The Word Before Work

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: 4 Biblical Ways to Escape the Comparison TrapDevotional: 4 of 4Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. (Matthew 25:14)When it comes to escaping the comparison trap, there may be no more helpful passage of Scripture than the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25.Jesus’s parable focuses on a Master (representing himself) who “entrusted his wealth” to three servants. “To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,” and then, he went on a long journey.Upon his return, the Master found that the first servant had diligently put the Master’s money to work and turned five bags of gold into ten. The Master turned to the first servant and said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master’s happiness!’”Then, the Master came to the second servant who turned his two bags of gold into four. And the Master gave him the exact same blessing that he gave the first servant—even though the second servant wound up with six fewer bags of gold.Do you see how countercultural this is? Secular wisdom would look at this scene and say, Clearly the servant with ten bags is the “winner,” right!? Not in Jesus’s book. Because the Master didn’t compare these guys to each other, he compared them to themselves.Based on this parable, I think if Jesus were asked to define success in a word it would be stewardship—doing your best in accordance with the Lord’s commands. That points us to the fourth way we can escape the comparison trap: Remembering that while the world will always value being the best, God values us doing our best with talents he has called us to steward.I hope you see how unbelievably freeing that truth is. Because it is impossible to win the world’s game. There will always be somebody bigger, better, richer, smarter, more popular, more talented, and more successful than you. Always! And so, if the game is about being the best, you will never escape the comparison trap.But with God, the only way you “lose” is by not suiting up. So long as you stay focused on your calling—day by day seeking to better steward what God has given you as a worshipful response to your salvation—you win (see Ephesians 2:8-10).The next time you find yourself spiraling into the comparison trap, remember these four biblical ways to escape:Confess your prideThank God for the goodness he has shown to you and to othersAsk yourself if you’re even playing the same game as the person you’re comparing yourself toRemember that while the world calls you to be the best, God calls you to do your best I pray your soul will find rest in these truths today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: 4 Biblical Ways to Escape the Comparison TrapDevotional: 3 of 4We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. (2 Corinthians 10:12-13)We’re in a series exploring four biblical ways to escape the comparison trap—our tendency to weigh ourselves against others until we feel improperly superior or inferior to them.We’ve already explored two ways to escape the comparison trap. First, confess your pride. Second, thank God for the goodness he has shown to you and to others. Today’s passage shows us the third way to escape: Ask yourself if you’re even playing the same game as the person you’re comparing yourself to.The context of today’s passage is that the Corinthians were comparing Paul to some false preachers (see 2 Corinthians 11:5). Commenting on this passage, one theologian explains that apparently, “Compared to secular orators, Paul was not as entertaining, dramatic, or engaging.”But Paul refused to compare himself to those other preachers. Why? Because he wasn’t even playing the same game as they were. They were there to preach “a different gospel” (see 2 Corinthians 11:4). Paul was there to preach the one true gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, he said, he would “confine [his] boasting to the sphere of service God himself [had] assigned to [him].”You and I do the opposite of Paul all the time. Let me give you just one personal example.My friend Cal Newport writes incredible business books like Deep Work and Digital Minimalism. And he writes for a very broad audience—for Christians and non-Christians alike. A couple of years ago, I found myself falling into the comparison trap and growing jealous of Cal. By God’s grace, I realized how ridiculous this was, because “the sphere of service God himself has assigned to” me is far narrower than Cal’s. I am called to help Christians connect the gospel to their work. And so, my total potential audience is way smaller than Cal’s. So it makes absolutely zero sense to compare myself to him! Because we aren’t even playing the same game.Lebron James wouldn’t compare himself to Tiger Woods. Similarly, you and I should realize the foolishness of comparing ourselves to others with different callings.If you’re comparing yourself to someone else today, Paul shows you one way to escape. Ask if you’re even playing the same game. If you’re not, knock it off. If you are, access some of the other escape routes we’ve already explored in this series or the final one we will unpack next week.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: 4 Biblical Ways to Escape the Comparison TrapDevotional: 2 of 4Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. (Job 41:11)On April 7, 2019, Craig Arttez Brewer walked into a Waffle House and started handing out $20 bills to strangers. For whatever reason, Brewer chose not to extend his generosity to all the restaurant’s patrons, only some. One customer who did not receive one of Brewer’s generous gifts became furious and stormed out of the restaurant. A few minutes later, the customer returned with a gun, shooting and killing Brewer on the spot.This tragic true story illustrates an important truth: God is the creator of the universe. He created us and every good thing in this world, and thus, he is free to do with our lives whatever he pleases. Just as the angry Waffle House customer had no right to Craig Brewer’s generosity, we have no right to God’s. Because we sinned against our Creator, the only “claim” we have against him is the claim to eternal separation from him (see Romans 6:23). That is what we deserve. Everything else—from our salvation, to our jobs, to the breath in our lungs—is a good and merciful gift of grace.And it is that truth that can free us from soul-sucking comparison. Last week, we saw that confessing our pride is the first way to escape the comparison trap. Here’s the second: Thank God for the goodness he has shown—to you and to others. Thanking God for the goodness he has shown you turns your focus away from what you want to what you have already been given. And thanking God for the goodness he has shown others helps you remember that their success too is a gift from God—even if they aren’t followers of him!This is where many of us can get hung up. Let’s say you’re competing for a promotion at work and you lose out to a lying, womanizing colleague who hates the ways of the Lord. That can be a tough pill to swallow. But God’s Word promises that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17) who “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). And so, we can trust that God knows what he’s doing—even when he allows the “unrighteous” to prosper.This morning, I want you to think of just one person you tend to compare yourself to. Thank God for the goodness he has shown them—their talents, prosperity, health, etc.And thank him for the unmerited goodness he has shown you, joining Jacob in praying, “I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant” (Genesis 32:10).

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: 4 Biblical Ways to Escape the Comparison TrapDevotional: 1 of 4If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else. (Galatians 6:3-4)Today is my 37th birthday. I don’t know about you, but for me, birthdays are the perfect trigger for falling into the comparison trap. Because birthdays offer us a “scorecard” of sorts—especially in a world that is obsessed with success at an early age. If we’ve made more money than our peers or parents have by a certain age, we can feel proud and arrogant. Conversely, if we have failed to sell a company, reach the C-Suite, or achieve some other goal before someone else, we can feel jealous and bitter like we’re “falling behind” and “life is passing us by.”How can you wage war against these feelings? How do I plan to escape the comparison trap today? By confessing and repenting of my pride. Because as Paul makes clear in Galatians 6:3-4, pride is the root of all comparison.Save Paul, nobody has articulated this better than C.S. Lewis who said in Mere Christianity: “We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.”It’s easy to see how pride is the root of comparison that leads us to feel superior to others, but it is also the root of us feeling inferior to others. If I feel jealous that someone has accomplished more than I have by a certain age, that is ultimately rooted in a feeling that I deserve the good gifts God has given them, but not me. And that is pride.So, if you find yourself falling into the comparison trap today, start your escape here: Confess your pride to the Lord in prayer and ask for his power to “take pride in yourself alone, without comparing yourself to someone else.”

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Working in ExileDevotional: 5 of 5I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:22-23)Today concludes our five-week series exploring biblical principles for working in environments that are increasingly hostile to the ways of the Lord. Today’s passage contains the final principle I want us to explore:Principle #5: Christians are called to become all things to all people for the sake of the gospel.One of the reasons why God has you working “outside the camp” is because it is through the work of mere Christians—not primarily pastors and religious professionals—that God will save the lost in our "post-Christian" context. But to make disciples at work you, like Paul, must “become all things to all people”—doing everything you can (other than sin) to build relationships with non-believers. This could look like having lunch with a different co-worker once a week to get to know your colleagues personally or following your office’s favorite sports team so you have something to talk about on Monday mornings. There are a million practical outworkings of this principle. But let me draw out one more—a controversial application that, if you haven’t already, you will certainly have a chance to practice soon.Let’s pretend that a woman you work with shares that they’re now identifying as a man, and they ask that you start referring to them by the male pronouns “he/him.” As a Christian, you hold to a biblical stance that sexuality is defined by God alone (see Genesis 1:27 and Matthew 19:4-5). So, what do you do?Some faithful Christians I respect argue that you should refuse to use your friend’s chosen pronouns, as doing so would give the appearance of condoning sin. But according to one of the more serious studies on this topic, one Christian researcher found that “None of my interviewees were inclined to interpret a…Christian’s pronoun hospitality as an automatic indication that this Christian agreed with everything about the way in which the trans person expressed their gender.”Conversely, another expert has found that “people typically view using their pronouns and chosen name as a basic act of courtesy and respect that’s necessary for continuing relationship” (emphasis mine). With all that in view and with the principle of “becoming all things to all people…for the sake of the gospel” in mind, I would encourage you to practice “pronoun hospitality” in the workplace and use your friend’s chosen pronouns. Now, that doesn’t mean you never confront their sin! But I pray that we, like Jesus, would be relational first and confrontational second (see John 8:1-11), “so that by all possible means [we] might save some.”My friend, I pray that this series has been incredibly encouraging and helpful to you. Your workplace is likely to become less and less friendly to the ways of Jesus. I pray these principles will help you be faithful to Christ and his mission as you work in exile.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Working in ExileDevotional: 4 of 5You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matthew 5:13)Last week, we explored the biblical call to “live such good lives” amongst our non-Christian co-workers that they have nothing credible to say against us (see 1 Peter 2:11-12). And we saw that that includes our submission to all authorities—even bosses who are antagonistic towards Christianity (see 1 Peter 2:13-22). But we are only obedient up to a point. In the rare instances in which an authority explicitly asks us to contradict the Lord’s commands—when they ask us to lie to a co-worker, embellish the truth to land a deal, or stop talking about Jesus—we are free and obligated to dissent. We choose to obey God, not man (see Acts 5:27-32), otherwise our “salt loses its saltiness” and “is no longer good for anything.” That brings us to our fourth principle for working in exile:Principle #4: Christians are called to disobey directives that contradict God’s Word in a distinctly God-honoring way.Why a “distinctly God-honoring way”? Because even when we refuse to obey an earthly authority, we can do so in ways that do and do not glorify God.There are a number of case studies for what God-honoring disobedience looks like in the book of Daniel (see Daniel 1:5-14, Daniel 3:1-18, and Daniel 6:6-12). Here are three characteristics of godly dissension that we see in these passages.First, we disobey respectfully. When Daniel was asked to eat defiled foods from the king’s table, he didn’t just say “no” to his boss. “He asked the chief official for permission” to abstain (Daniel 1:8). Now, we can assume that had Daniel not received “permission,” he still would have obeyed God and not man. But by asking for permission, he disobeyed respectfully.Second, we disobey constructively. Instead of simply refusing to adhere to the Babylonian diet, Daniel offered a creative alternative aimed at blessing the very employer that was asking him to disobey the Lord (see Daniel 1:12). Daniel understood that he (and we) are called to “seek the peace and prosperity” of the non-Christians we work for and this shines through even in his disobedience (see Jeremiah 29:1-7).Finally, Daniel and friends show us that we are called to disobey resolutely. When Daniel’s friends were asked to bow down to a golden idol, they refused in no uncertain terms saying, “we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:18). We must do the same, trusting that regardless of the consequences, God will work everything for our good and his greater glory (see Romans 8:28-29).

