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Series: Working Without Idolatry
Devotional: 1 of 4

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37)

There’s a tension we see throughout Scripture. 

On the one hand, we are invited to delight in creation and our work with creation. “Every good gift” is from God (James 1:17) given to us “for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17). And that includes our work! Ecclesiastes 2:24 says “a person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil” because those good things are “from the hand of God.”

These verses are good examples of what I call the “delight in creation” passages of Scripture. But on the other side of this perceived biblical tension, we find the “delight in Creator” passages that command us to love God above all things. This was summarized most succinctly in Jesus’s articulation of the Greatest Commandment above.

So, we are called to delight in the gifts the Creator has given while delighting in our Creator above all things. Because separating these things is the essence of idolatry. Pastor Joe Rigney (whose excellent book Strangely Bright has aided me greatly in the writing of this series) says that idolatry “is the separation of the gifts from the giver and then a preference for the gifts over the giver.”

In this series, I’ll put forth a framework to help you and I enjoy God’s gifts (especially our work) in a way that ensures we enjoy the Giver most—a path to delighting in our jobs without them becoming God-dishonoring, soul-sucking idols. 

Here’s the first of four principles to guide us towards that goal. Principle #1: Insist that Jesus is better.

The next time you celebrate a massive accomplishment with your team, read an email about how your product changed someone’s life, or hold a baby in your arms after hours of hard labor, resolutely insist that Jesus is better than his gifts—even if you have a hard time seeing how. 

What does this look like practically? Here’s one idea: Reserve one adjective for God alone. 

I know a man who refuses to call anything but God “awesome.” So when he delights in created things—an incredible pizza, seeing his book hit the bestseller list, watching his daughter get married—he might describe those experiences as “good,” “great,” or even “exceptional.” But never “awesome.” Why? “Because God alone is awesome,” he says. 

Let me encourage you to choose an adjective that you will reserve for God alone as a means of practically insisting that Jesus is better. And may that small decision put you on a path to enjoying your work in a non-idolatrous way today.

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Series: Wisdom for Work from David

Devotional: 7 of 7

I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. (1 Chronicles 29:17)

After giving his considerable “personal treasures of gold and silver,” for the building of the temple, David took the time to examine his heart to see if he had given that treasure with God-honoring intent (see 1 Chronicles 29:3-17). Why? I think because David understood how easy it is to do godly things with a mix of godly and ungodly motives.

I experienced this first hand just a few months ago. I had just made a decision within my business that triggered a significant financial sacrifice. But I was convicted through prayer that it was the right thing to do.

Implementing this decision required that I notify some fellow believers. And as I did, these friends consistently commented on how “proud” they were of me for taking this action.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was quietly anticipating this praise. While my motives for making this financial sacrifice were mostly pure, there was a part of me that was secretly hoping my friends would commend my decision.

My confession here and David’s words in today’s passage point to an important truth: It is so easy to take God-honoring actions at work with less than God-honoring motives—to do the right things for the wrong reasons. 

What are we to do with that truth? Let me suggest three responses.

First, confess your sinful motives to God and others. Maybe you’re in a season of working “with all your heart” as Colossians 3:23 commands, but if you’re honest, you’re not really doing so “for the Lord.” You are grinding away “for the love of money” (see 1 Timothy 6:10). If that’s you, confess that less than God-honoring motive to God and your Christian community.

Second, be amazed at the grace God has shown you which is big enough to cover not just the “bad things” you do, but even the “good things” you do for the wrong reasons.

Finally, don’t wait for a pure motive before you obey God’s commands. There had to have been some part of David that was motivated by the praise of others to give his treasure. But that didn’t keep him from obeying God’s commands.

So it should be with us. God is calling you to take some action at work this week. Are your motives pure? No. But if you’re confessing those less than righteous motives and the balance of your heart is to honor God, take action. If you’re waiting for perfectly pure “honest intent,” you’re going to be waiting forever.

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Series: Wisdom for Work from David

Devotional: 6 of 7

David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting….Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all…Everything comes from you.” (1 Chronicles 29:10, 12, 14)

The context of today’s passage adds weight to David’s words. Here’s the scene: David is addressing Israel in what was likely his final public address as king. The next day, Solomon will take David’s place and soon become the wealthiest man on earth. 

