By Jordan Raynor
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The podcast currently has 286 episodes available.
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Series: 7 Biblical Principles for Resolving Conflict at Work
Devotional: 5 of 7
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)
We’re in a series exploring 7 biblical principles for resolving conflict at work. And let me tell you, this is as much for me as it is for you as I am not naturally good at pursuing peace.
For example, years ago, I worked with someone (let's call him Ryan) whose poor management caused me significant financial pain. Did I address the conflict? Not really. Because I knew I wouldn't have to work with Ryan again, so I found it easier to just “write him off.”
I’m ashamed to admit how I handled that situation, because Luke 6:27-28 convicts me of how incredibly unChristlike my response was. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
Jesus calls us not only to avoid retaliation but to love, bless, and do good to those we have conflict with. If I had sought to bless Ryan, I would have addressed the conflict graciously to serve him and his future clients.
But that requires a heart transformed by God’s love, which is one of the reasons why I believe the psalmist prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Before addressing conflict, we need to embrace the 5th principle for resolving conflict at work…
Principle #5: Prepare Your Heart to bless the person you are in conflict with.
How can you do that for a person you feel a lack of peace with at work today? Here are three practices.
First, ask God for a heart that longs more to bless than to blame the person you’re confronting. Pray for Christ-like love that leads you to look primarily to their interests rather than your own (see Philippians 2:1-4).
Second, pray for the person you’re in conflict with. Right now, right where you’re at, obey Jesus’s command to “pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28).
Finally, write down one practical thing you can do to bless this person. Is your conflict with a team member who’s missing deadlines? Bless them by gifting a time management resource you’ve found helpful. Did a co-worker take credit for your work? “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21) by publicly praising their contribution to the team.
And don’t forget: Simply addressing conflict is a way to bless the person you have conflict with (see James 5:20). How can we do that in a gracious way? That’s the question we’ll answer next week!
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Series: 7 Biblical Principles for Resolving Conflict at Work
Devotional: 4 of 7
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)
Out of nowhere, my colleague blindsided me with a super offensive comment—the kind of remark that could have easily destroyed our relationship.
I was furious and wanted nothing more than to retaliate. But by God’s grace, I took some time to see “the plank” in my own eye and realized that I had contributed greatly to the conflict.
I went to my friend and apologized for my part in the disagreement. And before I could even address how he had offended me, my friend offered up a sincere apology of his own. Today, our personal and professional relationship is stronger than ever.
This is an example of what Ken Sande calls the “Golden Result,” which is a corollary to the “Golden Rule.” As the expert peacemaker explains in his book, “If we blame others for a problem, they will usually blame in return. But if we say, ‘I was wrong,’ it is amazing how often the response will be, ‘It was my fault too.’”
How does God often bring about the Golden Result in conflict? By his people following this biblical principle…
Principle #4: Pluck the Plank from your own eye before you address the offense of another.
Commenting on Jesus’s words about “planks” and “specks” in Matthew 7:3-5, pastor Tony Merida says this: “Our assessment of the other person [in a conflict] is wrong…because something is blurring or blocking our vision. And it’s not a speck—it’s a 2 x 4! Jesus is saying our vision…in the midst of conflict is totally compromised when we fail to assess ourselves first.”
So, how practically do we go about plucking the plank from our own eye? Here are three ideas.
First, accept Jesus’s premise that you are the primary contributor to the problem. Again, here’s Merida: “While we most often think the other person has the log and we have the speck (‘Sure, I can own up to about 10 percent of this conflict, but they are most certainly creating 90 percent of it!’), Jesus flips this assumption around!”
Second, ask God for supernatural humility to see how you’ve contributed to the conflict.
Finally, journal about how you may have contributed to the conflict in the note I’ve been encouraging you to build throughout this series. Need some help? Journal through these questions:
I’m praying those practices put you on a path to pursuing peace with those you work with today!
