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Series: God's Will for Your Work
Devotional: 2 of 4

Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. (1 Corinthians 7:19-21)

My pastor Chris Basham offers an analogy about God’s will that I love. Imagine you set up a backyard full of activities for your kids—a pool, a swingset, monkey bars, a trampoline, a football. You tell them they’re free to play with anything they like, as long as they stay inside the fence, because beyond it lies a pond filled with venomous snakes.

Now imagine your kids keep asking, Can I throw the football? At some point, you’d say, Of course! I wouldn’t have put it there if I didn’t want you to enjoy it.

Many of us act like those kids—constantly asking God for permission to do things he has already permitted. And that’s precisely what Paul addresses in today’s passage.

The Corinthians, young in their faith, were asking: Should we be circumcised? Should we change jobs? Paul’s response? It doesn’t matter. “Keeping God’s commands is what counts.” That is his “will” as we saw last week. If all of your options are within the fence of obedience to God’s commands, you’re free to choose.

Paul’s words bring me to the second truth for discerning God’s will for your work…

Truth #2: God’s will is that his children have free will within the boundaries of his commands. 

This may explain why you sometimes don’t hear a clear answer from the Lord when weighing two equally God-honoring choices. God just might not have an opinion. It’s not that he doesn’t care—he simply might be delighting in your freedom.

Extending my pastor’s analogy, imagine your kids ask not for your permission per se but for your opinion—Should I swim in the pool or jump on the trampoline? Your response would likely be, You choose! As long as you stay in the fence and want me with you, I’ll be thrilled.

Let me be clear: You very well may hear a clear answer from the Lord regarding the decision you have to make. But maybe God’s lack of an answer is his answer: You are my child. As long as you stay within the boundary of my commands, you are safe and free.

Paul’s words just a few chapters after today’s passage are instructive here: “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). In other words, if your motivation as you make decisions is “the glory of God” you are free to do “whatever.” Glorify him today by choosing freely within the boundaries of his commands.

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Series: God's Will for Your Work
Devotional: 1 of 4

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:33-34)

Which job should I take? What goals is God calling me to pursue in my business? Has God closed the door on this opportunity for good? All of these are variations of the same question: What is God‘s will for my work?

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to explore four biblical truths for discerning God’s will for your work that I’m confident will lead you to unprecedented freedom, clarity, and joy. The first might surprise you…

Truth #1: Scripture says very little about God’s will for you tomorrow, but a lot about God’s will for you today.

If you search “God’s will” in the New Testament you will find nothing that resembles the types of future tense discernment we spend so much time worrying about today. And when Scripture does talk about the future, it’s almost always in the context of commanding us not to worry about it (see Matthew 6:34)!

What should we do instead? “Seek first” the kingdom of God “and his righteousness” (see Matthew 6:33). In other words, prioritize God in all things and obey him in all things like Christ did—that is God’s will for you today and tomorrow. Paul says this more explicitly in 1 Thessalonians 4:3: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.”

The best book I’ve read on this topic is The Will of God as a Way of Life by pastor Jerry Sittser, who summarizes today’s truth beautifully: “[After years of study] I discovered that the Bible says very little about the will of God as a future pathway. Instead, the Bible warns us about anxiety and presumption concerning the future, assures us that God is in control, and commands us to do the will of God we already know in the present….Obedience is God’s will for our lives.”

This truth isn’t just freeing—it’s empowering. Instead of being paralyzed by uncertainty about the future, we can move forward with confidence, knowing that God’s will for today is clear.

Before you close this email, identify one specific way you can obey God at work today. Maybe it’s extending grace to a difficult coworker, working with excellence even when no one’s watching, or simply pausing to pray before a meeting. God’s will isn’t a mystery—it’s right in front of you. Obey and glorify him as you work today.

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Series: Mere Christians of the Bible
Devotional: 5 of 5

…the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me….I 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, that I may share in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:14-15, 22-23)

In the past few centuries, many churches have unbiblically elevated the callings of pastors and missionaries above those of “mere Christians”—teachers, small business owners, mechanics, and others working outside the pulpit. It’s no surprise that modern believers often forget the Apostle Paul was a mere Christian himself who worked as a tentmaker (see Acts 18:1-3). 