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Working in ExileDevotional: 3 of 5Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:11-12)We’re in a series exploring five biblical principles for working in exile. Today, we come to our third principle, straight from Peter’s letter “to God’s elect, exiles” (1 Peter 1:1):Principle #3: Christians are called to live “such good lives” that non-Christians have nothing credible to say against us.Though he lived hundreds of years before Peter penned the words of today’s passage, Daniel (of lion’s den fame) offers a terrific case study of what this principle looks like in practice. Like you and me, Daniel worked in exile—specifically as an official inside the Babylonian government. And he modeled the goodness Peter describes in today’s passage on at least three levels.First, vocational excellence. Daniel 6:3 tells us that Daniel “so distinguished himself” among his peers that King Darius “planned to set him over the whole kingdom” of Babylon. Daniel was a master of his craft. That’s the first dimension of the exemplary goodness he displayed while working in exile.Here’s the second: personal integrity. When Daniel’s co-workers heard that their boss was planning to promote Daniel, they “tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel…but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy” (Daniel 6:4). Daniel didn’t just possess good technical skills. He possessed good and godly character.The third dimension of Daniel’s goodness was his submission to authorities—even authorities who hated his God. After searching for “corruption” in Daniel and any act of disobedience to the Babylonian king, finally his peers gave up saying, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God” (Daniel 6:5).Next week, we’ll explore that “unless it has something to do with the law of his God” caveat in depth. But today, here’s what I want to encourage you to do: Pretend that your co-workers, like Daniel’s, wanted to discredit you and your witness. How would they do it? What would they point to?Would they point to the way you talk about others behind their backs? Or how much you drink when you’re out with your colleagues? Or the bit-too-friendly relationship you have with a co-worker of the opposite sex?Whatever it is, repent for the sake of the gospel. “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong,” no accusation can stick.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Working in ExileDevotional: 2 of 5And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)Last week, we saw the first of five biblical principles for working in exile—namely that a Christian’s default position should be to rush into dark workplaces, not retreat from them. This is in line with Jesus’s prayer in John 17:15-18 when he asked the Father to send his followers “into the world.” But in the same breath, Jesus also asked the Father to “protect them from the evil one.” You see, while Jesus never intended for his followers to isolate themselves from the world, he has called us to insulate ourselves before going into our dark workplaces and communities.How? Through study of God’s Word (see John 17:17) and Christian community. That’s what the writer of Hebrews is urging in today’s passage: that we insulate ourselves by “not giving up meeting together” with other believers. That brings us to our second biblical principle for working in exile:Principle #2: Christians are not called to isolate from unbelievers, but we are called to insulate ourselves through God’s Word and Christian community.I’m going to assume you’re already in the Word on a regular basis. But if you’re like many modern Christians, the community piece doesn’t come as easily. I’d argue that every Christian professional needs two types of Christian communities.First, a local church. There has been a lot of debate about the importance of the local church in recent years. Personally, I can’t get around the strong biblical case for committing to a local body of believers.Second, you need a community of believers who understands your specific work and can help you answer highly situational questions such as:Should I agree to my client’s request to use pictures of homosexual couples in our marketing campaigns?How can I push back on my boss’s vision for a new product that will exploit the poor?How do I go about firing a client for the way they treat my team?Where can you find a group to help you answer questions like these? If you work at a large company, consider joining or starting a Christian or interfaith Employee Resource Group (ERG). If you’re curious to learn more about how these groups work and why they’re so effective, listen to my interviews with the leaders of Amazon’s and PayPal’s faith-based ERGs. If you don’t work at a large company, but still long to insulate yourself with a community of Christians who share your vocation, consider joining The Word Before Work Community led by yours truly.If you want to serve as a faithful ambassador for Christ in your post-Christian workplace, being in Christian community is not optional. Find one to get plugged into today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Working in ExileDevotional: 1 of 5The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. (Hebrews 13:11-13)Chances are that your workplace feels increasingly “post-Christian.” The HR department is now encouraging employees to customize their gender pronouns; talk of religion is quietly discouraged; and your employer is making headlines for their support of pro-choice causes.In the face of these trends, it’s natural to wonder whether you should quit your job and find a new role in a ministry or a business led by a fellow Christian—a workplace that is “better aligned with your values.” God may be calling you to do that, but I seriously doubt it for two reasons.First, Jesus himself worked in dark places. As we saw in today’s passage, he “suffered outside the city gate.” Most literally, this phrase refers to the fact that Jesus was crucified beyond Jerusalem’s city walls (see John 19:17-20). But theologians agree that there’s another meaning to these words. You see, while it was perfectly within God’s power to give Jesus a vocation inside the city gate—in the Temple, “the Most Holy Place”—he chose for Jesus to spend the majority of his life working “outside the city gate” as a carpenter where he undoubtedly suffered more blood, sweat, tears, and temptation than the average priest. Commenting on this passage, one group of theologians say that “to follow Christ fully is to follow him to the places where his saving help is desperately needed, but not necessarily welcomed.”Jesus’s example is the first reason to stay in your increasingly “post-Christian” workplace. Here’s the second: Jesus calls his followers into dark places. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus cried out to his Father on behalf of his disciples saying, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world…As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:15-18). Here, Jesus is reiterating what he said in the Sermon on the Mount when he called you to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Nobody sees light shining in an already bright room. Light can only shine in dark places. Which is why Jesus calls us to work and live amongst the lost.All of that brings me to the first principle for working in exile:Principle #1: A Christian’s default position should be to rush into dark workplaces, not retreat from them.But if we stay, we are going to need help in maintaining a distinctive Christianity while we work. It is to that challenge we will turn to next week.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter VocationsDevotional: 4 of 4He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God….Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:3, 6-8)Everything God does is intentional, and the timing of Jesus’s resurrection is no exception.As pastor Skye Jethani explains in his book Futureville, the reason why Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday has its origins in the creation account of Genesis 1. Historically, Christians have identified “Sunday as the first day of God’s creative work.” And just “like the creation account in Genesis, which began but did not end on Sunday, God’s re-creation began on Easter Sunday with Jesus’ resurrection but continues to unfold.”You see, just as the first Sunday was just the beginning of the first creation, Easter Sunday was just the beginning of the final one. And just as God called the First Adam and his bride Eve to help him cultivate the first creation, Jesus the Last Adam has called his bride, the Church, to help him cultivate the final one.That’s the vocation Jesus gave us, his followers, in today’s passage: to be “witnesses” to that new creation! At first blush, that word “witnesses” simply appears to be a call to “share the gospel.” But pastor Tim Keller explains that the Greek word here means “more than simply winning people to Christ…the church is to be an agent of the kingdom. It is not only to model the healing of God’s rule but it is to spread it….ordering lives and relationships and institutions and communities according to God’s authority to bring in the blessedness of the kingdom.”What does that look like practically? It looks like weeding out things like disorder, injustice, and disease that have no place in the eternal kingdom of God.It looks like creating beautiful art, places of belonging, and cultural excellence that offer glimpses of what does belong in God’s kingdom.It looks like serving as faithful representatives of our Risen King, modeling his character of love, peace, and joy to those we work with.And yes, it looks like making disciples as you go about your life and work.If Jesus’s “Easter vocation” is King of Kings, our Easter vocation is to be witnesses to his kingship and rightful lordship over every square inch of creation—including your place of work. Embrace your role as a witness for the king and work to make “thy kingdom come” in your place of work “as it is in heaven” today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter VocationsDevotional: 2 of 4“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. (John 21:3-6)Today’s passage shows us “the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead” that first Easter Sunday (see John 21:14). Commenting on this scene, St. Augustine once wrote admiringly that after Jesus had “risen from the grave, after seeing the marks of His wounds, after receiving, by means of His breathing, the Holy Ghost, all at once [these disciples] become what they were before, fishers, not of men, but of fishes.”But not everyone shares Augustine’s glowing view of the disciples. I’ve heard many pastors preach this text and call the disciples “backsliding” Christians because they went back to their vocations as fishermen instead of “following Jesus fully” as “full-time missionaries.” Let me share three reasons why that’s a poor interpretation of this text.First, Jesus never said that fishing for men and fishing for food were mutually exclusive. In Matthew 4:19, he said, “follow me…and I will send you out to fish for people.” He didn’t say, “I will send you out to fish for people and you will never fish for food or income again.”Second, Jesus could have reprimanded his disciples for fishing, but he didn’t. And it’s not like it was beyond the resurrected Christ to reprimand his followers (see Luke 24:13-25).Finally, Jesus blessed the work of his disciples’ hands with a miraculous catch of fish! Why would he have done that if he was not pleased with their decision to go back to their work of fishing? In this scene, we see a theme that is reiterated throughout the gospels—namely, that Jesus frequently smiles upon the choices his followers make to go back to the vocations they had prior to following him. We see it here with these bi-vocational fishermen/disciples in John 21. We see it with the Roman centurion in Matthew 8, who Jesus could have easily called away from his vocation, but didn’t. And we see it with Zaccheus in Luke 19 who, upon choosing to follow Jesus, appears to have gone back to his vocation as a tax collector with Jesus’s blessing.Following Jesus means that all of us will now “fish for people.” But it doesn’t mean that all of us will lay down our trades. Deep in your soul, you, like Jesus’s fishermen friends, know that God put you on this earth to fish, write, build homes, start businesses, or create spreadsheets. Meeting the resurrected Christ doesn’t necessitate you abandoning that work. You can bring Jesus great pleasure by staying exactly where you are fishing for people and food 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: Easter VocationsDevotional: 2 of 4Joseph of Arimathea…was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took [Jesus’] body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen….At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb…they laid Jesus there. (John 19:38-42)Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had a lot in common. Both were members of the Sanhedrin—the religious governing body that had just played a role in crucifying Jesus (see Mark 14:53-65). Both men, most scholars agree, were likely very wealthy. And both men were secret followers of Jesus…up until Good Friday, that is.Something about Jesus’s death compelled these two men to go public with their faith, specifically by giving Jesus a proper burial. As pastor Daniel Darling explains in his book, The Characters of Easter, “Typically a criminal would be dumped into an empty grave or pauper’s field, buried ignominiously under a pile of rocks.” But Nicodemus and Joseph refused to allow Jesus to suffer that fate. While their fellow members of the Sanhedrin may have killed Jesus like a criminal, these men were intent on burying Jesus like a king.And they made at least three enormous sacrifices to do so.First, money. Joseph gave up his costly tomb (see Matthew 27:60) and Nicodemus offered “seventy-five pounds” of “myrrh and aloes” for embalming, which one scholar says would have cost “an extraordinary amount.”Second, these men sacrificed their priorities. As Ken Costa points out in his book, Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph and Nicodemus “fully knew the embalming” of Jesus “would make them ritually impure at the start of the Passover feast.” This was an unthinkable act for religious professionals used to adhering to the letter of the law! And yet they prioritized honoring Christ above honoring the traditions of their professions.Finally, by burying Jesus, Joseph and Nicodemus would have seriously risked their reputations. Their peers had just murdered Jesus! And here they were honoring him. At a minimum, this act would have cost them their stature. But it could have cost them their jobs—maybe even their lives.The faith of Joseph and Nicodemus cost them a lot. How much is your Christianity costing you? If your honest answer is “not much,” I pray that the example of these two men would inspire you to be even bolder for Christ in your workplace today. That could take a lot of different shapes. Here’s just one I would challenge you with this morning: Acknowledge your faith in Christ to one co-worker who may not know you’re a Christian. In doing so, you’ll be paying a small tribute to Joseph and Nicodemus. But more importantly, you’ll be offering up a small display of worship to the One who gave up everything for you and me!