What would David say at the close of his forty-year reign? He chose to focus his son and his people’s attention on the truth that “wealth and honor” and “everything” good comes from God.

This is a truth we see reiterated throughout Scripture. James said, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). The Apostle Paul said that even “our competence comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

Every good thing you have—from your wealth, to your success at work, to the breath in your lungs—is from God. Let me suggest three responses to that truth.

First, praise God for whatever wealth and results he has given you knowing that he will only give you the amount that is perfectly suited for your good and his glory (see Romans 8:28-29). 

Second, steward God’s gifts according to his agenda, rather than your own. Because if he’s the giver of the gift, he gets to dictate how you use it.

Finally, focus on inputs rather than outcomes. This last response is super tough for me and probably you. So allow me to go a bit deeper here. 

Let’s say you’re working really hard to achieve a specific goal by the end of this week. If, come Friday, you can honestly say you pursued that goal as best as you know how, you can rest before you even know whether or not you hit your target. Not because the world tells you “you are enough.” But because the results were never in your hands in the first place.

Because “wealth and honor” and success come from God alone you can rest anytime you have faithfully put in the work and the “inputs”—not just when you’ve achieved your desired outcome. 

Christian Olympian Eric Liddell once said, “In the dust of defeat as well as in the laurel of victory, there is glory to be found if one has done his best.” Amen. Based on that truth, work hard from a position of rest today!

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Series: Wisdom for Work from David

Devotional: 5 of 7

In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. (Psalm 10:4)

In 1517, Martin Luther had an “aha” moment that would change the world. He realized that “the merciful God justifies us by faith,” and not by works.

Where was Luther when he had this epiphany? In a grand library? Walking in a beautiful garden perhaps? No. As Luther biographer Eric Metaxas explains, “God had given [Luther] this insight while he was sitting on the toilet.”

I’m not surprised, because even in Luther’s day, the outhouse was a rare place of silence and solitude, free from what C.S. Lewis called “the Kingdom of Noise” that surrounds you and me to this day.

Everywhere we turn we are bombarded by external noise—nonstop emails, texts, information, and entertainment—which leads to a more dangerous internal noise that blocks our ability to think, be creative, and most importantly, listen to the voice of God.

That is what David is primarily concerned with in today’s passage when he says that “the wicked man” has “no room” in “his thoughts…for God.” 

If that doesn’t describe most people today, I don’t know what does. “We are always engaged with our thumbs, but rarely engaged with our thoughts,” says pastor Kevin DeYoung. Which means that we are drowning out the One Input we need most. ​​We are inflicting ourselves with what Tim Keller called “the torture of divine absence.”

The solution to this epidemic is simple, but not easy: We must embrace practices that help us dissent from the kingdom of noise.

Let me offer one simple practice you can start implementing today. I call it my 5 Minutes of Nothing rule. Here’s what it means. If I have less than 5 minutes unexpectedly at my disposal, I do absolutely nothing at all. I refuse to fill that crevice of my day with noise.

Here’s what this could look like for you today. When you show up to a Zoom meeting early and you’re waiting for the host to start the meeting, don’t check your email. When you head to the bathroom like Luther, refuse to check your phone. When you drive to the bus stop to pick-up your kids, don’t press play on your favorite podcast (even if it’s my own).

What do I recommend you do instead? Be still. Pray. And make room in your thoughts for God to speak.

Jordan

P.S. My 5 Minutes of Nothing rule is just one idea for how to dissent from the kingdom of noise. Want more ideas? I share eight more in Chapter 3 of Redeeming Your Time!

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Series: Wisdom for Work from David

Devotional: 4 of 7

You [Lord] reward everyone according to what they have done. (Psalm 62:12)

I don’t believe Bucket Lists are evil. But I do believe that Christians of all people should spend less time thinking about Bucket Lists—lists of things you want to do before you die and “kick the bucket”—and a lot more time thinking about Anti-Bucket Lists—catalogs of things you will strive not to do on this side of eternity.