Paul didn’t take up this work out of necessity. As today’s passage shows, he could have exercised his “right” to work as a donor-supported missionary. But he chose not to because he saw his work as a strategic vehicle becoming “all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”

Tim Keller’s research highlights that “80% or more of evangelism in the early church was done not by ministers or evangelists” but by mere Christians like Paul and the others we’ve explored in this series. And that continues to be true today. Mere Christians aren’t on the JV team of Christianity—we are the primary means through which God spreads his glorious gospel!

How should you and I respond to that truth?

First, prayerfully consider taking your job with you overseas. More and more countries are closing their doors to Christian missionaries. But those same countries will happily open those same doors to Christian mathematicians, medical doctors, and managers. My friend Andrew Scott wrote a terrific book with case study after case study of what God is doing through mere Christians working in these largely unreached nations. Ask God if he’s calling you to follow suit.  

Second, regardless of where you work, build a list of Launchers. Conversations with lost co-workers often stay at surface-level topics like sports or our favorite TV shows. But with a tiny bit of intentionality, you can easily steer conversations with non-believers from the surface, to the serious, to the spiritual. And Launchers is an unbelievably simple tool that enables it! 

A list of Launchers contains two things: 

1. The names of people you’re trying to share the gospel with
2. Next to each name, a list of questions or topics you think might launch your next conversation with them from the surface, to the serious, to the spiritual

Keep your list of Launchers on a note on your phone, in a journal—wherever. See a screenshot of mine here.

I can not tell you how many times God has used my list of Launchers to open up deep spiritual conversations with the non-Christians in my life. I am confident the same will be true for you.

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Series: Mere Christians in the Bible
Devotional: 4 of 5

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)

We’re in a series exploring wisdom for our work from some “Mere Christians of the Bible”—believers who did not work as pastors or donor-supported missionaries, but as shepherds, winemakers, and more. That would have described most of the believers at the Church of Thessalonica, whom Paul rebuked for idleness in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 2 Thessalonians 3.

Why were these mere Christians idle? The Theology of Work Project suggests they fell for “a common, but false” idea that “Christ’s coming into the world has radically diminished the value of everyday labor,” and that some believers were “using some aspect of Christ’s teaching—whether it was his second coming, or his commission to evangelize the world—to justify their idleness.”

But Paul rejected this outright. As he made clear in nearly all his epistles, mere Christians keep watch for Christ’s return not by sitting on our hands but by working with them.

If you’re reading The Word Before Work, you likely don’t need to be told to work hard. But even the hardest working can slowly slide into subtle slothfulness. How can you and I avoid this? Here are three ideas.

#1: “Tape the audience.” The rapper Biggie Smalls once gave some surprising direction to his videographer. Instead of filming him, Biggie said, “Every time a song drops, tape the audience. I wanna see their reaction.” Because Biggie was committed to working hard in service of his customers. 

Avoid idleness by metaphorically “taping the audience” of your work by regularly asking your boss or customers for critical feedback, shadowing end users to see where your product creates friction, or tracking the customer engagement metric you’ve been avoiding for fear of what it might say.

#2: Audit where you’re busy but not productive. Review tasks you completed 30-60 days ago and ask, “Did this move the needle?” With some distance, you’ll spot where you’re frantic with activity that’s leading to nowhere.

#3: Make a grand gesture to break bad habits that tempt you to idleness. Last year, I struggled with apps that tempted me toward subtle slothfulness. After setting and failing to keep “screen time limits,” I made a grand gesture and spent $50 on this device that solved my problem overnight.

Whatever works for you works. But do whatever you must to avoid the slow slide to subtle slothfulness. Strive, as Paul did, to “strenuously contend with all the energy” you have—for the glory of God and the good of others (Colossians 1:29).

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Series: Mere Christians of the Bible
Devotional: 3 of 5

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion…He and all his family were devout and God-fearing. (Acts 10:1-2)

We’re in a series extracting lessons for our work from some “mere Christians” mentioned in Scripture—believers who faithfully followed Jesus through their seemingly “secular” work. Today’s passage mentions one such mere Christian: Cornelius the Roman centurion. 