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter VocationsDevotional: 1 of 4Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane…and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:36-38)Peter and “the two sons of Zebedee” (James and John) had a broad vocation to follow Jesus. But on the night before their rabbi’s crucifixion, they were given a more specific job: Simply to stay awake while Jesus went away to pray.As they were all walking into the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus “began to be sorrowful and troubled.” He was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”What’s going on here? In his phenomenal sermon The Dark Garden, Tim Keller explained Jesus’s sorrow this way: “Jesus…got all of his power…and his love from his relationship with the Father, and therefore...as he was walking to [Gethsemane], he would have started praying….In his heart, he would have turned to the Father, the way he constantly does…and that’s when it hit him. Because when he turned in his soul toward the Father, there was nothing there.”Jesus was experiencing a first sip from the “cup” of God’s wrath due to humankind’s sin (see Matthew 26:39). He was catching a preview of what he would drink in full the next day: Total separation from his Heavenly Father.Meanwhile, back at the camp, Jesus’s disciples were (literally) falling down on the job. Three times Jesus asked them to do the easiest job in the world while he went off to consider whether or not he would do the hardest—dying for these men who couldn’t even stay awake.As Keller explains, “Peter, James, and John are the representatives of the human race…Every time [Jesus found them sleeping] it’s like the Father is saying, ‘That’s the human race for you. Swallow hell for them. Take into yourself this spiritual atomic bomb and let it explode for them.’”And Jesus did! What does that mean for you, believer? At least two things.First, it means that God loves you on your absolute worst day at work. The day that represents your biggest regret. The season of unproductiveness. The time you had a golden opportunity to share the gospel with a co-worker but didn’t. God knows all about it. And because Jesus chose to die for his disciples on their worst day at the office, you can be confident that he loves you on yours.Second, I hope this scene at Gethsemane reminds you that you are free to risk greatly. Start that business, speak up for the injustice you’ve seen in your office, share your faith boldly. Why? Because even in failure, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).Because Jesus spent three days separated from the love of God, you never will, believer. Don’t take that for granted. May the assuredness of God’s love lead you to be bold for Christ’s sake today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Work Beneath Your WorkDevotional: 4 of 4 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:28-33)I began this series by asking you two questions:What is the work beneath your work? How does the gospel free you from that work? We’ve already explored two of the most common answers to that first question: performance and avoidance. Today, we look at one final work beneath our work: fear.This may be the most universal of all that we’ve explored. Entrepreneurs overwork themselves for fear that if they “don’t put in the work,” they won’t be able to provide for their families and their teams. Employees overwork for fear of losing their income and health insurance.Now, some of this fear is healthy. 1 Timothy 5:8 says that “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”But fear is terribly unhealthy and sinful if it controls you. If it plagues your thoughts. If it leads you to overwork or not faithfully “stand in for God,” and say hard things when they need to be said to your boss or customers.How can we be freed from fear—from this work beneath our work? The same way we are freed from performance and avoidance: the person and character of Jesus Christ.In today’s passage, Jesus promised his followers that if we “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” he will meet our every need. Why can you trust this promise when your job is on the line? Because God provided for your ultimate need of spiritual redemption even when it cost him the life of his Son. If God kept that promise, surely he will keep his promise to provide you with food and clothing. If the work beneath your work is fear, let that truth free you today. But maybe the work beneath your work isn’t fear, avoidance, or performance. Maybe it’s something else that I don’t know.But here’s what I do know: Until God’s glory and the good of others is the predominant motivation for your work, you will never be satisfied. You will never be able to truly rest. You will never find sustainable fuel for the good works God has called you to do.So do the hard work of identifying the work beneath your work. And meditate on the gospel of Jesus Christ that frees you to work solely for his glory, the good of others, and your joy.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Work Beneath Your WorkDevotional: 3 of 4In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)We’re in a four-week series exploring the work beneath our work—in other words, the ultimate why underneath what we do.Now, if you are subscribed to my devotionals, part of your motivation for your work is undoubtedly to leverage your vocation for the glory of God and the good of others. But if you find yourself consistently overworking—if you find that you’re unable to rest and “turn your brain off” at home—it’s worth asking whether there are deeper motivations for your work that are less than God-honoring.Last week, we looked at one of those motivations: performance. Today we look at another: avoidance.I know a lot of Christians who are using their work as a narcotic to avoid dealing with their depression, conflict with a family member, or a sense of inadequacy they feel when they’re at home compared to when they’re at their desk.It’s a lot easier to work hard at the office than it is to deal with these things. And so we work hard to numb the pain that comes with doing the harder work that awaits us when we step away from our laptops and workbenches.How do we free ourselves from this work beneath our work? By looking to Christ.As today’s passage reminds us, Jesus was under no obligation to enter our mess and save us. It was perfectly within his rights to avoid our sin and suffering. And yet, he “did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing,” on our behalf (Philippians 2:6-7).What is our response to Christ’s unfathomable grace and mercy? To “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5) which includes entering into the messes around us rather than using overwork as an anesthetic against hard things.Is God bringing to mind something you’re trying to avoid with your overwork? Ask him for the Christ-like courage to lean into that hard thing today for his greater glory.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Work Underneath Your WorkDevotional: 2 of 4Then the eyes of [Adam and Eve] were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:7)Last week, I asked you this: What is the work beneath your work? In other words, why are you working so hard?Over the next three weeks, we’ll explore three of the most common answers to that question. And while this will be far from an exhaustive list, I’m confident it will be a helpful one.Here’s the first: Performance, or using your work to earn the respect, love, and acceptance of others.For the first few years of my career, this was the primary work beneath my work. I wasn’t working primarily for the glory of God and the good of others. I was working to impress you. And so I would not-so-subtly name-drop big brands I had worked for and impressive people I knew—not to facilitate great conversation, but to make you think I had the most impressive LinkedIn profile in the room.Why did I do this? Why do you? For the same reason Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves for themselves in Genesis 3: to cover up the fact that underneath it all, we’re not OK.Of course, we don’t cover ourselves with literal fig leafs today, but we do with metaphorical ones to be sure. And because professional performance produces one of the thickest fig leaves of our modern era, we can work ourselves to the point of burnout, not because we need to financially, but because we need to spiritually.This work beneath our work of performance is laid bare in Taylor Swift’s autobiographical song Mastermind. She writes:No one wanted to play with me as a little kidSo I've been scheming like a criminal ever sinceTo make them love me and make it seem effortlessWhy are Taylor, you, and me working so hard? To perform. To “make them love” us.What can free us from this exhausting work beneath our work? Christ alone. 1 John 3:1 says that Christians are to be “called children of God…that is what we are!” Through Christ, I am an adopted child of God. A co-heir with Christ (see Romans 8:17). No amount of professional success will ever give me a loftier title than that!It is meditation on that truth that God has used to slowly but surely free me from the work beneath my work. The same will be true for you.But maybe the work beneath your work isn’t performance. Maybe it’s avoidance. It is to that work that we turn to next week.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Work Beneath Your WorkDevotional: 1 of 4Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah….When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” (Genesis 29:30-32)In today’s passage, we find one of the best biblical case studies for what Tim Keller calls "the work beneath [our] work.” On the surface, Leah’s work was that of childbearing. But her real work—the true why underneath all of her labor—was the exhausting work of winning Jacob’s love. After her first son Reuben was born, Leah said, “Surely my husband will love me now” (v. 32).But evidently, he didn’t, because Leah said the Lord gave her a second child, “Because…I am not loved” (v. 33).Maybe the third son would be the proverbial charm, Leah must have thought. So she gave birth to Levi and said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” (v. 34). Do you hear Leah’s angst? Her striving? Leah was desperately trying to get something from her work that God never designed her work to give her—namely the love and affection of another human being.But by the time Leah had her fourth son, something had changed. When she gave birth to Judah, Leah didn’t say anything that would connect her work as a mother to her attempts to earn her husband’s favor. She simply said, “This time I will praise the Lord,” and “then she stopped having children” (v. 35).It was only once Leah found love and acceptance outside of her vocational performance that she could rest her body and soul. It was only when the praise of the Lord was her primary ambition that she was freed from the work beneath her work.The question, of course, is what is the work beneath your work? And how does the gospel free you from that work? Those are the questions I’m going to challenge you to answer over the next few weeks. Now, the reality is that the “why” of your work is always going to be mixed. Some of your motives are likely honoring to God, while others aren’t.But we’d be wise to discern the primary motives of our hearts. Because until our motivation is predominantly to “praise the Lord” through our work, we will be restless, unsatisfied, and overworked.Start this morning by praying that God would begin to reveal the work beneath your work. And join me next week as we explore one of the most common ambitions that the gospel can free us from.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the ExodusDevotional: 7 of 7When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.” Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good.” (Exodus 18:14-17)Moses’s father-in-law Jethro was blunt. But he was also profoundly helpful. So much so that Exodus 18:24 tells us that “Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.”What did Jethro tell Moses to do? In short, delegate the work of governing Israel. Exodus 18:13-26 gives us a front-row seat to the masterclass Jethro taught Moses on delegation. Today, I want to turn your attention to five principles from that passage that are relevant to you today, whether you lead a team of 10 or 0 and are simply delegating work around your house.Principle #1: Identify the work you’re most uniquely equipped to do. For Moses, that was to “be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him” (v. 19). He was the only person God had called to that task, and so, Jethro urged him to focus his time and energy on that singular activity.Principle #2: Select trustworthy people to delegate other work to. In verse 21, Jethro told Moses to “select capable” people to delegate the work of judging Israel to. But when he explained what he meant by “capable,” he didn't focus on technical skills, but matters of the heart, urging Moses to select “men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain.”Principle #3: Make the time to train well. One of the most common mistakes I see people make when delegating is not making the time to delegate well. Jethro warned Moses against this, instructing Moses to “teach [his team God’s] decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live” (v. 20).Principle #4: Trust your team. “The simple cases they can decide themselves,” Jethro said in verse 22. In other words, don’t micro-manage, Moses! When we trust those we delegate work to, it not only serves us by freeing us to focus on the work we’re most uniquely equipped to do, it also enables others to do their most exceptional work.Principle #5: Delegate, but don’t abdicate. Jethro didn’t advise Moses to let his team handle all cases on their own. Just the “simple” ones. Jethro said, “have them bring every difficult case to you” (v. 22). Why? Because, to quote Michael Hyatt, “Delegation is not abdication. The outcome is still your responsibility.”Why does it matter that we, like Moses, learn to delegate well? Because it enables us to excel at the very thing God saved the Israelites and us to do: Work for his glory, the good of others, and the advancement of his kingdom!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the ExodusDevotional: 6 of 7On the sixth day, [the Israelites] gathered twice as much [manna]—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest.’” (Exodus 16:22-23)This is the first time Sabbath rest is offered to human beings in the Bible. Contrary to the Israelites’ ruthless Egyptian masters who offered them no rest for 400 years, their perfect Heavenly Master offered them the gift of rest once every seven days. And he promised to provide the manna they needed for two days so that they could rest without worry!The announcement of this gift undoubtedly led to great jubilation. And yet, Exodus 16:27 tells us that “some of the people went out on the seventh day,” to work. In her terrific study on Exodus, Jen Wilkin explains why, saying that while God had gotten his people out of slavery, he had yet to get the slavery out of his people who fell back into non-stop work due to four centuries' worth of habit.That’s likely what kept the Israelites from resting. But this morning, I want you to consider what might be keeping you from Sabbath rest. Chances are, it’s one of these three lies.Lie #1: Sabbath is irrelevant under the New Covenant. It is true that Sabbath is the only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated in the New Testament. “But even so,” says John Mark Comer, “the Sabbath still stands as wisdom. There isn’t a command in the New Testament to eat food or drink water or sleep eight hours a night. That’s just wisdom…You can skip the Sabbath — it’s not sin.” But it’s also not wise.Lie #2: More work equals more productivity. Not necessarily. When the Israelites went to gather manna on the Sabbath, Exodus 16:27 says “they found none.” Similarly, Dr. John Pencavel of Stanford has found that our productive “output falls sharply after a 50-hour work-week, and falls off a cliff after 55 hours.” It’s almost as if God has designed us for a full day of rest once a week…Lie #3: I’m not a slave. Tim Keller says, “Anyone who cannot obey God’s command to observe the Sabbath is a slave, even a self-imposed one.” Do you feel that you have to check email every day? If your phone buzzes, do you pick it up without even thinking? You’re more of a slave than you think. Sabbath is one way to declare that, through Christ, you are free from the pressures of this world. And it’s also a gift that God invites you to enjoy (see Mark 2:27). Accept that gift this and every week!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the ExodusDevotional: 5 of 7Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. (Exodus 8:1 ESV)A few weeks ago, we saw that it was the horrific working conditions of the Israelites that was the impetus for their exodus from Egypt. But if we’re not careful, we can mistakenly believe that God freed his people so that they could spend all their time worshiping him through song and sacrifices in the wilderness.But that’s not at all what we see. Seven times between Exodus 4:23 and 10:3, the Lord states his purpose for delivering his people. Over and over again he declares, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” Commenting on this passage, one theologian says that “God did not deliver Israel from work. He set Israel free for work.” But work as he had originally intended it. This sets up a theme we see throughout Scripture: Salvation isn’t an end in itself. It is a means to an end—namely being with God and working for his glory rather than the glory of man.That’s why God saved the Israelites, and it’s why he has saved you and me. This is precisely what Paul is getting at in Ephesians 2:8-10 when he says that while we are saved “not by works,” we have been saved “to do good works”—not to just sit around and wait for Christ’s return.Can I be real for a second? This is what drives me absolutely crazy about the (largely) American End Times industry. Rather than busying themselves with the “good works…God prepared in advance for us to do,” many Christians spend their days sharing fear-mongering Facebook posts speculating about the details of Christ’s second coming—all in the name of Jesus’s command to “keep watch” for his return in Matthew 25:13.But the context of that passage is crucial. Immediately after he instructed his disciples to “keep watch,” Jesus launched into the “Parable of the Talents,” the story of a Master (representing Christ) who puts his servants to work while they wait for his return (see Matthew 25:14-30). From the Old Testament to the New, God couldn’t be any clearer: We aren’t saved to sit on our hands, but to work with them. The good news of the gospel is not just that you get to go to heaven when you die, but that you get to partner with God in cultivating heaven on earth until you die.How? By weeding out the injustices you see in your industry. By creating businesses, films, and novels that offer glimpses of the beauty of the kingdom. And by serving as a faithful ambassador of your king in your place of work (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-20). Work hard to those ends as a response to your salvation today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the ExodusDevotional: 4 of 7Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you” (Exodus 7:1-2)God could have set the Israelites free all on his own. He could have taken human form, walked straight into Pharaoh’s palace, and led the Israelites out of Egypt for good. But that wasn’t his strategy as today’s passage makes clear. The Lord said to Moses, “I have made you like God to Pharaoh.” In other words, while God could have done this work on his own, he chose to do it through Moses and Aaron. Why? Was it because God had more important things to do? No. It’s simply because this is how God has always chosen to operate. All throughout Scripture, we see that while God is perfectly capable of working on his own, more often than not, he chooses to work in this world through human beings. That was true with Moses thousands of years ago, and it’s true with you and me today. In the words of Tim Keller, “We are called to stand in for God here in the world…as his vice-regents.” His deputy kings and queens. This is precisely what Paul was getting at in 2 Corinthians 5:20 when he calls you and me “Christ’s ambassadors.” Think about the role ambassadors play on behalf of nations today. They themselves are not sovereign. But they stand in for and represent the sovereign and the values of their kingdom.So it is with God and his kingdom. One of the purposes of our work is to “stand in for God” and be what James Davison Hunter calls a “faithful presence” for him in our places of work. To be “like God,” not to Pharaoh but to our bosses, co-workers, and customers.What does this look like practically? It means exposing evil in our companies and industries (see Ephesians 5:11), “making [God’s] appeal” of salvation to the non-Christians we work with (see 2 Corinthians 5:20), and working “heartily, as unto the Lord” knowing that it is through our work that God feeds, heals, clothes, protects, and helps the world (see Colossians 3:23).The purpose of your work is so much bigger than providing for your needs or fulfillment. You wear what Martin Luther called “the masks of God,” standing in for him in your small corner of creation. Stand in as a bold, joyful, and faithful representative of him today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the ExodusDevotional: 3 of 7“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:10)God just said he would free the Israelites from their oppressive work conditions in Egypt, which undoubtedly brought Moses great joy. After all, he once killed a guy for the way he treated an Israelite worker (see Exodus 2:11-12). But what God said next broke Moses’s grin: “I am sending you,” Moses, to do this work. Exodus 3:11 - 4:10 records four excuses Moses makes for why he’s not the right person for this job. Today, I want to look at two of those excuses we borrow all the time to avoid doing the hard things God calls us to do.Excuse #1: I’m not qualified! Immediately after hearing God’s words in today’s passage, Moses said, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11) to which God replies, “I will be with you” (see Exodus 3:11-12). In other words, “You aren’t the point, Moses. ‘I AM.’ I don’t need you to be qualified. I need you to be willing to let me work through you.”The same is true with you and me, believer. Maybe God’s calling you to speak up to your boss about an offensive comment he made to someone who doesn’t have as much political capital at work as you do. It can be easy to say, “Who am I to have that conversation?” But if God is calling you to do it, you can do so boldly knowing that he is with you.Excuse #2: I don’t have all the answers! Exodus 3:13 records Moses as saying to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” Essentially, Moses is saying, “I don’t have all the answers, God!”We use this excuse all the time—especially when it comes to sharing our faith. To be clear, you should know God’s Word well enough to “be prepared to give an answer…for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15) But you also have to realize that you’ll never have all the answers to all the questions. Which is probably why, after commanding his followers to “make disciples,” Jesus reassured them by saying, “I am with you always.” And if he is with us, we can trust that he will give us the answers we need, when we need them.What excuses are keeping you from doing the thing God has called you to do in your work today? Ask God to reveal the answer and prepare your heart to step out in obedience despite your reservations.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the ExodusDevotional: 2 of 7The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians. (Exodus 3:7-8a)We’re in a seven-week series extracting wisdom for our work from the exodus, and in today’s passage, we find the impetus and trigger for this monumental event: Work! Or to be more specific, the horrible working conditions of God’s people.The Egyptians had “made [the Israelites’] lives bitter with harsh labor…[and] worked them ruthlessly” (Exodus 1:14), screaming “Get back to your work!” (Exodus 5:4), and, “Make the work harder” (Exodus 5:9). So God’s people “groaned in their slavery....and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God” (Exodus 2:23).And as today’s passage shows us, God heard the cry of his people and acted decisively. The ability of God’s image-bearers to do good work is so important to him that he sent ten brutal plagues and parted the Red Sea in order to free his people.Now, our work today can not compare to the enslavement of the Israelites. But we do deal with less severe “thorns and thistles” of the curse nonetheless (see Genesis 3:17-19). We are forced to put up with non-stop emails that distract us from our families, verbally abusive customers and bosses, and rising costs of living without corresponding increases in income.It can be tempting to think that God is indifferent to these struggles—that he’s got bigger things to worry about than whatever is frustrating you at work today. But the exodus shows us that’s not the case. As one theologian said commenting on today’s passage, "Work, and the conditions under which it is performed, is a matter of the highest concern to God."In light of that truth, how should we respond to the frustrations we face at work? In three ways.First, cry out to God for help like the Israelites did, knowing he hears your lament.Second, fight to improve the job conditions of those you work with, especially if you lead a team. The exodus reminds us that working to make your organization’s culture more equitable, peaceful, and enjoyable isn’t “secular.” It is God-ordained work.Finally, when you encounter frustrations at work today, look forward to when God will “come down to rescue” all of his people and put us to work on the New Earth where we will “long enjoy the work of our hands” (see Isaiah 65:22).

