Pondering..What I believe about work, God and certain matters

Ramblings -

- work is not always easy and many times hard

- sometimes it's very fulfilling, sometimes not

- God made humans to work

- God gave us authority over the earth

- God was working when He made the Heavens, Earth, man, woman, animals, things that crawl and things that swim, things that fly

- God is still working, 24/7

- God gave humans permission to work with His creation

- God sent His son Jesus to live and die for the sins of those who believe

- there's evil

- God calls me to glorify him in every circumstance

- God calls me to serve Him and His community

- God assigns me to certain work

- when Jesus said "go ye therefore..." He meant "as you go about..."

- I struggle with the God calls be to a "certain career/job" thought process. Really? Or is it more of a "here's what I want to do? where God has me today? where God is leading me? this is a good career move?" decision? Is it more of a "I like doing this, it energizes me" decision. If I'm trusting in God, looking to Him in everything I do, does it really matter? Just asking.

- What if work were more about making me holy instead of happy? Hmph. That's not good...philosophers since Socrates have pondered the question "what is the one thing man most deeply desires?" They've always come up with "happiness."

- What if work were more about making me holy instead of happy? What if.........

- If work is easy on too regular basis, I'm probably not growing

- Rest. Keller says if I don't have a good grip on the balance of work and rest, then I don't understand the true doctrine of work

- margins and routines. Both have become very important to me over the past 3 years. I'm much more productive and prayerful when I plan margins and work in routines (or rythms, hmmm...systems/ process)

- evil is trying to keep me from glorifying God through my work. Evil wants me to be cynical and judging and blaming. Evil doesn't want me to grow.

- Growing....why do we have to grow? We just do...we just grow; if not purposefully, then the way the wind blows us. The wind being our culture, our environment. We all change, which means we all grow...into something different than we are now.

- Work. Am I doing what God wants me to do? What does God want me to do?........Glorify HIM.

- Piper says "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied, in Him." Ok..if that is true - I'm glorifing God when I'm satisfied in Him when I'm working loans, leading masterminds, being energized, or not......."God is most glorified when I'm most satisfied, in Him."

Where has all this brought me this morning?

Work is sometimes hard, sometimes easy, sometimes fulfilling, sometimes draining, sometimes energizing, sometimes tiring - but when I remember Him; when I remember the pain He went through on that cross........even when I don't....when I have that feeling of just feeling good, and realize I'm satisfied in Him;

He's glorifed.

To that end...........I ask questions to dig deeper, to clarify, to know what He wants

Simply doing work in love

There may be no better way to love your neighbor, whether you
are writing parking tickets, software, or books, than to simply do
your work. But only skillful, competent work will do.
- Tim Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf
in "Every Good Endeavor"

God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. How well do we love ourselves? Can we love ourselves well if we don't do our work well? If we just do what it takes to get by? What happens to our own self esteem, what we think about ourselves, what we say to ourselves, if we aren't doing a good job?

Love. Love and work.

The two are connected, blended somehow. When we decide to do each task well, to the best our abilities, and to increase those abilities, a since of satisfaction occurs. When we treat each job as if called-to-it-by-Him-to-do-it-well something changes.

A hole begins filling.

God calls His people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ and equips His people to spread His word as we go about. Much of this going about is serving others through our work.

For most of us, this is the most we can do; serve others through doing work well. Then we start loving ourselves more, and loving others becomes part of what happens.

And it brings Him glory.

To that end........

The choice is not whether to choose a job or ministry

Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever
situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them.
This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.
- 1 Corinthians 7:17 (NIV)

I get a little twisted when talking to someone and they seperate work from ministry as if they must make a choice between the two. The twist gets tighter if the discussion turns to one's "calling." The Bible tells us much less about being called specifically to positions in vocational ministry than it does "ordinary" work. What the Bible does tell us is -

• God calls people to Him to have a saving relationship through Jesus Christ
• God assigns believers spiritual gifts to build up the Christian community
• we are to remain where God has assigned and called us
• God not only equips believers to build up the Body of Christ but to build up the human community (the rest of the world around us)

My calling, until He calls me elsewhere, is to build up people through my mortgage and coaching/training business. God has given, or assigned, me certain gifts to facilitate that calling. These aren't just spiritual gifts but the ability to learn what I need to learn to be a good loan officer, coach, trainer, and speaker. He's gifted me with the ability to learn and improve myself so I can build up others; raise my own "lids" so I can help others to new levels.

There's sometimes conflicts with money and desires though. We want to earn money from the same place we're energized. In my case, I love leadership training and coaching and speaking. Yet, God hasn't shown me that I'm to earn a living from that profession. He has shown my I can use the mortgage loan officer income to reach more people with the training, coaching and speeking.

Along the path, I can use God's assignment to be a loan officer to serve those within my spheres of influene. To builid up, towards, the community of Christ. This is the same as someone called and assigned to a pastoral staff at church or other "mission." I don't have to leave my mortgage income to pursue my passion to make a difference in people's lives. Those are people include everyone I come in contact with; phone, face-to-face, email and otherwise; via the mortgage transactions and otherwise. I'm called to build up the Body of Christ and the community around me.