Acts 10 tells us, “At about three in the afternoon, [Cornelius] had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, ‘Cornelius!’” Though startled, Cornelius responded, “What is it, Lord?” The angel instructed him to send for Peter. Without hesitation, Cornelius “called two of his servants and a devout soldier” to carry out the mission (see Acts 10:3-7).

This was probably a regular day at the office for Cornelius, until out of nowhere, an angel appeared. Cornelius could have said, “Sorry angel. Now’s not a good time. Can’t you see I’m busy training my soldiers?” But instead, Cornelius embraced the “interruption” for what it clearly was—a divine appointment from God.

Cornelius’s response brings to mind a quote from the mere Christian himself, C.S. Lewis who said, “What one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day.”

Now, I love Lewis, but I have a love/hate relationship with this quote. Because I’ve heard way too many Christians use it (and quotes like it) to justify laziness disguised as spiritual devotion. Here’s the truth: it is way easier (and often more immediately gratifying) to drift through your day responding to every interruption in the name of religious piety than it is to sit down, focus, and create something valuable with the skills God has given you to steward.

And no, contrary to what you may have been told, Jesus did not “always have time for interruptions.” It’s true that many times he did. But other times he ignored interruptions so that he could focus on the work God called him to do (see Mark 9:30-31 and Matthew 12:46-50).

So where do Jesus and Cornelius’s examples leave us? Are we to embrace or ignore interruptions at work today? I think the answer is both.

Here’s my charge for you today: turn on Do Not Disturb, shut down your email, and in “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart” rather than half your attention (Colossians 3:23). 

But when a call mysteriously breaks through, your child ignores your home office’s “closed-door policy,” or an angel shows up unexpectedly—embrace the “interruption” as “the life God is sending” you. And like Cornelius, look forward with great expectation to what God can do in that unexpected encounter!

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Series: Mere Christians of the Bible
Devotional: 2 of 5

Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women…Mary (called Magdalene) …Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (Luke 8:1-3)

We’re in a series exploring wisdom for our work today from some of the “Mere Christians of the Bible”—believers who did not work as pastors or donor-supported missionaries, but as entrepreneurs, tax collectors, and more.

Today’s passage introduces us to three mere Christians: Mary, Joanna, and Susanna who “were helping to support” Jesus and the twelve disciples “out of their own means.”

Most scholars believe that Joanna was likely the wealthiest of this trio, given her position in Herod’s court. But many also believe these women were likely small business owners who worked hard to produce the profits needed to fund Jesus’s ministry.

Mary, Joanna, and Susanna remind us of three important truths.

First, God frequently celebrates women who work “outside the home.” From Eve working alongside Adam in the garden (Genesis 1:26-28), to the midwives God used to defy Pharaoh (Exodus 1:15-21), to Deborah’s leading of Israel (Judges 4:4-5), to Mary, Joanna, and Susanna supporting Jesus’s ministry, Scripture consistently shows God delighting in the work of his daughters.

Second, our work has intrinsic and instrumental value to God. I talk a lot in these devotionals about how your work has intrinsic value to God—in other words, it matters for eternity even when you’re not leveraging it to some instrumental and spiritual end such as sharing the gospel or writing a check to the missionaries pictured on your refrigerator. 

But these women remind us that our work does have important instrumental value. In fact, Paul says that is one of the reasons why mere Christians ought to work: so “that they may have something to share with those in need” (see Ephesians 4:28) including those who rely on the generosity of others to preach the gospel (see 1 Corinthians 9:14).

Finally, God values offstage work as much as he does onstage work. Scripture doesn’t mention these women preaching or performing miracles like the twelve disciples, but their offstage roles were so valued by God that Luke records them in his gospel. If you’re working in relative obscurity today, take heart—God “will not forget your work” either (Hebrews 6:10).

How should we respond to the three truths above?

1. Thank God for the gift of working women (and, if you’re a woman, for a God who delights in the work you do inside and outside the home).
2. Ask the Lord whose work he might be calling you to support “out of your own means.”
3. Remind a mere Christian working “offstage” that God sees and values their work today.