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from the ExodusDevotional: 1 of 7The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. (Exodus 1:15-17)The midwives in today’s passage play a starring role in Exodus 1. What can Shiphrah and Puah teach us about our work today? At least two things.First, that God uses the nobodies of this world to do his work. To fully appreciate this truth, we must understand the context of today’s passage. The King of Egypt (AKA Pharaoh) had a problem. In Exodus 1:9-10 he’s quoted as saying, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us….we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”Pharaoh’s solution is the mandate we see him hand down in today’s passage: Kill all the Hebrew boys. Why? Because they were the ones who would “fight against” Egypt. Girls posed no threat to Pharaoh, and thus, they meant nothing to him. But they meant a great deal to God. Because it is five women that God uses to thwart Pharaoh’s plans: Shiphrah, Puah, and as we see in Exodus 2, Moses’s mother, sister, and the daughter of Pharaoh.Have you ever felt looked down upon at work because of your gender, race, or where you did or didn’t go to school? Know that God sees you, values you, and can use your work for his mighty purposes.Here’s the second thing these Hebrew midwives teach us: God remembers the faithful but not necessarily the famous. Before Moses wrote the words of today’s passage very few people knew Shiphrah and Puah’s names, but everyone knew Pharaoh’s. And yet, in the eternal Word of God, Pharaoh’s given name isn’t mentioned. You see, while Pharaoh was certainly famous in his day, he was an enemy of God, and thus his name has been erased from the history books. But while Shiphrah and Puah were nobodies in their day, their faithfulness to God’s commands ensured that the history books and God himself will remember their names forever.Hebrews 6:10 tells us that “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” God didn’t forget Shiphrah and Puah’s faithful work, and he won’t forget yours, believer. Regardless of how obscure your work is today, know that the Lord sees your faithfulness, will reward it, and will remember it for eternity.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Christmas Vocations Part IIDevotional: 4 of 4For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. (Isaiah 9:6a)We’re in a four-week series exploring the vocations of some of the characters of Christmas. This morning, we come to the principal of the nativity scene: Jesus himself.Now, you may be thinking, Hold up a minute, Jordan, this is a series on “Christmas Vocations” and Jesus didn’t yet have a vocation lying there in the manger. That is precisely what I want you and I to focus on today. While Jesus would one day hold vocations as a carpenter, preacher, and king, for the first years of his life he had no work. Instead, the Creator chose to be entirely dependent on the work of his creatures. Theologian J.I. Packer marveled at this truth saying that “the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child.”Do you see the absurdity of this scene? Jesus could have come into the world as a full-grown, independent man. But Christmas reminds us that he chose to rely on the work of a mother to clothe him, innkeepers to shelter him, educators to teach him, cooks to feed him, and a carpenter to train him.And just as God chose to use human work to carry out his plans for his son two thousand years ago, he chooses to use human work to carry out his Son’s plans for the world today. Jesus promised to provide food, shelter, and clothes to those who “seek first his kingdom” (see Matthew 6:25-34). How is he doing that? Through the work of chefs, construction workers, and clothing retailers. Jesus said he came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). How is he doing that? By “making his appeal through us,” mere Christians who work alongside non-believers (see 2 Corinthians 5:11-21).God could do all of this work on his own. But he chooses to do it through you and me. Which is why Paul calls us “God’s co-workers” (see 1 Corinthians 3:9). Your job isn’t just a job. It’s not just a path to income. It is nothing less than the medium through which God feeds, clothes, sustains, reconciles, and renews the world. Thank him for the privilege of inviting you to work with and for him this year!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Christmas Vocations Part IIDevotional: 3 of 4So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. (Luke 2:16)Since our first date 16 years ago, my wife Kara and I go to the historic Tampa Theatre every December to see It’s a Wonderful Life. And even though the film is more than 75 years old, the theater is packed every year. Why? Because the movie’s protagonist, George Bailey, encapsulates a timeless desire of the human heart to do work that matters.If you haven’t seen the film, here’s the gist. George Bailey was raised in the small town of Bedford Falls, but he dreamed of doing “something big, something important.” But life got in the way and George remained stuck in his hometown working an obscure job he saw little purpose in. It took a literal miracle for him to see just how impactful his life and work had been.Scripture tells us nothing about who made the manger Jesus slept in his first night on earth. But I’m willing to bet he felt much like George Bailey. He probably spent years hammering away at mangers and other works of wood doubting that any of it mattered beyond putting food on his family’s table. And yet God chose the work of this craftsman’s hands to hold the Creator of the world.One of the most stunning promises in Scripture is that “your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). That term “labor in the Lord” means far more than the “spiritual” tasks of evangelism and prayer. The New Living Translation says it means any work we do “for the Lord.” Commenting on this passage, New Testament scholar N.T. Wright says, “What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future.”That sounds incredible, but sometimes it can be difficult to see how. It’s comforting to me that even the great Apostle Paul doubted the significance of his work. In 1 Thessalonians 3:5, he admitted, “I was afraid that…our labors might have been in vain.” And yet he still wrote 1 Corinthians 15:58 assuring himself and his readers of God’s promise.You see, this is an act of faith. Even when we can’t see how, we trust that God will use everything we do for him—even something as seemingly insignificant as nailing together a manger—for his glory and our good. Have faith in that promise today, believer. Bask in the knowledge that everything you do “for the Lord” will reverberate throughout eternity!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Christmas Vocations Part IIDevotional: 2 of 4After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed. (Matthew 2:1-3) Those last words are one of the great understatements in all of Scripture. Herod was more than “disturbed” by the news of Jesus. He was apoplectic because this new “king of the Jews” represented a direct threat to his throne.Herod knew there can only be one king in a kingdom. Either you are on the throne or someone else is. There is no in-between—no compromise whatsoever. Which is why, after hearing of this threat to his career, Herod unleashed one of the most grotesque campaigns of violence in history (see Matthew 2:16). But Herod isn’t the only king we see in today’s passage. We’re also introduced to the Magi—the “three kings of Orient are” we sing about every Christmas. While Herod responds to Jesus the King with ruthless violence, the Magi display the polar opposite response: total and complete worship (see Matthew 2:11).Two sets of kings. Two totally different responses. The question, of course, is how do you and I respond to the newborn king? Certainly not like Herod. But I’m not sure we respond like the Magi either. Our temptation is to profess faith in Christ but not make him the true Lord of our lives. We want Jesus as a consultant, but not really as king. Because if he is king, then you and I are no longer our own.How do you know if Jesus is your consultant at work instead of your king? I could list dozens of signs, but here are just five I think you and I struggle with the most:You ask Jesus to approve your plans, rather than guide your imagination and planning from the get-goYou rarely show allegiance to your King and talk openly about your faith with your co-workersYou consult Google and industry gurus more than God’s Word and his Holy Spirit when making hard decisionsYou embellish the truth about how well things are going at work for fear of bruising your pride if you were obedient to God’s call to truthfulnessYou’d rather be seen as tolerant and loving than holy and loyal to your KingFeeling convicted? Welcome to the club. Here’s the good news: You and I have a king who “is faithful and just to forgive” when we try to stage a coup against his kingship (see 1 John 1:9). Thank him for his forgiveness today! And may his grace and mercy lead us to be even more intentional about keeping the One True King as the sole occupier of the throne of our lives and work.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Christmas Vocations Part IIDevotional: 1 of 4[Mary] brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7 KJV)It may surprise you to learn that the infamous “innkeeper” of the nativity is never explicitly mentioned in Scripture. But clearly, someone had to deliver the news to Mary and Joseph that there was “no room for them in the inn.”What can we learn from this nameless hotelier? At least two things.First, God often chooses to reveal himself to us at work. Whoever this innkeeper was, they were undoubtedly swamped that first Christmas Eve as a census brought an influx of travelers to Bethlehem (see Luke 2:1-3). You can imagine the innkeeper rushing to check people in and clean out rooms, just trying to keep his or her head above water. That’s when God literally showed up on the innkeeper’s doorstep. God didn’t meet the innkeeper in the temple but at their place of work, which is one of the most common places we see God showing up all throughout Scripture (see Matthew 4:18-22, Exodus 3:1-2, and 1 Samuel 16:11-12). You see, work isn’t a distraction from “the things of the Lord.” It’s where the Lord often meets us if we are willing to be aware of his presence. How? By setting a reminder to pray at a specific time during your workday, writing a verse near your desk, or attaching a reminder of God’s presence to a physical activity in your office (for more on this last one, listen to this clip from Skye Jethani).Here’s the second thing the innkeeper teaches us about our work: The minute we invite Jesus inside, our secular workplace instantly becomes sacred. The innkeeper wasn’t a priest or religious professional and was probably tempted to view his or her work as “secular.” But on that first Christmas Eve, the innkeeper couldn’t have been more wrong.Why? Because “secular” literally means “without God.” Had the innkeeper welcomed Joseph, Mary, and Jesus into their lobby, God would have quite literally been with them and that secular place of work would have instantly been made sacred the moment Mary’s belly crossed the threshold.The same is true of you today, believer. Don’t believe for one second that your workplace is secular just because your company makes widgets instead of sermons. The same God who appeared to the innkeeper that first Christmas Eve literally dwells in you. And so, the only thing you need to do to make your secular workplace sacred is walk through the door or log on to Zoom.With that in mind, embrace your work as exactly where God wants to be with you and working through you today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: How God's Word Shaped C.S. Lewis's WorkDevotional: 4 of 4For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:18-20)The parallels between C.S. Lewis and John F. Kennedy are eerie, to say the least. Both men were Irish. Both went by the nickname Jack. Both were war veterans but ultimately gained fame through their writing and speaking. And both men died on November 22, 1963, within one hour of each other.From that point forward, their paths diverged considerably. Kennedy’s death dominated the front page of every major newspaper on earth. In most papers, Lewis’s death wasn’t even mentioned. While more than 800,000 people lined the streets to watch Kennedy’s funeral procession, there was no procession at all for Lewis, his funeral attended by a handful of close friends.But today, nearly 60 years after the men passed, JFK’s legacy has steadily diminished while Lewis’s continues to grow. The New York Times recently called Lewis an “Evangelical Rock Star,” while TIME Magazine named him the “hottest theologian” of the year—42 years after his death. Comparing the legacies of Kennedy and Lewis, The Atlantic was forced to admit that “Lewis’s ideas claim the most lasting influence.”Why such a stark contrast in the acclaim these men received immediately after death and decades afterward? There are many answers to that question. I’ll offer just one: While Jack Kennedy appears to have lived his life in an effort to build his own kingdom—the “kingdom of Camelot”—Jack Lewis lived his life for something that would outlive us all—the eternal kingdom of God.As we’ve seen in this short series, Lewis wrote and lived parables that pointed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He worked as a living sacrifice, giving up time and considerable amounts of money for the good of others. He viewed himself “as a small, dirty object” and spent his life in service of others rather than his own ego. Why did Lewis work in these ways? Because he knew that ultimately his “citizenship is in heaven.”If like Kennedy, you work for your fame, your agenda, and your kingdom, your work will be forgotten soon after you’re gone. But if like Lewis, you work for Christ’s fame, his agenda, and his kingdom, you can know that your work “is not in vain” (see 1 Corinthians 15:58). Even if nobody in this life remembers your work, you can take it to the bank that God “will not forget” it (see Hebrews 6:10).Believer, this life is a rounding error in the context of eternity. Don’t fight to save it. Like Lewis, spend it in service of the True and Better Aslan.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: How God's Word Shaped C.S. Lewis's WorkDevotional: 3 of 4And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)We’re in a four-week series exploring how God’s Word shaped the work of C.S. Lewis—the author of Mere Christianity, The Chronicles of Narnia, and other beloved works. One of the most obvious ways the Word shaped Lewis’s work is found in today’s passage: For most of his life post-salvation, Lewis was in intentional community with other Christians.During the 1930s and 40s, Lewis met on a near-weekly basis with a group called the Inklings, which was marked by three distinct characteristics.First, the core members of the Inklings were all serious Christians, including Lewis, Hugo Dyson, Charles Williams, and Lord of the Rings creator, J.R.R. Tolkien. Notes from their meetings make clear that their gatherings enabled each other to renew their minds with the truths of God’s Word.Second, the Inklings were also all writers. They didn’t just love the Lord; they loved literature as well, which enabled them to not only encourage each other spiritually but also vocationally.Finally, many of the Inklings were marked by genuine humility and lived out Paul’s command to “in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4). Take Tolkien and Lewis as case-in-point. While these men were great friends, they were also great rivals. And yet Lewis was the chief cheerleader of Tolkien’s work. As Tolkien said of Lewis, “He was for long my only audience. Only from him did I ever get the idea that my ‘stuff’ could be more than a private hobby. But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought [The Lord of the Rings] to a conclusion.”Knowing that The Lord of the Rings would compete directly with The Chronicles of Narnia, that must have required a great deal of humility on Lewis’s part. But this, Lewis said, is “The real test of being in the presence of God…that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object.”If you want to work with increased levels of excellence and obedience to God’s Word, having your own group of Inklings is critical. If you’re in a group like this—maybe in your local church—praise God! If you’re not, find one. Because, in the words of Jen Wilkin, “The Christian faith holds no room for individualism.”