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Series: 7 Biblical Principles for Resolving Conflict at Work
Devotional: 3 of 7
A person’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense. (Proverbs 19:11)
We’re in a series exploring seven biblical principles for resolving conflict at work. Here’s the third…
Principle #3: Resolve to Overlook or Address the offense that has caused a lack of peace between you and someone else.
You may be surprised to learn that Scripture commends overlooking certain offenses, but it’s there in black and white (see Proverbs 19:11). And I think we see evidence of this in the life of Christ.
Take Jesus’s exchange with the “rich young ruler.” After Jesus pointed to God’s commands such as the ones to “not murder,” and “not commit adultery,” the young man said, “All these things I have kept from my youth” (see Matthew 19:16-22). To which Jesus must have thought, “Really?”
While this man may not have technically murdered or cheated on his wife, Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount made clear that no human (save Christ himself) is capable of keeping those commandments perfectly. Jesus undoubtedly saw pride and spiritual blindness in this young man’s heart. But he chose “to overlook [the] offense” in this particular interaction.
So yes, sometimes we’d be wise to overlook an offense. But other times, we’d be wise to address an offense that is leading to a lack of peace (see Proverbs 27:5). How can we discern when to overlook and when to address an offense that is causing conflict? Here are three steps.
#1: Write down the offense as clearly as you can. Because as Charles Kettering once said, “A problem well stated is a problem half solved.” Go back to the note I encouraged you to start last week and complete this sentence: “I feel a lack of peace with [Name] because…” And be as detailed as you can about why you feel a lack of peace towards this person.
#2: Pray for wisdom on whether to address or overlook the offense. James 1:5 says, “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.”
#3: Ask yourself these diagnostic questions.
If the answer to all of these questions is “no,” then it’s probably wise to overlook the issue which, according to Ken Sande, “involves a deliberate decision not to talk about it, dwell on it, or let it grow into pent-up bitterness or anger.”
If you can do that, praise God! If not, we’ve got some more work to do together next week.
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Series: 7 Biblical Principles for Resolving Conflict at Work
Devotional: 2 of 7
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:18)
I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been waiting eight years for someone to make the first move in pursuing peace with me.
From my perspective, this person is the “more guilty” party in our conflict (whatever that means). But today’s passage has convicted me to take the first step toward peace. This verse is also the source of the second of seven biblical principles I’m sharing for resolving conflict at work….
Principle #2: Make the First Move to resolve any conflict.
This principle is directly connected to the first one we explored last week to “Praise the Prince of Peace for the grace and mercy he has shown you.” If Jesus waited for the guilty party to make the first move in resolving conflict, you and I would be eternally dead in our sin.
But Christ did move first. He pursued peace with us while we rejected him. And so, to follow Jesus fully includes following his example to blaze trails of peace with others. Which is why Paul said, “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (see Romans 12:18). Hebrews 12:14 says the same thing: “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy.” The call here is proactive rather than reactive in the image of Christ.
What conflict is nagging at your attention most this Monday morning? Is it a team member you’re frustrated with for missing a deadline? Is it a boss whose stubborn opinion on a policy infuriates you? Is it a client who you’ve heard has been speaking poorly about you behind your back? Whatever it is, resolve to make the first move to pursue peace. To make this more practical, allow me to suggest you take a couple of minutes to complete these four actions.
First, create a note in a place that will be easily accessible throughout this series. It could be a note on your phone, desktop, journal—wherever.
Second, write down the name of the person you’ve been thinking of during this devotional. The one you have the most unresolved conflict with. Can’t think of anyone? Think about who you don’t want to see on Zoom, in the breakroom, or at the grocery store today. That’s the name!
Third, jot down Romans 12:18 underneath their name to remind yourself of the biblical call for you to make the first move in pursuing peace.
Fourth, pray for the name on your list and ask the Lord for wisdom as you pursue peace with them. Next week, we’ll get even more practical about what God’s Word says about how to do exactly that!