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Series: Mere Christians of the Bible
Devotional: 1 of 5

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. Jesus said to him, “Zacchaeus…I must stay at your house today.”...All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.” (Luke 19:1-2, 5, 7-9)

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not a pastor or donor-supported missionary, but a “mere Christian” like me who works as an entrepreneur, barista, or programmer. Today I’m kicking off a new series here on The Word Before Work exploring the lives of some mere Christians in the Bible and what they can teach us about our own work in the present—starting with Zaccheus.

After choosing to follow Jesus, modern readers half expect Jesus to call Zaccheus to abandon his “secular” work. But Luke mentions no such calling. 

Most scholars I’ve read believe that just as John the Baptist urged the tax collectors he baptized to return to their posts, Jesus likely encouraged Zaccheus to do the same (see Luke 3:12-14). Because as pastor John Piper says, “You don’t waste your life by where you work, but how and why.”

Believer, as you step into the New Year, trust that “where you work” is exactly where God wants you today. But, like Zacchaeus, ask yourself if God is calling you to re-examine how and why you work.

I used to think Zacchaeus was uniquely corrupt. However, according to the Theology of Work Commentary, his actions were likely just “industry standard practice.” Until Jesus opened his eyes, Zacchaeus was blind or indifferent to how his work harmed others. He was “just doing his job.”

The lesson for us is clear: Following Jesus as mere Christians requires that we question the conventional wisdom of our workplaces and industries to uncover opportunities for redemption and renewal. Here’s a 5-step process to help:

1. Pray for God to reveal how your work might harm others. 
2. Identify a common practice in your field worth questioning. 
3. Ask why this practice is done this way and what fundamental principles drive it. 
4. Evaluate those principles against God’s Word. 
5. Reimagine the practice with a commitment to God’s glory and others’ good.

Zacchaeus may have done this work alone, but you’re more likely to succeed with other believers. Seek out fellow mere Christians inside and outside your field to tackle this together today!

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Series: Christmas Vocations Part III
Devotional: 4 of 4

After [the Magi] had heard [King Herod], they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. (Matthew 2:9-10)

Today concludes our series exploring the vocations of some of the characters in the Christmas narrative and what they can teach us about our own work today. Today, we end with the famed Star of Bethlehem.

Now, I know it’s a stretch to say that a star has a “vocation,” but hear me out. Because this star plays a huge part in the Christmas narrative, leading the Magi to find and worship Christ the King.

But Scripture makes clear that it’s not just this star that does the work of glorifying God. Psalm 19:1-3 says that all “the heavens declare the glory of God…day after day they pour forth speech,” even though “they use no words.”

Believer, if inanimate stars can glorify God and give testimony to his awesomeness, you better believe that you—God’s image bearer—can do the same through your work.

We see evidence that this is true all throughout Scripture. Take Nehemiah as an example. After rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in an astonishingly fast 52 days, Nehemiah’s enemies were forced to give God credit and glory because they “realized that this work had been done with the help of God” (Nehemiah 6:16).

Passages like this one point to an important truth: You don’t have to be evangelizing with your words to glorify God. You can also glorify him by evangelizing with your work. In what you do—the products of your work—and how you do it—the processes by which you work—you can create cravings in the lost for things that are “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy” (Philippians 4:8).

And the creation of those cravings is good in and of itself. Why? Because if the craving you’re creating through your work can only be satisfied in full in Christ, you are setting the lost down a path that dead ends at a single true Source.

You and I are called to reflect Christ, “the bright and morning star” in everything we do, including our work. So as we look towards 2025, let me leave you with 5 questions to ponder and journal through to that end:

• What can you point to that was most “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy” about your work in 2024? And how can you do more of that in 2025?
• Where is the Holy Spirit convicting you that your work is not “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy”? What’s one action you can take to rectify that and better reflect Christ next year?
• If your co-workers were asked to point to evidence that you are a follower of Christ, what would they point to?
• Which of your co-workers do you feel the Lord leading you to share the gospel with explicitly in 2025?
• Imagine Jesus is sitting across from you right now. What would he say about your work in 2024? And what feedback would he give you as you head back to the office in 2025?