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: How God's Word Shaped C.S. Lewis's WorkDevotional: 2 of 4Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)Before heading off to WWI, C.S. Lewis made a pact with his friend, Paddy Moore: If either were to die on their respective battlefields, the survivor would look after the deceased’s families.Shortly thereafter, Paddy died; and after being discharged on account of a war injury of his own, Lewis made good on his promise and moved in with Paddy’s sister and mother.At first, the Lewis/Moore household was a happy one. But over time, Mrs. Moore became a thorn in Lewis’s side. According to one Lewis biographer, “He would be writing or studying in his room when he would suddenly hear a terrible crash from somewhere downstairs and a plaintive cry from Mrs. Moore. In great anxiety, he would run down to find that she had tripped over something and was not in the least hurt but very ‘shaken.’ [Lewis] would bustle about setting all to rights again and then return to his work, only to be summoned again ten minutes later to go out and buy something or to perform some other minor and largely unnecessary task.”Life went on like this for more than thirty years, and yet, according to multiple Lewis biographers, "no breath of complaint" was ever uttered by Lewis against Mrs. Moore. Why? Because according to Lewis, true "happiness…lies in the path of duty” to God. And what is that duty? Paul answers that question in today’s passage: “in view of God’s mercy…offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” C.S. Lewis modeled this command exceptionally well in two ways. The first we’ve already seen. While Lewis was intensely serious about his work, he recognized that people are just as much “the work” we’re called to as are the tasks on our to-do lists. And so he sacrificed his productivity without complaint.Second, Lewis was sacrificial with his money. According to one Lewis biographer, “he would gladly give to anyone who asked,” which is all the more extraordinary considering that Lewis remained “convinced of his own poverty” until the day he died.C.S. Lewis understood that because Jesus was a dying sacrifice, you and I are free to be a living one. Go sacrifice greatly for the glory of God and the good of those you work with today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: How God's Word Shaped C.S. Lewis's WorkDevotional: 1 of 4[Jesus] told them many things in parables. (Matthew 13:3)C.S. Lewis was one of the greatest Christian apologists of the 20th century. But up until his early thirties, he was an ardent atheist.How did God bring about Lewis’s radical transformation? By appealing first to his heart and then to his mind.It all started when a 17-year-old Lewis was waiting for a train in England. To pass the time, he purchased a novel titled Phantastes, and as he began to read, something remarkable happened. As one of Lewis’s biographers explains, “everything was changed for Lewis as a result of reading the book. He had discovered a ‘new quality,’ a ‘bright shadow,’ which seemed to him like a voice calling him from the ends of the earth.” Lewis had no idea at the time that the book’s author, George MacDonald, was a Christian pastor. Because the novel was no sermon. It was a parable written to awaken desire in the soul rather than preach truth to the mind.This experience, which Lewis dwelled on frequently until his conversion some fifteen years later, lends credence to what the Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal once argued—that “there was little point in trying to persuade anyone of the truth of religious belief. The important thing, he argued, was to make people wish that it were true….Once such a desire was implanted within the human heart, the human mind would eventually catch up with its deeper intuitions.”This is precisely what happened to C.S. Lewis, and it’s a philosophy he carried into his own work after coming to faith in Christ, most famously in The Chronicles of Narnia. Christians who read those novels will clearly see Jesus reflected in the lion, Aslan. But many non-Christians won’t. They will only see a story they desperately want to be true.In writing in this way, Lewis’s work followed the form of his Savior’s. As Lewis pointed out, Jesus rarely lectured but instead used “paradox, proverb, [and] parable” to awaken people’s hearts to the beauty of his Kingdom.You and I can do the same today. How? By living a parable of Christ’s love for his enemies, and by seeking to bless our enemies and competitors. By living out parables of Christ’s humility by working to place others in the spotlight rather than ourselves. By telling stories of redemption that are so beautiful and true that “people wish that they were true.”C.S. Lewis’s story reminds us that God can use our subtle parables to make people receptive to our explicit preaching. Work to that end today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Work that Physically Lasts for EternityDevotional: 5 of 5Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. (Revelation 22:12)I hope this series has inspired you to chase hard after the remarkable reward of your work physically lasting into eternity. But you may be thinking, Jordan, it doesn’t feel quite right to be motivated by these eternal rewards.I know I felt that way for years. Before I address this feeling of guilt, I want to make it crystal clear that Jesus is the ultimate treasure of heaven—not our work being considered “the glory of the nations.” That said, there are at least three reasons why we should be comfortable unashamedly chasing after the rewards God promises us.First, God encourages us to. If God didn’t want us to be motivated by eternal rewards, then why did Jesus spend so much time talking about them? In Matthew 6:1-6 Jesus mentioned three rewards in just six verses! As Dr. Randy Alcorn says, “If we maintain that it’s wrong to be motivated by rewards, we bring a serious accusation against Christ!”Second, we should be free from the guilt of chasing after eternal rewards because most eternal rewards are tied to sacrifice. They require giving up something in the present for something far greater in the future (see Colossians 3:23-24 and Luke 6:22-23 as examples). Maybe that’s why Scripture is constantly saying that these rewards are an act of justice (see Hebrews 6:10, Jeremiah 17:10, and Revelation 22:12).I don’t know about you, that idea makes me uncomfortable. Because I know you and I don’t “deserve” a single thing from God. But God in his incomprehensible goodness and grace says he will “repay” us for the good we do. Why? John Eldredge explains saying, “God seems to be of the opinion that no one should be expected to sustain the rigors of the Christian life without…being brazenly rewarded for it."Finally, we should boldly chase after eternal rewards because the more rewards we have, the more gifts we will be able to bring to Jesus. Look back at Isaiah 60—one of the core passages of this series. The people aren’t bringing “the glory of the nations” into the New Jerusalem for their glory, but for God’s. They bring their ships, incense, and refined “silver and gold, to the honor of the Lord” (v. 9).The same will be true for us. When Jesus graciously redeems the work of our hands and carries our paintings, skyscrapers, books, and inventions into eternity, we will take those rewards and lay them right back down at the feet of our King. So go and do your work with excellence, love, and in accordance with God’s commands today, brazenly chasing after that reward!

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Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Work that Physically Lasts for EternityDevotional: 4 of 5For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)We’re in a 5-week series exploring this wild idea that some of the work has the chance of literally, physically lasting into eternity. The question, of course, is which work? Scripture doesn’t tell us explicitly. But it does give us some clues.As we saw last week, it appears that some acts of evil will carry on, so long as in their redeemed state they bring God greater glory. The nail scars in Jesus’s hands certainly fit that bill. Isaiah 2:4 says that some swords and spears will last, but they will be turned into “plowshares and...pruning hooks,” which will point to Christ's glory and victory over all wars and violence.But while Scripture alludes to the idea that these cultural goods we would call "evil" will be redeemed, my guess is that God will deem many things totally irredeemable. "What about intercontinental missiles or nuclear submarines? Or pornographic movies?” Dr. Richard Mouw asks. “[Isaiah 60] seems to be sensitive to these kinds of questions. The things [Isaiah] mentions....are items that seem quite capable of being employed in a ‘redeemed’ environment.”But today’s passage may be the most instructive of all in helping us discern which work will survive for eternity. Paul says that fire will ”test the quality of each person’s work” and implies that the work done with "gold, silver, [and] costly stones” will be the only work that “survives” judgment. What do these metaphorical substances represent? Pastor Skye Jethani says they represent “works of high quality” and are consistent "with the character of God." I’ve read dozens of similar answers to that, and I think Jethani is directionally right. Here’s how I’d summarize my biblically informed guess as to which work will last for eternity: Any work we do with excellence, love, and in accordance with God's commands that, if redeemed, will bring God greater glory.Based on that, here are some practical questions for you to meditate on today:Are you designing your client’s website with excellence and with all your heart?Are you building your business with genuine love of every stakeholder? Are you creating lesson plans in obedience to God’s commands?If so, Scripture gives you reason to hope that your work will literally last into eternity. That one day, you might ride the ships of Tarshish into the New Jerusalem with artifacts of your work in hand, and lay them down at the feet of Jesus as an offering of worship.I pray that motivates you to work with excellence, love, and in accordance with God’s commands today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Work that Physically Lasts for EternityDevotional: 3 of 5You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. (Revelation 4:11)Last week, we saw evidence from Revelation 21 and Isaiah 60 that some of our work has a shot at physically lasting into eternity. But since that idea seems too good to be true, today I want to look at three other pieces of evidence for this idea.First, it’s simply not in God's nature to ask his children to create things only to destroy them. In Genesis 1:28, God issued the First Commission to humankind: to fill the earth. Pastor Timothy Keller points out that this is a call to “not just procreation, but also cultural creation.” And it’s simply not in God’s character to watch his children obey that command by making bicycles, software, and Nutella only to throw those creations away. Good earthly fathers don't do that. Do we really think our perfect heavenly father will?Second, by redeeming the work of our hands, God will get greater glory. Randy Alcorn nails this saying, “Some may think it silly or sentimental to suppose that nature, animals, paintings, books, or a baseball bat might be resurrected. It may appear to trivialize the coming resurrection. I would suggest that it does exactly the opposite: It elevates resurrection, emphasizing the power of Christ to radically renew mankind—and far more.”Read today’s passage again. The saints are singing, “You are worthy, our Lord…for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Commenting on this passage, Andy Crouch asks, "Wouldnʼt it be strangely empty to sing that song in a new world where all those things…were now only a memory?" Of course it would! By redeeming our sin-ladened work and carrying some of it onto the New Earth, God will get greater glory, which is precisely the point of eternity.Finally, the scars on Jesus’s hands give us further evidence that some work will last forever. Think about it. Jesus’s resurrected body included “nail marks” from when the Romans hung him on the cross (see John 20:24-27). And what are those marks? The work of human hands. The brilliant theologian, Dr. Darrell Cosden, explains that "the crucifixion was a ‘work’ carried out by many people…And since [Jesus’s] body, still containing those scars, is now ascended back into the Godhead, the results of at least this particular ‘human work’ are guaranteed to carry over into God's as well as our own future and eternal reality."Of course, the fact that the wicked work of the Roman soldiers and what John and Isaiah called “the glory of the nations” are physically present for eternity raises an important question: Which work will last and which won’t? We’ll attempt to answer that question together next week.