Following is another episode of Fran and Jesus on the Job, my fictional story of a single mom who is learning to let Jesus guide her and use her as an ambassador for him in her working world. As she...

Following is another episode of Fran and Jesus on the Job, my fictional story of a single mom who is learning to let Jesus guide her and use her as an ambassador for him in her working world.

As she is working at her desk, her friend, Louise, a fellow believer, walks into her office and shuts the door behind her. “What is it, Louise?” Fran asks. “What’s happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Fran, have you read this latest memo from the home office? Listen to this,” Louise reads from her phone:

In order to make certain that our company provides adequate protection for all of our employees and is compliant with Federal and State guidelines, everyone is required to attend a training session addressing these concerns. These are two-hour sessions which will be conducted by an outside organization and will focus on our individual responsibility to affirm and respect everyone in our company. Please select the day you can attend and sign up below.”

“I have not seen that,” Fran replies. “What do you think it’s all about, Louise?”

“Oh I know what it’s all about. I talked to Sandra in HR—you’ve met her.”

“Yes, I know her—she is a fellow believer. I like her a lot,” Fran replies.

“Well, she told me that this training is to tell us how we are to treat LGBTQ people. She said they are making new policies on how we address them, especially cross-gender people, and stuff like that,” Louise says with anxiety in her voice.

“I don’t see a big problem with that, Louise. Do you?” Fran says.

“Well, yeah, I do. They’re trying to make us accept what is against our belief—our doctrine. This is the politically correct culture gone amuck, Fran. This is just step one; what will be next?” Louise is truly upset about it.

Fran gives it some thought. “Louise, we already treat these people like we treat anyone else, right? So, they’re not going to make us do anything we don’t do already—that’s the way I see it. If they just want us to never discriminate and always treat them with respect, I can agree with that. That’s what I think Jesus would do.”

“You just don’t get it, do you Fran?” Louise says with some frustration.

Well, is Louise right? Does Fran just not get it?

Do you remember how Jesus acquired the use of the donkey for the most important parade ever—as he entered Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday? I would love to have been the proverbial “fly on the wall” to see the look on the faces of the owners of that donkey when the disciples just walked up and started to untie it. As I was re-reading that story, it dawned on me that lots of us have things tied up, too, and if we'd untie them, they'd be of service to our Lord.

Let me read that passage from Luke 19 that tells this story about the donkey:

 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road (Luke 19:28-36).

This happened just a week before the crucifixion. It’s a really interesting scene, when you think about it. Jesus chose that colt to ride in his one and only parade. He knew where it was, he knew that it had never been ridden, and he knew what the reaction of the owners of the colt would be. How could he know all this? Because he is God, and though he was fully man in his 33 years on earth, he was nonetheless fully God, and God is all-knowing.

Interesting that the disciples evidently did not question Jesus' instructions. But then, after three years with him, they should have been very certain that what Jesus told them could be totally trusted. However, it had to take a little bit of nerve to walk up to this colt and start untying it. You have to give those disciples credit for their faith and obedience in this matter.

As they were untying the colt, the owners approached them. Why there was more than one owner, I don't know, except I can guess that neither could afford the colt himself, so they formed a partnership and bought it together. Could it be that these owners were poor people without a great deal of this world's possessions? Quite possibly. I doubt that a donkey's colt was a very prestigious animal. Not what kings and wealthy people chose for transportation. But likely it was all these simple owners could afford.

I can also imagine that they were a little perturbed to see two strangers taking their prized colt—evidently a young colt, since it had never been ridden. Can you put yourselves in their shoes? I wonder if they screamed at the disciples: "Why are you untying our colt?” I wonder if they were upset?  I think I would have been.

At any rate, when the disciples explained that Jesus had requested to use this colt, this one particular colt, it seems to put an end to the entire discussion. Without another question, they give the colt to the disciples for Jesus to use. I have to believe they had heard about Jesus. I'm sure most everyone in the area had by that time.

Perhaps they had heard him speak at some time; maybe they'd seen him heal someone or cast out a demon. Their willingness to let go of a valuable possession so unquestioningly leads me to believe that Jesus was someone they knew about, someone they respected, perhaps even loved.

As I read this story, I thought, "What do I have tied up that the Lord wants to use?” I think many times we've got resources and abilities that God would use in his service, but they're all tied up. We're using them for our own selfish purposes,

Do you remember how Jesus acquired the use of the donkey for the most important parade ever—as he entered Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday? I would love to have been the proverbial “fly on the wall” to...

Would you have ever guessed that a man from the Old Testament could offer us a godly role model for Christians in the marketplace today? If you haven’t read the book of Daniel lately, I encourage you to do so, because there’s so much there to encourage us in our lives today.