Why? Three reasons.

#1: This life is not our only chance to enjoy the best this world has to offer. As Dr. Randy Alcorn has said, “the ‘bucket list’ mentality…is profoundly unbiblical,” because Scripture makes clear that we will have all eternity to enjoy the earth’s greatest destinations (see Revelation 21:10-21), food (see Isaiah 25:6–8), culture (see Isaiah 60:1-11), jobs (see Isaiah 65:17-23), etc.

#2: God will reward believers differently based on how we steward this life. This is what David alluded to in today’s passage and what the Son of David, Jesus Christ, promised more than 20 times. In Matthew 16:27, for example, Jesus echoed David by saying that “the Son of Man…will reward each person according to what they have done.”

#3: Eternal rewards are almost always tied to sacrifices we make in the present. For example, in Luke 6:22-23, Jesus said that if you sacrifice your reputation at work “because of the Son of Man…great is your reward in heaven.” In Luke 12:33-34 he promised that if you sacrifice “your possessions and give to the poor” you will be rewarded with “treasure in heaven that will never fail.”

For these three reasons, I have spent a lot of time drafting my Anti-Bucket List—things I am intentionally sacrificing in this life so that I can accumulate as many eternal rewards as possible per Jesus’s command.

Let me give you one example from my list to illustrate.

As much as I love my hometown of Tampa, FL, no city fuels my soul more than Washington, D.C. (I know—I’m a crazy person).

So why don’t my wife and I move our family to DC? There are many reasons, but one is that our aging parents and grandparents are within a ten-minute drive of our current home and we feel called to help care for them as they get older. 

That’s a sacrifice for me personally (less so for my far less selfish wife). But knowing that I will have all of eternity to explore the greatest city of all time, I am happy to put this dream on my Anti-Bucket List, because I trust in God’s promise that he will reward me “for whatever good [I] do” in this life (Ephesians 6:8). 

You too can take David’s words to the bank: The Lord will “reward everyone according to what they have done.” Plan accordingly.

Jordan

P.S. If you want to go deeper on why the concept of rewards makes believers uncomfortable, what rewards Scripture promises, how you can earn them, and what else is on my Anti-Bucket List, check out Chapter 4 of my book, The Sacredness of Secular Work!

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Series: Wisdom for Work from David

Devotional: 3 of 7

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba”...Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (2 Samuel 11:1-4a)

Many historians believe that this famous scene took place towards the middle of David’s 40-year reign as king of Israel. And today’s passage suggests that David was growing lax on the job. 

Samuel says that “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war,” David didn’t. He “remained in Jerusalem.” Then we’re told that “one evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.” 

The picture Samuel paints is of David being bored. He couldn’t sleep (perhaps due to a lack of exhaustion from a hard day’s work) and now he appears to be moseying around the palace roof aimlessly.

That’s the context for David’s most notorious sin. Boredom. Slothfulness. A lack of hard work. David is Exhibit A, supporting the old adage that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” 

This passage reminds us that one of the reasons Christians should celebrate the gift of work is that God often uses it to keep us from sinning. How should we respond to that truth?

For those of us who frequently complain about being “too busy,” (hand raised) I think we should respond by giving thanks to God. Is it wrong to lament about the “thorns and thistles” that make our work “painful” (see Genesis 3)? Absolutely not! But if you’re feeling swamped at work today, David’s story should compel you to also praise God for using even painful things like overwhelm for your sanctification and his glory.

But maybe you don’t resonate with feeling “too busy.” Maybe you, like David, have started to coast through life. Or maybe you dream about spending your final years on cruise ships, beaches, and golf courses. With all due respect, there is no biblical support whatsoever for this version of “retirement.” 

Now, could God be calling you to trade the work you do for pay as a marketer, therapist, or general contractor for unpaid work as a mentor, tutor, or guardian ad litem? Absolutely! But to quit being productive altogether in the work of the Lord is a recipe for disaster and unfaithfulness as David so vividly demonstrates.

May we be people who accurately reflect the image of God who “is always at his work to this very day” (John 5:17) and join the Apostle Paul in saying, “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me” (Philippians 1:22).