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Series: 7 Biblical Principles for Resolving Conflict at Work
Devotional: 1 of 7
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9)
In his excellent book The Peacemaker (which was hugely influential in my writing of this series), author Ken Sande defines conflict as “a difference in opinion or purpose that frustrates someone’s goals or desires.”
With that definition as our guide, it’s easy to see that “conflict” is everywhere in our work. But the command to make peace is everywhere in God’s Word.
After declaring “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus went on to dedicate huge portions of the Sermon on the Mount to the art of resolving conflict (see Matthew 5:21-26, 38-41, 43-48, 6:14, and 7:1-5). Commenting on that sermon, pastor Tony Merida says, “Clearly being a peacemaker is a big deal to Jesus!”
It was also a big deal to Jesus’s followers. As Ken Sande points out, “every Epistle in the New Testament contains a command to live at peace with one another.” Take 1 Peter 3:11 as just one example. Peter says believers “must seek peace and pursue it.”
I am not a natural peacemaker. And I’m willing to bet that you’d admit the same. So, what will compel us to pursue peace per Christ’s command? That brings me to the first biblical principle for resolving conflict at work…
Principle #1: Praise the Prince of Peace for the grace and mercy he has shown you.
You and I were once God’s enemies (see Romans 5:10). But “since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (see Romans 5:1). And staring at the peace Christ has secured for us is the key to sharing peace with others (see Matthew 18:21-35).
What does it look like practically to stare at the peace we’ve been given? Here are three ideas.
First, get on your knees and remember what God has saved you from. One of my closest friends starts every day this way as a means of praising the Prince of Peace.
Second, add a time of confession to your quiet time routine. Why? Because as Paul David Tripp points out, “No one gives grace better than [the one] who humbly admits that he desperately needs it himself.”
Finally, breathe in grace and mercy. Sande says that Christians ought to be people who “breathe grace” in conflict. But “we cannot breathe out what we have not breathed in.” So, try this physical practice. Literally exhale slowly as you confess your sins. Then breathe in slowly as a means of physically representing the life-giving peace that Christ secured on your behalf at Calvary.
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Series: Work in Heaven
Devotional: 5 of 5
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads….And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:4-5)
Today concludes our series exploring 5 biblical truths about work on the New Earth. Here they are again:
I saved the best truth for last. Because it is that foundational truth—that we will finally be with God fully—that makes all the others so wonderful.
But read Revelation 22:5 again. We won’t just be with God. We will work and reign with him, which is exactly what he intended from the beginning (see Genesis 1:26-28).
On October 22, I’ll be publishing a picture book called The Royal in You to help you and your kids catch a vision of just how glorious this eternal vocation will be. As I say in the book…
The best part by far is King Jesus will be there,
making everything new with His peace, love, and care.
God says He won’t rule this world all on His own—
He’ll send princes and princesses out from His throne.
So don’t think for one second that Heaven is boring,
because we’ll be reigning, creating, and exploring!
Not just for our joy, and surely not for our glory,
but to love and to worship the One who is worthy.
It’ll be so much better than your wildest dreams—
ruling heaven on earth next to Jesus our King.
How should we respond to that vision of our eternal tomorrow today? Here are three ideas.
First, seek God’s face until you see his face. Not just when you’re studying your Bible before work. But right now. At your desk. Before your next appointment. Be relentless in seeking communion with him all day every day.
Second, play a mental tape of what King Jesus might say about your work today. Hebrews 6:10 says that “[God] will not forget your work.” And my guess is that those memories will fuel many of our interactions with Christ on the New Earth. What might Jesus say about how you worked today? Play it out mentally as a means of cultivating your hope and faithfulness.
Finally, baptize your imagination of work on the New Earth as a means of spurring your heart to worship. You can do this by memorizing some of the Scriptures we’ve read in this series, completing some of the practices, or by picking up a copy of The Royal in You.