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Work that Physically Lasts for EternityDevotional: 2 of 5The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into [the New Jerusalem]. (Revelation 21:26)To quote a fictionalized Alexander Hamilton, I think we all "wanna build something that's gonna outlive [us]." Today, we’ll begin to see the biblical evidence that that longing is shockingly, miraculously true.In Revelation 21, John is sharing his glimpse of heaven on the New Earth when he says this about the New Jerusalem: “On no day will its gates ever be shut…The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it” (Revelation 21:25-26). What is John talking about? Thankfully, we don’t have to wonder, because Isaiah answers that question for us in Isaiah 60. And even though Isaiah wrote some 600 years before John, theologians such as Dr. Richard Mouw agree that “both men were working with the same material.” And so, as Dr. Randy Alcorn points out, “Isaiah 60 serves as the best biblical commentary on Revelation 21–22.”And in that commentary, Isaiah says this: “Your gates will always stand open…so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations” (Isaiah 60:11). This language is nearly identical to John’s. But Isaiah goes on to list out what some of “the wealth of the nations” are. They include "the ships of Tarshish" (v. 9), "incense" from the nation of Sheba (v. 6), and refined "silver and gold" from some unnamed nation (v. 9). Ships, incense, refined silver and gold—these are all works of human hands. And Isaiah and John are watching Jesus accept these acts of culture as gifts to adorn the New Jerusalem. The implication here is startling. These prophetic visions seem to suggest that some of the works of our hands—the product you’re building, the book you’re writing, the truck you’re repairing—have the chance of physically lasting into eternity.N.T. Wright, whom Christianity Today has called “the most prolific biblical scholar in a generation” summarizes this idea beautifully, saying, “You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to roll over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown on the fire….You are…accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world."This all sounds too good to be true. Should these passages be taken literally as I’m suggesting? Dr. Mouw says yes: Isaiah and John “are not merely engaging in utopian speculation.” They are “given a glimpse of things that the Lord will surely bring to pass.”But as brilliant as Dr. Mouw is, we shouldn’t just take his word for it. Which is why next week, we will look at other evidence in Scripture that our work has a shot at lasting forever.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Work that Physically Lasts for EternityDevotional: 1 of 5For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)Before we can appreciate how some of our work might physically last into eternity, we need to first grasp what God’s Word says about our pending judgment.Because today’s passage and others make it clear that it's not just our souls that God will judge. He will also weigh every person's actions, thoughts, and words—including those of believers! And since we spend such a huge portion of our lives working, we can assume that much of our accounting to the Lord will focus on our vocations.To be clear, the judgment today’s passage is referring to has zero bearing on our admission into the Kingdom of Heaven (see Romans 8:38-39). But it does influence our eternal rewards—a fact Jesus made clear to his disciples when he said that “the Son of Man…will reward each person according to what they have done” (Matthew 16:27).What are those rewards? Perhaps most famously, they are "treasures in heaven" (see Matthew 6:19) and various "crowns" (see 1 Corinthians 9:25-27). But in this devotional series, I want to turn your attention to another, less explored reward: The reward of God carrying the physical work of your hands into eternity. We’ll explore the biblical evidence for this next week. But today, I want to encourage you to do one practical thing in response to today’s passage: Judge your work before God does.The Apostle Paul says that “the spiritual person judges all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15, ESV). Knowing that God will one day judge our work, we’d be wise to examine our work today in light of that coming judgment. One way to do that is to imagine the questions God will ask you about your work and let your answers lead you to repentance and perseverance. Questions such as:Did you develop the talents I gave you with excellence? (see Matthew 25:14-30)Did you use your wealth to quietly serve the needy? (see Matthew 6:1-4)Did you do good to your competitors and enemies? (see Luke 6:35)Regardless of our answers to questions like these, if we are leaning on Christ alone for our salvation, we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven (see Romans 10:9). But may we not be those who enter the Kingdom empty-handed. Let us be those who run through the gates and receive great rewards that we can lay back down at the feet of our King!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: A God-Honoring Approach to PlanningDevotional: 4 of 4Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)In this series, I’ve sketched out what I believe to be a biblical, God-honoring approach to planning. First, we saw that we are called to “Commit to the LORD whatever [we] do,” including our planning (see Proverbs 16:3). Second, we’re called to “listen to advice” from others (see Proverbs 12:15). Third, we’re commanded to recognize our ultimate lack of control over our plans (see James 4:13-16). And today’s passage shares the fourth and final principle of this series: As we plan, we’d be wise to remember that regardless of the outcome of our plans, “it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”This truth enables us to do two things. First, it allows us to plan more confidently. The nature of planning is that it is risky. Whether you’re planning a budget, a project, or goals for the next quarter, planning always requires you to make predictions about a future you can not see. That can be a frightening thing to do, which is why so many of us fall victim to analysis paralysis. But if you’ve committed your plans to the Lord, sought out counsel, and humbly recognized your lack of control, you can make plans with confidence because at the end of the day, “it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” His purposes can not be thwarted (see Job 42:2). Commenting on today’s passage, Tim Keller says, “In a sense, for a Christian, there is no ‘plan B.’” Second, today’s passage should empower us to be at peace with any result. If our plans are wildly successful, “it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” If our plans blow up in flames, “it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” So we can be at peace with any result knowing that “in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).What plans are you making at work this week? View them in light of today’s passage. Remember that the Lord’s purpose will always, always prevail. And may that truth lead you to plan confidently and peacefully today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: A God-Honoring Approach to PlanningDevotional: 3 of 4Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)As we’ve seen throughout this series, planning is a good, God-honoring thing to do. But today’s passage reminds us that planning without recognizing our ultimate lack of control over our plans is arrogant and “evil.”I’ve had to repent of this sin recently. A friend of mine was asking me what I've been working on and I said, “I’m working on a new book that will come out in October of next year.” This is a textbook example of the evil planning James is talking about, and my temptation is to do it all the time.What’s the alternative? James tells us in verse 15: “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” If it is the Lord’s will, I’ll publish that book next October.Why is it so important that we articulate our lack of control over our plans? Beyond the fact that it’s simple obedience to God’s Word, let me share three reasons.First, it keeps us open to how the Lord might alter our plans. If I view a plan as “my plan” that I’m ultimately in control of, I’m going to hold that plan very tightly. But if I recognize that God alone is in control of my plan, I will hold it much more loosely and will be much more attuned to how the Lord might be calling me to change course.Second, articulating our lack of control over our plans increases our reliance on the Lord for results. It’s a practical way to “remember the Lord your God” and that “it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth,” or bring your plans to fruition (see Deuteronomy 8:17-18).Finally, it gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our faith to others. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t heard a lot of people uttering “Lord willing” at the office. Not only does this phrase signify that you’re a Christian, but at a deeper level, it communicates that you’re humbling yourself and your plans before God. I know it sounds trite, and I know it can sound awkward, but I’d challenge you to attach those two words—”Lord willing”—to the plans you articulate today.Lord willing, we’ll finish that project by the end of the quarter.Lord willing, I’ll be at that conference in December.Lord willing, we should be able to hit that revenue number by the end of the year.Verbalize your ultimate lack of control over your plans today, and watch to see what the Lord does with your obedience and humility!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: A God-Honoring Approach to PlanningDevotional: 2 of 4The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. (Proverbs 12:15)I’ve been the fool in this Proverb more than once. One example, in particular, comes to mind. A few years ago, I was running a rapidly growing tech startup and planning to hire our first full-time sales rep. Like any good entrepreneur, I took the time to draft a document detailing the type of person I thought we needed for the position. And with that plan in hand, I went out and hired someone we’ll call Michael who perfectly fit my description.The only problem was that I neglected to ask my existing team what they thought about my job description. Shortly after Michael started, members of my team came to me asking why I hired someone with Michael’s experience when what we needed most was someone with an entirely different background. They were right, of course, and eventually, we had to let Michael go. If I had simply asked for input on my hiring plan on the front end, I could have avoided making one of the worst mistakes of my career—one that was costly for the business and for Michael. Proverbs 24:6 is right: "victory is won through many advisers.” But which advisers? As you’re making plans for your work, who should you trust for counsel? Let me suggest two types of people: wise Christians who may or may not understand your specific work and wise people who understand your specific work but may or may not be Christians. Why this second type of person? Because God gives common grace and wisdom to all people—not just believers. Isaiah 28:24-26 makes this clear, saying that “God instructs” all workers and “teaches [them] the right way.” Ideally, we’d find wisdom for our plans in fellow believers. But when that’s not possible, we should boldly seek out wisdom from unbelievers knowing that, in the words of John Calvin, “All truth is from God.”Hear Solomon’s words one more time this morning: “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14, ESV). As you make plans in your work today, seek out an abundance of counselors for wisdom and help.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: A God-Honoring Approach to PlanningDevotional: 1 of 4Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. (Proverbs 16:3)You and I are always planning something at work: projects, marketing campaigns, hiring strategies, budgets, goals—the list goes on and on. God’s Word frequently extols the wisdom of planning (see Proverbs 21:5; Proverbs 24:27; Luke 14:28). But it also gives us a lot of instruction for how to plan in a God-honoring way.Today’s passage is a great example: You and I are called to commit our work and our planning to God. To ask him to lead and guide us as we make decisions about the future.Why is this so important? Beyond the fact that God commands it, let me share two reasons.First, committing our planning to the Lord is wise because he knows the future and you and I don’t. As God says in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you.” Now, this was spoken specifically to the Jews living in exile, but it is also true for us. We believe that God is omniscient. “He knows everything” (1 John 3:20). Not committing our planning to him and asking him for wisdom would be like having the world’s most accomplished mathematician as your father and not asking for help on your homework.Second, we ought to commit our planning to the Lord because he promises to give us wisdom. James 1:5 says that “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” Not “it might be given to you.” It will if you “believe and not doubt” (see James 1:6). I don’t know about you, but I need wisdom as I make plans for my work and life. I crave it. The good news is that we have a heavenly Father who longs to share his infinite wisdom with us (see Matthew 7:11).What are you planning today at work? An event? A sales strategy? Next quarter’s Objectives and Key Results? Commit your plans to the Lord in prayer right now. Ask for his wisdom and trust that he’ll provide it.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from NehemiahDevotional: 5 of 5So the wall was completed...in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. (Nehemiah 6:15-16)While detained in a concentration camp in 1941, Olivier Messiaen, a Christian and renowned composer, cobbled together a few dilapidated instruments in the camp and miraculously composed a masterpiece called Quartet for the End of Time. Years later, when an esteemed pianist sat down to master Messiaen’s wordless music, she was an ardent atheist. “But as she pored over the music and tried to comprehend what Messiaen was trying to say, it had a profound effect. ‘Little by little,’ she said, ‘I started believing.’” That story powerfully illustrates a truth we see in today’s passage from Nehemiah: Excellent work can preach a powerful sermon about the glory of God! While not a musical masterpiece, Nehemiah’s work rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem was no less impressive than Messiaen’s. The wall was a massive structure and Nehemiah and company faced tons of life-threatening opposition (see Nehemiah 4). Yet they were able to finish the wall in just fifty-two days! Nehemiah’s enemies must have been incredulous, trying to figure out how Nehemiah and team pulled it off. But as today’s passage reveals, the only satisfactory explanation they could come up with was that the wall had been built with the help of Nehemiah’s God.The British novelist, Dorothy Sayers, said that “The only Christian work is good work well done.” And Messiaen and Nehemiah remind us that our “good work well done” can demand the world’s attention and point them to Christ. As Andrew Scott says in his terrific book, Scatter, “If we were to live out our lives with excellence for the purposes of God in every sector of society, we would not have to shout so loudly to make our message heard.”Amen. With that in mind, go and do your work exceptionally well today, praying the Lord will use your good work to serve others well and point them to his inimitable glory!