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Series: Christmas Vocations Part III
Devotional: 3 of 4

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham…Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. (Matthew 1:1,17)

Matthew has many vocations in the gospels. But in the first chapter of his gospel, we see him playing the role of a genealogist who takes his readers all the way back to Abraham to trace Jesus’s family tree, so that we can be confident he is the Messiah. 

I’d encourage you to read Matthew’s genealogical work in full in Matthew 1:1-17. But there are two profound insights we can glean just from the excerpt I shared above. 

First, God is always faithful, but he is rarely fast—at least by human standards. The Jewish people had been waiting thousands of years for God’s promised Messiah. Some had surely given up hope. But Matthew goes through painstaking genealogical detail to show God’s faithfulness over time.

Commenting on today’s passage, pastor Tim Keller once said this: “[God] may seem to be working very slowly or even to be forgetting his promises, but when his promises come true (and they will come true), they always burst the banks of what you imagined.”

What promise does God appear to be slow to keeping in your work? Maybe you’re still waiting for God’s promise of “wisdom” (James 1:5), “peace…which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), or “good” to come from your layoff (Romans 8:28-29). Whatever it is, Christmas reminds you that God will always keep his promises, even if it takes far longer than you’d like.

Here’s the second insight I want you to glean from today’s passage: Jesus is the “seventh seven” that brings about ultimate rest in your work. Matthew highlights six groups of seven generations from Abraham to Jesus, marking Christ as the beginning of the “seventh seven.” This echoes Leviticus 25, where the seventh seven—a jubilee year—freed slaves, forgave debts, and provided rest for all.

As Keller explains, “The seventh seven, the Sabbath of Sabbaths, was a foretaste of the final rest that all will have when God renews the earth. Matthew is telling us that [true] rest will come to us only through Jesus Christ….In Jesus you stop having to prove yourself because you know it doesn’t really matter in the end whether you are a failure or a king. All you need is God’s grace, and you can have it, in spite of your failures.”

Maybe you would call 2024 a huge “success.” Or maybe it was a massive “failure” by the world’s standards. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter. In victory or defeat, you can say “it is well with my soul” because the seventh seven has come to set you free from sin and death and to adopt you into the family of God. Rest in his love this week!

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Series: Christmas Vocations Part III
Devotional: 2 of 4

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (Luke 2:1)

We’re in a series exploring the vocations of some of the characters in the Christmas narrative and what they can teach us about our own work today. Today we come to Caesar Augustus.

This secular leader has a mixed legacy including brutal tales of how he came to rule over the Roman Empire. And yet, God chose to work through Augustus and his census to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Micah 5:2 that God’s chosen Messiah would be born in the town of David.

This reminds us of a remarkable truth we see all throughout Scripture—namely that God works in this world through non-believers and believers alike. This is one element of “common grace” which my friend Mike Kelsey (lead pastor at McLean Bible Church) defines as “the reality that God extends his goodness to and through people apart from a saving relationship with him.”

The number of ways common grace should practically shape our work are legion. Let me share just three today.

First, submit to leaders so long as their edicts don’t contradict God’s Word. Yes, even leaders you loathe. Why? Because “the one in authority is God’s servant for your good” (see Romans 13:1-7). I doubt Mary and Joseph agreed with Caesar Augustus’s politics. But they obeyed his commands and the world was blessed because of it.

Second, trust that God is at work in your workplace even if your leaders don’t believe in him. It can be really hard to work for leaders who are agnostic or even hostile towards your faith. But don’t fall for the lie that God is not working through them. Caesar Augustus reminds you that he is. There is no such thing as a truly “secular” workplace, because God is at work through believers and non-believers alike to accomplish his good and perfect will.

Finally, call out the good God is doing through non-Christians as a means of evangelism. 

There are many things your secular co-workers do that are not good by God’s standards. But God can use those same co-workers to bring about genuinely good things in the world. When you see your non-Christian co-workers working with justice, love, and beauty, call them out on it, encouraging them that you see God working through them and their work. And see how those otherworldly words of blessing can open up doors to share the gospel today!