As you read his story, you will see that:

Daniel’s greatest testimony was his work habits and dedication to doing his job right.

Daniel got a promotion from Darius, new king of Babylon, and was made one of three administrators over all the satraps. We read, “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (Daniel 6:3). This caused much jealousy among the satraps, so they set out to find something against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so.

“They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Daniel 6:4b).

What a testimony! Neither corrupt nor negligent. I never really think of myself as corrupt, do you? Yet take a look at what comes under the heading of corrupt:

Being guilty of dishonest practices like

cheating on the expense account,

using company assets for your own benefit,

disloyal to your employer,

giving reports that exaggerate the good and overlook the bad,

to name a few.

And even if we pass the corrupt test, here comes “never negligent.”

You mean, never neglecting to do what you’re supposed to do? Never?

Always giving it all you’ve got? Always?

Never failing to fulfill promises and follow-up as required? Never?

Never overlooking the stuff you hate to do and leaving it undone? Never?

I’m guilty! I wouldn’t want my work habits to be as closely scrutinized as Daniel’s were. With all those satraps looking for something to hang him with, they could find nothing. Daniel must have slept well at night!

Do you see why Daniel gives us such a great role model of a Christian working in the secular workplace?

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

Would you have ever guessed that a man from the Old Testament could offer us a godly role model for Christians in the marketplace today? If you haven’t read the book of Daniel lately, I encourage you to do so,...

Do you thoroughly like and enjoy everyone you work with and for? I hope so; that would be ideal. But the facts are, there often are certain coworkers who aren’t so easy to like.

Daniel had some very difficult coworkers too, people who were out to do him harm. People who were very jealous of him and wanted to bring him down. But in spite of their attitudes, Daniel kept his attitude right:

Daniel had a compassionate heart for his “co-workers.”

When Nebuchadnezzar was ready to kill the wise men of Babylon because they could not interpret his dream, Daniel went to Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, and interceded for these men. “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” he asked. Now, these men meant nothing to him personally, but he had a compassionate heart and he knew it was wrong to execute them. So, he went to his trusted fellow-Israelites, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, and urged them to pray for these men. God then revealed the meaning of the dream to Daniel and the next day he asked Arioch not to kill the wise men, but instead to take him to Nebuchadnezzar because he could interpret the dream.

Talk about sticking your neck out! Daniel was a man of great courage as well as great compassion. He cared about these men, even though they were not fellow-Israelites and indeed were astrologers and sorcerers and enchanters—men who were doing things directly opposed to God’s principles.

It’s not easy to have compassion for people sometimes, is it? Especially those who are antagonistic toward us, or who have no clue about true spirituality. Those whose lifestyles are sinful and against all you know to be right. But as God placed Daniel in the midst of these kind of people, so he does us today as well, and he does it so we can show God’s love and compassion to people who have no clue what it’s all about.

Do you thoroughly like and enjoy everyone you work with and for? I hope so; that would be ideal. But the facts are, there often are certain coworkers who aren’t so easy to like. Daniel had some very difficult coworkers...

Do you sometimes feel very out-of-place in your work environment? Because we live and work in a fallen world, we are often painfully reminded that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we just don’t fit in socially and culturally where we work. Daniel had that same experience, as he was taken to a foreign land. But there in the midst of a totally secular and pagan culture, he stayed true to his biblical principles and did not allow the culture around him to drag him down to its level.

Jesus prayed specifically for his disciples: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:15-17).

Daniel was deeply influenced by a letter the prophet Jeremiah sent to the exiles. In Daniel 9:2 we read: “In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” That letter, being prophetic in nature, was the Word of God.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. . . Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

Notice that they were to serve the Lord right there in Babylon, while they were in exile. They were to prosper and work and be involved in the society around them.

I believe God intends for his children to be involved in the pagan culture around us—to work in that culture and be a light in that culture and even be successful in that culture. But we’re never to compromise and adopt the sinful ways of the culture. In the world but not of the world—that is our challenge. Daniel and his three close friends were able to do it very well.

And you’ll note that they knew the Word of God as delivered by the Prophet Jeremiah. Undoubtedly that was one of the main reasons they could stay true to their beliefs, because they knew and believed the Word of God. We have it a bit easier because we have the whole written Word of God, and when we make that an integral part of our lives, it fortifies us to be strong for the Lord and stand true to his principles, as Daniel did.

Do you sometimes feel very out-of-place in your work environment? Because we live and work in a fallen world, we are often painfully reminded that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we just don’t fit in socially and culturally where we...