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Series: Wisdom for Work from David

Devotional: 2 of 7

[King David] asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”...When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”...So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. (2 Samuel 9:3,6-8,11)

I don’t cry much, but I have wept over this passage numerous times. Why? Because I think it’s one of the best pictures we have in Scripture of Christ-like love.

By the world’s standards, Mephibosheth would have been the least likely person David would have shown kindness to for three reasons.

First, Mephibosheth was David’s enemy, at least by extension. When David asked if there was anyone “from the house of Saul,” that he could show kindness to, his courtiers would have been flabbergasted. I can imagine them saying, “You want to show love to one of Saul’s descendants? The guy who used to hurl spears at you while you innocently played a harp? That Saul, David!?”

Second, Mephibosheth was a social outcast, due to being “lame in both feet.” In David’s day, the crippled and disabled were not looked upon with compassion. They were kept at arm's length—outside the temple, palace, and social circles of the day. Which is why Mephibosheth was stunned to learn that David would even “notice a dead dog” like him.

Third, Mephibosheth was unable to repay David’s kindness. He had nothing to offer the king in return because of his social position.

For those reasons, David’s announcement that he wanted to show kindness to Mephibosheth would have made absolutely no sense to the world. But it makes all the sense in the world once you understand the motivation behind David’s kindness.

In today’s passage, David didn’t ask who he could show kindness to, but who he could show “God’s kindness” to. The Hebrew word there is hesed, and it is the same word David used to describe the kindness God had shown him in Psalm 86:12-13: “I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart…For great is your love (hesed) toward me.”

You see, David understood that were it not for the hesed love God had shown him, he would be God’s enemy; he would be a social outcast; he would be poor. David was amazed by grace. And that is why he is intent on sharing God’s lovingkindness with others—especially enemies, outcasts, and the poor like Mephibosheth.

I pray the same would be even more true of you and me because we have seen God’s hesed in the ultimate. Christ died for us when we were his enemies; when we were Eden’s outcasts; when we were spiritually bankrupt. And so, we are called to go and do likewise, laying down our lives for the Mephibosheths we live and work with.

Who is a Mephibosheth you can share God’s kindness with today? Maybe it’s an enemy, competitor, or a co-worker who’s competing against you for the same job. Maybe it’s a socially awkward team member who has quietly become an outsider. Maybe it’s an intern who is unlikely to ever repay you for serving them and their career.

Whoever just came to mind, commit to showing that person God’s hesed love today.

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Series: Wisdom for Work from David

Devotional: 1 of 7

David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them.” (1 Samuel 17:32-36)

We open our study of David with one of the most famous scenes from his life: His decision to fight the seemingly undefeatable Goliath. 

Saul’s response to David’s eagerness was essentially, “Pump the brakes kid. You’re crazy. And massively unqualified to go to battle against this warrior.”

But David’s response to Saul is what I want you to focus on today. David didn’t flex. He didn’t point to his killer slingshot strategy. He pointed to his track record of faithfulness. He essentially said, “Sure, I’ve never killed an oversized Philistine. But I have been doing my job as a shepherd with excellence. And so, I can be trusted with this greater responsibility.”

Sometimes we, like David, are eager to take on more responsibility in our work. We dream of “bigger roles” and having “greater impact” for God’s Kingdom. If our motives are mostly pure, I think God smiles on those aspirations. But in the meantime, it’s clear that he expects us to focus on our current assignments with excellence. In the words of Jesus, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10). 

So here’s my question for you today: Based on how you are stewarding your current responsibilities, would you expect God to trust you with more? Here are three exercises to help you answer that question.

#1: Ask God to convict you one way or another. Only you and God know if you are being faithful with the work he has given you to do. So ask the Holy Spirit to reveal this truth.

#2: Take the Keeper Test. Imagine that later today, you gave your two weeks notice to your boss—or, if you’re an entrepreneur, imagine you told a client you could no longer work with them. Now answer this question: How hard would your boss or client fight to keep you? If your honest answer is, “not very,” you’re probably not being faithful with the work God has put in your hands today.