But don’t miss this: worship of Jesus should be the response to all of that imagination. Eternity is not ultimately about us. It’s not ultimately about enjoying the work of our hands. It’s about worshiping “the One who is worthy!” I pray this series has helped you worship him even more enthusiastically.
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Series: Work in Heaven
Devotional: 4 of 5
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him…And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:3,5)
There are dozens of jobs I would love to try: write a musical, be a travel planner, design a bookstore, serve as personal photographer to a president or dignitary. The list goes on and on.
Why don’t I give one of these careers a shot? Because loving my neighbor through my work requires the pursuit of excellence in my work. And the pursuit of excellence requires loads of focus and time.
You simply can’t “do it all” if you want to do your most exceptional work for the glory of God and the good of others. But you can in the life to come!
That brings me to the fourth of five biblical truths about work on the New Earth we’re exploring in this series: We will have unlimited time to do the work we want to do for God’s glory.
Psalm 37:4 says this: “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” On the New Earth, we will perfectly “delight in the Lord,” because we will be free from all sin. And so, there will be no disconnect between our desires and God’s. As Dr. Randy Alcorn explains, “our desires…will be sanctified and fulfilled on the New Earth”—including our desires for our work.
But that could be way off in the future. How should you and I respond to this truth today? Here are three ideas.
First, praise God for freeing you from the burden of finding your “dream job” in this life. He has found it and has it waiting for you on the other side!
Second, choose which skill you will master for God’s glory and the good of others in this season of life. Need help? Consider using my book, Master of One, as your guide.
Finally, put vocational dreams that distract you from mastering that skill on a Someday list. I have many of the vocational dreams I shared above in a “Someday” folder in my to-do list app, even though there’s almost zero chance I even touch those projects in this life. So why put them in there at all? Because it’s a way to remind myself that this life isn’t my only chance to “do it all.” If my desires align with God’s I’ll get to do everything I want to do very soon.
But right now, I’m going to focus intensely on mastering the work I’ve chosen to do in this season for the glory of God and the good of others. I pray this devotional frees you to do the same!
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Series: Work in Heaven
Devotional: 3 of 5
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on…for their deeds will follow them. (Revelation 14:13)
A fortune teller once told Walt Disney that he would die on his birthday before he turned thirty-five. As Disney biographer Bob Thomas explains, “the prediction had a profound effect on him…he seemed to be in a race against time to accomplish all the work he wanted to do.”
Can you relate to Walt Disney? Of feeling like time is speeding up and the drumbeat of hurry only seems to be growing louder?
I used to feel that burden far more than I do today. What has God used to free me? Biblical truths about work on the New Earth in general and this one in particular: We can expect some continuity between our work now and our work on the New Earth.
What kinds of continuity? At least these two.
First, there will be some continuity in what we work with as Isaiah 60 promises that some of the best cultural goods from this life will miraculously be resurrected in the next one. The New Earth is not a return to the Stone Age. We can expect the very best work of all time as our starting point.
Second, there may be some continuity in our occupations on the New Earth. Revelation 14:13 says, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on…for their deeds will follow them.” Pastor John Mark Comer points out that the Greek word for “deeds” here can also mean “occupation.” In other words, you may be working today at the craft God intends for you to develop for his glory for eternity! (If that sounds terrible to you, don’t miss next week’s devotional.)
What should our response be to this promise of continuity between our work now and then? A remarkable lack of hurry today.
This has been one of the most profound and surprising benefits of meditating on the promise of work on the New Earth personally. I am far less hurried than I used to be. I am at peace with the fact that I (and you) will die with unfinished symphonies.
Because I know that if the things on my to-do list are on God’s to-do list, he will either 1) choose someone else to complete that work, 2) complete the work on his own, or 3) bless me with the opportunity to finish the work when I rise from the nap that is death.
I pray that as you meditate on these biblical truths, you will experience that same peace and lack of hurry in your own work today!
