104:14, 27)After praying and thanking God for our dinner, my daughter Kate (3 at the time) said, “Daddy, God didn’t give us this food. Mommy bought it at the grocery store!”“You’re right, Kate,” I said. “Mommy did buy this food at the grocery store. But who created the apple on your plate?” “God,” Kate answered.“That’s right,” I said. “And he also made the farmer that picked that apple, and the engineers who built a truck to take the apples to the grocery store which was built by entrepreneurs, carpenters, and bankers. God used the work of all of those people and more to give us this dinner!”By this point, I had long lost Kate’s attention. But one day, I pray she will read Psalm 104 and appreciate what I was trying to teach her.The Psalmist says that God "makes grass grow," but leaves it "for people to cultivate" the land. And this is just how God intended from the beginning—even prior to sin entering the world! In Genesis 2, we’re told that, after God began creating, “no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up.” Why? Because “the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground” (see Genesis 2:5).You see it, right? God could have made shrubs, grass, and food grow all on his own. But he chose to delegate that work to his image-bearers—a theme we see all throughout God’s Word.Sure there are times in Scripture in which God miraculously provided for his people (see Exodus 16 and Matthew 14:13-21). But most of the time, we see God working through the miracle of human work. “God could easily give you grain and fruit without your plowing and planting,” said Martin Luther, “but he does not want to do so.” Because you and I are the primary instrument through which God works in this world.Knowing that—that your work is nothing less than the means through which God feeds, heals, and sustains the world—lean into your work with joy, excellence, and love today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the PsalmsDevotional: 4 of 7May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17)This is the final verse of Psalm 90, the only Psalm that credits Moses as its author. It’s not surprising that Moses concludes his Psalm with these words, as he prayed a similar prayer six times in the book of Deuteronomy alone (see Deuteronomy 2:7; 14:29; 16:15; 24:19; 28:12; 30:9).Why was this such a frequent prayer of Moses?First, I think Moses understood that this prayer is a practical way of reminding ourselves that God alone produces results through our work. In Deuteronomy 8:18, Moses said that “​​it is [God] who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” How do we remind ourselves of that truth? By joining Moses in praying the words of today’s passage.Second, I think Moses continually offered up this prayer because it is deep within the heart of any human being for our work to outlive us. That’s what Moses is praying for in Psalm 90:17. The Hebrew word for "establish" in “establish the work of our hands” literally means to "make permanent."And isn’t that what we all long for? Arthur Miller says it is. In his play, Death of a Salesman, Miller said that our desire “to leave a thumbprint somewhere on the world” is a “need greater than hunger or sex or thirst…A need for immortality, and by admitting it, the knowing that one has carefully inscribed one’s name on a cake of ice on a hot July day.”That’s spot on. The question, of course, is which work will be “made permanent”? In short, any work done “in the Lord'' (see 1 Corinthians 15:58). Any work done for his glory rather than our own. Because unless the things on our to-do lists are on God’s to-do list, they will eventually amount to nothing.So what’s on God’s to-do list? The advancement of “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 24:14), working “heartily as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23), doing excellent work as a means of “loving your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), “making disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), and working to make “all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Pray that the Lord would establish that work of your hands today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the PsalmsDevotional: 3 of 7Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)I’ve noticed a strikingly consistent theme in the biographies of history’s most impactful Christians: They thought about death—a lot. At the age of 29, Martin Luther told a mentor “he didn’t think he would live very long.” William Wilberforce “seriously believed he was likely to die violently” before he completed his life’s work of abolishing the slave trade. And Alexander Hamilton “imagine[d] death so much it [felt] more like a memory.”These men lived and worked hundreds of years ago when death was far more common and thinking about it was in some ways inevitable. That stands in stark contrast to our culture today. In an essay titled The Pornography of Death, anthropologist Geoffrey Gorer argued that death has replaced sex as the most taboo topic of our modern age.But in Psalm 90, Moses says that meditating on death is one of the wisest things we can do. Why? Because dwelling on death leads us to “walk [carefully], not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (see Ephesians 5:15-16).So here’s my encouragement to you: Find a way to remind yourself of the brevity of life today. Here are just four ideas.#1: Choose a passage of Scripture to memorize that will remind you of the sobering reality of death. Some of my favorites are Psalm 39:5, Psalm 90:12, Psalm 144:4, Job 7:7, Ecclesiastes 7:2, James 4:14, and Ecclesiastes 12:7.#2: Take a walk in a cemetery on your drive to or from work today.#3: Read a great book on death from a Christian perspective. Two that I return to often are On Death by Tim Keller and When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.#4: Put physical reminders of death around you. Ancient merchants would often write the Latin memento mori (meaning “think of death”) in large letters on the first page of their accounting books. I have “running out of time” written inside my running shoes. Whatever works for you, works.These practices will look foolish to the world, but Scripture says they are wise for the believer. Do something to dwell on death today so that you may gain a heart of wisdom and redeem your time for the glory of God and the good of others!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the PsalmsDevotional: 2 of 7In you, Lord my God, I put my trust…Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:1, 5)Can you repeat David’s words with a straight face? “God…my hope is in you all day long.” I know I can’t most days. That might be true in the mornings after I have spent time in the Word meditating on the hope of the gospel. But once I sit down at my desk, it often feels like my hope is in signing the next book deal, hitting the next milestone in podcast subscribers, or helping my kids get straight As at school.These are examples of good things that you and I should be ambitious for. Done with proper motives, they are part of the “good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (see Ephesians 2:10).But our good work can’t be the source of our hope. Why? Because the results of our work aren’t secure! I have no ultimate control over my next book deal or whether or not my kids make the honor roll. Thus, setting my ultimate hopes on these fragile things will inevitably disappoint.This is why we can never “move past” the gospel. The temptation to place our hopes in the next promotion, acquisition, or project at work can be immense. The only antidote is to constantly preach the gospel to ourselves, reminding us that our ultimate hope is in our status as adopted children of God (see John 1:12-13).J.D. Greear is right: “The gospel is not just the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity; it is the pool itself.” And so, we must swim in the pool of the gospel regularly.Even if you fail to accomplish what you’ve set out to do at work today, your eternal hope of salvation is secure. You can be assured of God’s “never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.” Let this truth marinate in your heart "all day long" today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the PsalmsDevotional: 1 of 7Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)Growing up, we had a tree in my yard that would produce delicious tangerines each year. Do you know what I never saw that tree do? Hoard the fruit for itself. Why? Because that’s not the purpose of a fruit tree. A fruit tree exists to share its fruit with others.I think that’s part of what the Psalmist had in mind in today’s passage. The Psalter opens by describing “one...whose delight is in the law of the Lord” and says that whatever that person does “prospers.” Who is that prosperity for? Primarily for others—just like “a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit.”Is it wrong to enjoy the fruit of our labor? Absolutely not! All analogies break down at some point, and the fruit tree is no exception. A fruit tree physically can’t partake of its own fruit. We can, and Scripture encourages us to do so! In Ecclesiastes 5:19, Solomon says that “God gives…wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them.”But based on the balance of Scripture, it seems clear to me that the primary purpose of our “wealth and possessions” is to bless others. In 2 Corinthians 9, the Apostle Paul says this: “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work…You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (see 2 Corinthians 9:8, 11).You see it, right? We are enriched primarily “so that” we will “abound in every good work,” including the work of being “generous on every occasion.”Has your work given you more than you need today? If so, enjoy some of the fruits of your labor as an act of worship to the giver of those good gifts. But don’t forget the picture from today’s Psalm. Primarily, you’re called to be a fruit tree that freely shares its fruit with others. So share generously today!