#3: Pretend your boss spent all last week looking over your shoulder. Would you be proud or embarrassed by how you spent your time?

Take two minutes to work through one of those exercises today as a means of imitating David’s character of faithful excellence in “little things” in preparation for bigger ones.

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Series: Easter Vocations Part II

Devotional: 4 of 4

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-46)

Imagine you live in Jerusalem in the first century. Like so many of your neighbors, you work as a farmer. One day, you’re out harvesting olives, when all of a sudden, the clock strikes noon and the sky goes dark. You can’t see your hand, much less the olive trees, and so you are forced to head inside and rest from your labor.

Thousands of people must have experienced something similar the day Jesus died. The darkness that accompanied Christ’s finished work on the cross undoubtedly led many people to rest from the work of their hands that first Good Friday. 

But it also led to a rest for you and me today. Not a rest from the work of our hands so much as a rest from the work of our souls—the work beneath our work that so often leads us to overwork and burnout.

Maybe the work beneath your work is performance—using your work to elicit the intoxicating praise of your peers. Anyone who has accomplished any level of professional success can attest that the applause of others never truly satisfies. It only leaves you addicted to the need for more.

The cross is the only thing that can free us from that addiction. Once we see that God’s only Son died so that you and I could be called “children of God” (1 John 3:1), we can rest from the exhausting work of using our work to impress others.

Maybe the work beneath your work isn’t performance, though. Maybe it’s fear of not having enough. Here too, Jesus’s work on the cross is the only thing that can free you. Once you grasp that God kept his promise to slay his perfect Son, you can trust that he will keep his promise to provide for all of your needs (see Matthew 6:25-34).

You and I are called to work hard with our hands (see Colossians 3:23), but not with our souls (see Matthew 11:28-30). We are called to busy ourselves with the work of the Lord while we experience what Tim Keller called “the REM of the soul.” How do you experience that REM of the soul? By dwelling on the cross.

Buddha’s last words were, “Strive unceasingly.” Jesus’s last words were, “It is finished.” The work beneath your work is finished, believer. So strive with your hands for God’s glory and the good of others. But refuse to strive with your soul today.

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Series: Easter Vocations Part II

Devotional: 3 of 4

But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man [Jesus]! Release Barabbas to us!” (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:18-21)

For most of my life, I viewed Barabbas as a senseless murderer—the ancient equivalent of Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. But that’s likely an inaccurate portrait of this man.

Many scholars believe that Barabbas (or “Jesus Barabbas” as he’s referred to in Matthew 27:17) was likely a religious zealot. As pastor Daniel Darling explains: 

“Many Jewish people in the first century were wary of Rome…But the cohort of zealots to which Barabbas belonged to took resistance to another level. They sought to overthrow the Roman government by any means possible…assassination plots, targeted murder, and terrorism.”

If Jesus Barabbas had a mission statement for his work, it likely would have sounded similar to Jesus Christ’s—to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. But the methods of these two men could not have been more different.

While Jesus Barabbas plotted the downfall of the government, Jesus Christ preached respect for the emperor (see Mark 12:13-17). While Jesus Barabbas sought to slaughter Roman soldiers, Jesus Christ “let the soldiers hold and nail him down so that he could save them” (see Matthew 27:39-44).

In short, Barabbas pursued the mission of God while neglecting the methods of God. You and I are tempted to do the same thing today—to, as pastor Skye Jethani puts it, “divorce the work of Christ from the way of Christ…to separate the scope of God’s mission from the nature of God’s mission.”

What does it look like for you and me to pursue the mission of Jesus while neglecting the methods of Jesus?

It looks like building businesses so that we can give generously to missions, while failing to pay our employees and contractors fairly (see James 5:1-5). Or working “heartily as unto the Lord,”  without ever questioning whether the products our employer sells are “true…noble…and right” (see Philippians 4:8). Or spending so much time doing “the work of the Lord” that we neglect abiding with the Lord as we do that work (see John 15:4).

You’re unlikely to commit murder like Barabbas today. But you are likely to join Barabbas in pursuing God’s mission apart from God’s methods. Pray for the Lord’s help to pursue his mission with his methods today.