Did you know that email messaging now exceeds telephone traffic and is the dominant form of business communication? Businesses report that many of their employees spend three to four hours a day on email. And most of us would say, “What did we ever do without email?”

However, along with this change in the way we communicate has come a new set of challenges. Communicating electronically is a very different medium, and if we are going to be effective in our jobs, we will need to learn how to use this tool and not abuse it. And that includes not only email, but Facebook, Twitter, and all the others which seem to pop up daily.

I thought it might be helpful to talk about ways to improve our electronic communication skills. You know, the way we communicate creates impressions and perceptions of us as people. And as Christ-followers, we not only represent ourselves, but more importantly, we are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “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 Cor. 8:21). I think it behooves us to take pains to improve our communications skills.

Let me begin by saying that as convenient as electronic communication is, it cannot replace the power of personal interaction. There are many times when face-to-face, voice-to-voice communication is absolutely the better way to go. No doubt we’ve lost a lot of personal touch because we use electronic means too often and too much. It’s much more difficult to communicate caring and compassion by email than it is in person.

It’s true that we may communicate more often because we have these convenient ways to do it, but it’s also true that the impersonal nature of electronic communication can cause us to be careless in how we say things. It can make us sound cold and harsh. We must learn to put ourselves in the shoes of the person reading our emails and find ways to communicate courtesy and thoughtfulness electronically.

Did you know that email messaging now exceeds telephone traffic and is the dominant form of business communication? Businesses report that many of their employees spend three to four hours a day on email. And most of us would say,...

How many days do you have left? That’s a very sobering, somewhat unsettling question, isn't it? We don't like to think about the fact that our days here on this earth are numbered. Oh, we all know the number behind us—how many days we've lived already. But thinking about how many are left—well, that's not something we think about too often. In fact, most of us live as though our days are without number.

In Psalm 39:4 David wrote:

"Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is."

And in Psalm 90:12 Moses prayed:

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

These men of God were not asking for a gift of prophecy, but rather for a change in perspective. They understood that living in the knowledge of how fleeting life is becomes a life-changing attitude, and they recognized that this attitude doesn't come naturally to anyone. So, they prayed for the ability to number their days.

I would suggest that all of us need to pray this prayer pretty regularly: "Lord, teach me to number my days correctly.” This is God’s method of counting, and it is powerful, once you learn it. You see, how you number your days has everything to do with how you live your life! Let me try to illustrate this for you.

Let's say that you learn that a coworker has been given a promotion that you deserve. That is hurtful and your natural reaction is anger, retribution, self-defense. But suppose you knew you only had five more days here on this earth. Would that loss of promotion have much, if any, effect on you? No, I doubt it, because since your days are few, a lost promotion isn't really important, is it?

That's what David meant when he prayed, "Let me know how fleeting is my life.” You see, this is an attitude that has to come from God because it is not a natural, human tendency to number our days aright. Moses prayed "Teach me to number my days," and we need to sign up for that course as well. It is an attitude that has to be learned and imposed into our lives, but when we learn this lesson, we gain a heart of wisdom.

All of us tend to live as though these days here on earth are numberless, don't we? We just don't naturally think about the fact that our days on earth will not go on forever. But as David wrote in Psalm 39:5:

“You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath...”

And again in Psalm 103:15-16:

"The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.."

David is not telling us that our lives have no meaning, but rather he is reminding us that whether we have five days, five years, or fifty-five years or more remaining in these numbered days, they are very few compared to the numberless days ahead of us. Both he and Moses asked God to teach them to number their days; to help them live in the knowledge that life is short.

Here’s another illustration of how life-changing it is to number your days aright. Suppose you find out today what someone said about you, and it is untrue, unfair and unkind. Your feelings are hurt. You want to say something bad about him or her in return. But if you stop and number your days, it changes your reaction. You’re not as likely to want retribution, your anger dissipates, your stress goes down. When you remember to number your days, you realize that someone's hurtful words cannot affect your numberless days yet to come. It won’t matter in eternity; it probably won’t matter next week!

From time to time we all get criticisms that are not constructive. If you're like me, you want to defend yourself immediately. But God is teaching me to number my days when I'm criticized unfairly and say to myself: "What ...

How many days do you have left? That’s a very sobering, somewhat unsettling question, isn’t it? We don’t like to think about the fact that our days here on this earth are numbered. Oh, we all know the number behind...

I certainly believe there are times when we should actively pursue another job or another career, when the right thing to do is find a place to work which uses our abilities better or get more education so we can advance to better jobs, or simply find a better working environment. But if you're in a job you hate, however long you are going to be in that job, as a Christ-follower, you should learn to be content there. The Apostle Paul said he learned to be content in any circumstance, and he was in some very bad situations. If he can learn contentment, so can we.