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from NehemiahDevotional: 4 of 5Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:11)Paul is crystal clear in today’s passage that Christians are called to expose darkness. To, as pastor Timothy Keller says, "bring every dimension of life…under the rule and law of God."Now, this doesn’t mean that we hold non-Christians to the same standard as Christians (see 1 Corinthians 5:12). But we can still expose darkness and fight for kingdom principles without appealing directly to “the rule of God” with our non-believing co-workers. Why? Because as C.S. Lewis says, Christian or not, “human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it.” Your co-workers likely agree that discrimination, fraud, and lying are wrong, even if you don’t quote the myriad of Scriptures that call these things sin. So if we aren’t going to run around saying, “Because the Bible tells me so,” how can we expose the darkness we see at work? Scripture gives us a terrific case study to help answer that question in Nehemiah 5. Some people had come to Nehemiah to complain that “their fellow Jews” were charging them interest (see Nehemiah 5:1-5). This was a serious violation of God’s law as outlined in Deuteronomy 23:19-20. What did Nehemiah do in response to this “darkness”? Five things. First, Nehemiah got “very angry” (see Nehemiah 5:6). Not anger that led to sin. But righteous anger at something that went against the Lord’s commands. Second, Nehemiah “pondered” the situation in his mind (see Nehemiah 5:7). He didn’t respond immediately. He was “quick to listen, [and] slow to speak” (see James 1:19).Third, Nehemiah made an explicit accusation saying, “You are charging your own people interest!...What you are doing is not right” (see Nehemiah 5:7-9).Fourth, Nehemiah spelled out what needed to happen to right the wrong, saying, “let us stop charging interest! Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them” (see Nehemiah 5:10-11).And finally, Nehemiah held the guilty parties accountable. After they promised to repent, Nehemiah brought others in to hear the people “take an oath to do what they had promised” (see Nehemiah 5:12-13).Where do you see sin and darkness in your office or industry? Take a moment to ask the Lord whether or not he’s calling you to follow Nehemiah’s framework to expose that darkness for his greater glory.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from NehemiahDevotional: 3 of 5…when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. (Nehemiah 4:7-9)Nehemiah was leading the people in rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls, but they were met with considerable resistance and threats (see Nehemiah 4:7). How would Nehemiah and team respond? Today’s passage provides the answer: “we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” (emphasis mine).The word “and” is the key to appreciating this text. Nehemiah and company didn’t just pray. They didn’t “let go and let God.” They trusted in prayer and the abilities God had given them to work and protect the wall.We see the same thing earlier in the book of Nehemiah. Even though Nehemiah knew “the gracious hand of...God was on [him]” he asked King Artaxerxes for protection as he traveled to Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 2:7-9). As one commentator notes, “Apparently, Nehemiah did not believe that trusting God meant he should not seek the king’s protection for his journey.”Here’s my point: Trusting God and trusting human beings are not always mutually exclusive. Oftentimes, we demonstrate our trust in God by trusting in our work and the work of others.Let’s make this practical. Pretend you heard a rumor that your company will soon be issuing lay-offs. By all means, pray that you’ll keep your job and trust that God will meet your needs regardless of what happens. But you should also trust in your ability to search for a job, the programmers who build job boards, and the company that manufactured your laptop. In the words of theologian, J.I. Packer, “The Christian’s motto should not be ‘Let go and let God’ but ‘Trust God and get going.’”What challenges are you facing at work today? Trust God and get going, trusting in your work and the work of others to help you “meet this threat.”

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from NehemiahDevotional: 2 of 5Then I [Nehemiah] said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work. (Nehemiah 2:17-18)As we saw last week, Nehemiah was a Jew in exile, working for King Artaxerxes of Persia (see Nehemiah 1:11 - 2:1) when he heard that his ancestral home of Jerusalem had been destroyed (Nehemiah 2:3). Decades before Nehemiah heard this news, another Jew, Ezra, led God’s people to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem (see Ezra 6:14-15). But today’s passage shows us that when Nehemiah made it to Jerusalem, the rest of the city remained “in ruins.” So Nehemiah led the people in the “good work” of restoring and renewing the city that surrounded the temple.This passage reminds us of an important truth we see throughout Scripture: God calls his people to both “sacred” and seemingly “secular” work—to work with both the spiritual and the material world. In fact, the word “spiritual” doesn’t even show up in the Old Testament. Why? “Because in a Hebrew worldview, all of life is spiritual,” says John Mark Comer. “I think if you had asked Jesus about his spiritual life…he would have asked…You mean my life? All of my life is spiritual.” Which is likely why Jesus showed no qualms about working with both the so-called “sacred” and “secular” realms, spending some years making tables and others making disciples.Jesus, Ezra, and Nehemiah remind us that the distinction between the spiritual and the material—viewing work inside the church as more important than work outside the church—is a human invention. It is not from God. The Lord calls people to build temples and cities. Both types of work can honor him. In the words of C.S. Lewis, work becomes "spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly ‘as to the Lord.’”Believer, the temple has been rebuilt through Christ in you (see 1 Corinthians 6:19), freeing you to go to work today and repair what else is broken in creation. So go and embrace your vocation—even one you may have previously deemed “secular”—as nothing less than God’s “good work” today!

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Wisdom for Work from NehemiahDevotional: 1 of 5I [Nehemiah] took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king (Nehemiah 2:1b-5a)Scripture commands that we “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17, ESV). But what in the world does that look like at work? Today’s passage helps answer that question. But first, some context.Nehemiah was a Jew in exile, working faithfully as a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia (see Nehemiah 1:11) when one day, he heard that Jerusalem, “the city where [his] ancestors [were] buried,” was in ruins (Nehemiah 2:3). This grieved Nehemiah so much that King Artaxerxes asked him, “Why does your face look so sad?” After Nehemiah explained the source of his grief, the king asked him, “What is it you want?” And immediately after hearing the question, Nehemiah said he “prayed to the God of heaven and...answered the king.”This prayer couldn’t have been longer than a second, maybe two. It happened in the blink of an eye. There, in the middle of a conversation with his boss, Nehemiah prayed the simplest of prayers, acknowledging God and asking for his wisdom and help. You and I can do the same today.Praying without ceasing doesn’t necessitate that you hole away in your office praying for hours on end. That approach is likely to get you fired! But we, like Nehemiah, can pray continually by quickly asking for the Lord’s wisdom and favor as we send an email, deliver a pitch, or interact with a customer. The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “I rarely pray for more than 5 minutes, but I never go 5 minutes without praying." That’s the idea here. As you work today, follow Spurgeon and Nehemiah’s examples in offering up ceaseless, split-second prayers to the Lord.

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: 2 Corinthians on WorkDevotional: 7 of 7Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And 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. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)The Association for Psychological Science describes a “scarcity mindset” as “people seeing life as a finite pie, so that if one person takes a big piece, that leaves less for everyone else.” The opposite is an “abundance mindset” which “refers to the paradigm that there is plenty out there for everybody.”In today’s passage, the Apostle Paul is calling believers to live their lives with a mindset of abundance. Why? Because we worship the God who owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10) who will ensure that “at all times” we will have “all that [we] need” to do his will. If we believe that, we will be willing to sacrifice for the good of others, knowing that God will not allow our needs to go unmet. This means you can sacrifice the spotlight on a project, knowing that God will give you all the attention you need to carry on “in every good work.” It means you can sacrifice time to help a struggling colleague, knowing that God will redeem whatever time you need to finish your to-do list. It means you can give generously to meet the needs of others, knowing that the Lord will not let you go hungry.Commenting on today’s passage, Jen Wilkin says, “Our lives should demonstrate that there is no such thing as scarcity when you are a child of God.” Amen. With the truth of this passage in mind, bring an abundant mindset to your work that enables you to sacrifice greatly for the good of others today!

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: 2 Corinthians on WorkDevotional: 6 of 7For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man. (2 Corinthians 8:17-21)For years, my friend had sold millions of dollars in artwork featuring a passage of Scripture. Then he discovered that the Bible translation he was using in the artwork was copyrighted, which could have meant he owed the copyright owners a lot of money in royalties. The chances that the copyright holder would’ve ever noticed my friend’s oversight were slim to none. But my friend knew what he needed to do. So, he hired an expensive attorney, contacted the owner of the copyright, and offered to retroactively pay a huge sum of money in backdated royalties. In this scenario, my friend was an exemplary picture of what the Apostle Paul is talking about in today’s passage: “taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.”As Christ-followers, we are called to go the extra mile to be totally above reproach—especially at work where our actions are likely to be noticed by many unbelievers. This could mean paying for a few hours of an attorney’s time to make sure you’re above board in how you’re classifying employees and contractors, or asking your finance department the question you don’t want to ask because you’re afraid of the answer, or redoing a piece of work for a client at your own expense, because you know it wasn’t your best.Where do you need to “take pains to do what is right” today? Pray about and respond to that question so that your “ministry will not be discredited” (2 Corinthians 6:3).

Sign-up for my free 20 day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: 2 Corinthians on WorkDevotional: 5 of 7Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)The dictionary defines a “yoke” as “a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.” When two animals are yoked together, they have no choice but to move in lockstep as they work. They are bound to the unilateral actions of the other. In the context of human relationships to be unequally yoked with unbelievers is, in the words of one commentary, “to be in a situation...that binds you to the decisions and actions of people who have values and purposes incompatible with Jesus’ values and purposes.”With that in mind, it’s clear that Paul is not saying we aren’t to befriend, work with, or purchase products and services from non-Christians. This interpretation would contradict much of Paul’s other writings (see 1 Corinthians 5:9-10, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, and Titus 2:9-10). Paul is saying that it is unwise to be yoked—that is conjoined with, in lockstep-with, joined-at-the-hip with—unbelievers, whether in business, marriage, or any other partnership.Why is this unwise? Because we have already been yoked with Christ (see Matthew 11:28-30)! Jesus is the one we are meant to move in lockstep with. Adding a third party who is trying to steer in a direction different from Christ’s is destined for conflict.If you are unequally yoked with someone at work, pray for God’s wisdom as to how to become unyoked. But if you are largely independent of the actions of the non-Christians you work with, praise God for the opportunity to work in ways that “will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” to them (see Titus 2:9-10).