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Series: Work in Heaven
Devotional: 2 of 5
“Well done, my good servant!” his master replied. “Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.” (Luke 19:17)
We’re in a series exploring 5 biblical truths about work on the New Earth. Today’s passage hints at the second: We will be rewarded with varying degrees of responsibility based on how we live and work today.
Now, if this sounds new to you, it's not your fault. Many churches never talk about eternal rewards. But Jesus did constantly. And one of the many rewards he promised is increased job responsibilities on the New Earth.
This is one of the lessons of Jesus’s parable of the minas (see Luke 19:11-27), which is similar to but distinct from the parable of the talents. The parable features a master (who represents Jesus) who asks a few servants to steward his minas (a form of money) while he goes on a journey. Upon his return, the master turns to the servants who have faithfully stewarded his minas and says, “Well done…Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities” (Luke 19:17).
Many scholars believe this parable is pointing to a clear truth: While all Christians share equal status as adopted children of God, we will not all share equal station and responsibility on the New Earth.
The great painter and activist Joni Eareckson Tada is properly motivated by this truth: “I don’t want to be among the least,” she told me on the Mere Christians podcast. “I want to do everything I can to be as happy in heaven and as useful to the King as I possibly can.”
Amen. I do too. And I‘m sure you want the same. So, what can we do today to prepare ourselves for maximum service to King Jesus on the New Earth? Here are two ideas.
First, articulate where you see yourself professionally in 5 million years. Seriously. Make a list of jobs you’d love to do for God’s glory free from the curse of sin and the tyranny of time. God gave you an imagination and the promise of eternal work you love. I’d be shocked to learn that he isn’t delighted in watching you—his child—use your biblically informed imagination to cultivate greater hope for the future and faithfulness in the present.
Second, write down one thing you can do today to prepare yourself for those roles on the New Earth. Instead of speaking first in today’s meeting, humbly listen to others first. Volunteer to take on the shift or task nobody else wants. Instead of applying for a promotion, consider recommending a qualified friend who needs the raise more than you do. For whoever “wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
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Series: Work in Heaven
Devotional: 1 of 5
See, I will create new heavens and a new earth….my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain. (Isaiah 65:17, 22-23)
I talk a lot about the work God’s Word promises we will do for eternity. But I know this is a wild and new idea for many. If that’s you, let me bring you up to speed in three bullets:
With those foundational truths under our feet, I’ll use the rest of this series to share 5 biblical truths about the nature of work on the New Earth. The first is seen clearly in today’s passage: We who are in Christ will delight in our work for eternity.
Why? Because we will be with God fully (see Revelation 21:1-5) and our work will be free from the curse of sin (see Revelation 22:3). Which is exactly what God intended from the beginning (see Genesis 1:26-28)!
It’s hard to imagine how glorious this will be. Thankfully, Rudyard Kipling imagined it for us in a beautiful poem I’ve hung on my office wall:
When Earth’s last picture is painted,
And the tubes are twisted and dried,
When the oldest colors have faded,
And the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it,
Lie down for an aeon or two,
’Till the Master of All Good Workmen
Shall put us to work anew. . . .
And no one shall work for the money.
And no one shall work for fame.
But each for the joy of the working,
And each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It
For the God of Things as They are!
But that could be way off in the future. What does this mean for your work today? Let me suggest a practical response to the truth that we will one day delight in our work for eternity.
First, make a physical or digital list of things you hate about your current work. Difficulty hearing God’s voice, co-workers who can’t meet deadlines, the exhaustion that comes from grinding just to make ends meet, etc.
Second, put a line through the middle of each item and write “Isaiah 65” at the top of your list as a means of physically representing the hope of today’s passage.
Finally, pray every time you see the list. Pray for relief from those thorns and thistles. Praise God for how these challenges drive you to him. And praise him for the promise that one day, you will “long enjoy” your work free from these current frustrations.
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