Let me tell you the story of a woman in Wisconsin who found herself in a job she hated. It was a manufacturing job with repetitive and boring duties. She graduated from college with very good grades but found herself in this job that was beneath her. Finally, after hearing my message on The Freedom of a Captive Mind, she decided to change her attitude about that job and to think of it as her mission field. She began reprogramming her mind with Scripture, memorizing verses on the job, and singing songs of praise in that factory job.

Her co-workers noticed the change in her. They began to ask her to sing her songs, and many times she was able to share the Scripture she was memorizing in conversations with different individuals. She started praying for her co-workers, and they began to come to her with their needs and ask her to pray for them.

She was able to lead one of her co-workers to know Jesus as her Savior, and touched the lives of all who worked with her. Yes, the work was boring, but she made the best of a tough job because she looked at it through the eyes of eternity, and asked God to use her there.

It's fine to look for a new job but one thing you don’t want to do is to leave in defeat. If and when you move on from that job you don’t like, you want to leave in victory. You don’t want to be running away from that job; you want to be leaving in good standing, with a good testimony, and with the knowledge that God is now opening a door and you’re leaving in victory. That is really important.

If you would like to read the entire week’s message, click here to view/download the PDF.

I certainly believe there are times when we should actively pursue another job or another career, when the right thing to do is find a place to work which uses our abilities better or get more education so we can...

If you find yourself in a job you don’t like, you need to know that you can learn to be content right where you are. And when you learn that, you are in a win-win situation, because you no longer...

If you find yourself in a job you don’t like, you need to know that you can learn to be content right where you are. And when you learn that, you are in a win-win situation, because you no longer allow yourself to be a victim of your job circumstances.

Ask God what he has to teach you through this job. Have you gone to God and said, "Lord, I'm in a job I hate and I can't get out. Why am I here? What are you trying to teach me or do through me in this job?"

You remember Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers and treated unfairly and cruelly by his captors, wrongly imprisoned for two years for doing the right thing. Then God delivered him from that prison and he became second in command to the Pharaoh. Joseph said of his bad experience that his brothers meant harm to him when they sold him into slavery, but God meant it for good. Joseph allowed God to turn a terrible experience into a blessing. But please note that God was able to turn it into a blessing because Joseph was willing to let him.

God may have you in that job you hate because he has a blessing there for you, but because of your attitude, he can't work that blessing for you yet. If Joseph had gotten bitter or remained angry or been rebellious, he would not have been able to interpret the Pharaoh's dream and he would have just rotted in that prison.

Are you rotting in your miserable job because you haven't given God permission to use it in your life for good? Believe me, there are miracles waiting for you in that job you don’t like, if you will in humility make up your mind to work for God and seek his reward and look for the good that God wants to do for you and through you right where you are. You'll know contentment even in a miserable job if you have that attitude in you.

It's the attitude that Jesus had when he was willing to leave heaven and come to earth to die for us. Surely it was a job he didn't relish, but he knew God would work redemption through it, and so he submitted to the good that God wanted to do by sending him to a job he did not enjoy.

Do you have a hard time making yourself go to work each day because you really don’t like your job? As Christ-followers in the marketplace, we need to show an attitude toward our jobs that is different from the non-believers, and whether we like our jobs or not, we should learn to be content with those jobs as long as we have them.

There are some little things you can do to improve the atmosphere where you work. For example, brighten your workspace with something that brings a smile to your face. Maybe it’s a poster of a place you love, and you can put that up in your workspace. Buy yourself a verse-of-the-day calendar, and as you flip it over each morning, meditate on that verse for a minute.

You could also go to our website and sign up to receive my daily devotionals as an email each morning, like a spiritual shot-in-the-arm waiting for you as you get to work. Thousands of people do that each day, and we’ve gotten lots of positive feedback that it has really helped them approach their workday with an improved attitude.

Another thing is to set some goals for yourself each week—things to do that will help you grow in the job or learn new skills or take some positive action toward looking for a new job. I have a friend who is really eager to change jobs right now, so she is quietly networking with people who can help her connect and give her guidance as she begins this process.

But meanwhile, as long as you’re in the job you have, don’t allow your desire to leave cause you to have poor performance. In fact, set a goal that you are going to do your work even better than ever, and truly pursue excellence in what you’re doing. That will take discipline, but it will be very rewarding. Just because you’re not happy with the job you have doesn’t give you an excuse to slough off and do your work half-heartedly.

Be honest with yourself and ask God to search your heart and show you what part of your dissatisfaction could be your own fault. There’s usually two sides to every story, so don’t be afraid to confront your own attitude and performance and recognize where you need to improve.

Do you have a hard time making yourself go to work each day because you really don’t like your job? As Christ-followers in the marketplace, we need to show an attitude toward our jobs that is different from the non-believers,...