Tim Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf, in their great read "Every Good Endeavor" say it this way -

We are not to choose jobs and conduct our work to fulfill ourselves and accrue power, for being called by God to do something is empowering enough. The question must now be "How, with my existing abilities and opportunities, can I be of greatest service to other people, knowing what I do of God's will and of human need?'

Thus, the choice is not whether I choose to work an ordinary job or go into ministry, the choice is whether or not I choose to work any job as a ministry. The choice isn't to be called to ministry or not, the choice is whether or not to accept the calling to minister where I am.

What if work was more about making you holy, than happy

There is no better starting point for a meaningful work life

than a firm grasp of this balanced work and rest theology.

- Tim Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf

in "Every Good Endeavor"

My work life began changing 3 to 4 years ago due to a few things. Including, a lingering ponder that began when I heard Tim Keller say "if you don't have a good balance between your work and rest you don't have good understanding of the doctrine of work." The part of the brain that stores knowledge is said to be a different part than the part that controls behavior. Maybe I already knew this thing about work and rest, but the behavior wasn't always there. At least not as it pertained to the doctrine of work. When there was rest, there seemed to be guilt.

Tim Hawks said recently, tongue-in-cheek, "we're a nation of healthy individuals because we have all the facts. We know what we should eat, or not. We know the optimal time to exercise, the correct heart rate for our age, etc etc etc." (my paraphrase)

Maxwell refers to the "knowledge gap between knowing and growing." Blanchard the "know-can-do." It takes practice.......practicing the knowledge.

Prayerfully this workaholic/knowledgaholic, is changing by learning to practice the behaviors of work and rest, the behaviors of what I know, and maybe then learn some more (?).

To that end.............

What if work was more about making you holy, than happy

What if work was more about making you holy, than happy

There is no better starting point for a meaningful work life

than a firm grasp of this balanced work and rest theology.

- Tim Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf

in "Every Good Endeavor"

Have someone said something that caused a serious pause in your step? That happened to me 3 years ago when I heard Tim Keller say.......... "if you don't have a good balance between your work and rest you don't have good understanding of the doctrine of work." The part of the brain that stores knowledge is said to be a different part than the part that controls behavior. Maybe I already knew this thing about work and rest, but the behavior wasn't always there. At least not as it pertained to the doctrine of work. When there was rest, there seemed to be guilt.

Tim Hawks said recently, tongue-in-cheek, "we're a nation of healthy individuals because we have all the facts. We know what we should eat, or not. We know the optimal time to exercise, the correct heart rate for our age, etc etc etc." (my paraphrase)

Maxwell refers to the "knowledge gap between knowing and growing." Blanchard the "know-can-do." It takes practice.......practicing the knowledge.

Prayerfully this workaholic/knowledgaholic, is changing by learning to practice the behaviors of work and rest, the behaviors of what I know, and maybe then learn some more (?).

To that end.............

So what if I'm a Christian and show up at work grumpy?

In short, work - and lots of it - is an indispensable component in a

meaningful human life. It is a  supreme gift from God and one

of the main things that gives our lives purpose. But it must 
play its proper role, subservient to God. 
- Tim Keller in "Every Good Endeavor"

In an interview with Tim Keller, Tony Reinke asks

"if a Christian shows up at work on Monday morning

grumpy and irritable towards others, what's wrong?"

Keller answered, "the Gospel is brought to bear our work in a couple of ways. One is the heart. Anger, grumpiness, only doing what you have to do to get by - that means the lack of a Gospel character. The Gospel is supposed to make you graceful, make you humble. It is supposed to give you inner peace, generous in your spirit and if you are showing all these things in your work you aren't allowing the Gospel to change your heart the way in ought to."

"The Gospel usually makes you a good worker, makes people want to work with you...in the long run having a Gospel changed heart is pretty practical in the field of work."

Let me know your thoughts (and for the record, though hard to practice, I agree with Dr. Keller).

To that end....

Made to work, and recreate: made for stewardship

Nobody comes to NY to get a life, they come to work.

 If you want more you need to leave. - as told to Tim Keller.

Notes from the sermon (see previous post)

Keller lays the argument that -
- if one doesn't rest, one doesn't have the have the right Biblical view of work.
- all work is good
- no matter how high and lofty your work is today, your ancestor was a grounds keeper or a maid

He reminds us, from Genesis -
- that God got his hands dirty (He made us from the dirt)
- that God planted the garden
- and He put us in the garden to tend it
- that the author is going out of his way to tell us 
     - how good work is
     - that work is PUT in the paradise

Keller says "The only person, deep thinker, I (Keller speaking) know to have this high a view of work is Karl Marx. Marx held up the common worker. But Marxism is deeply discredited today because Marx didn't ground his view of work in a God who loves to get his hands dirty. He didn't ground his high view of work in the love of God whose Son came, not as the Greek expected him to come as a philosopher, or as the Romans expected as a noble statesman, or as the Jews wanted him to come as a great general.....but He came as a carpenter.

Marx grounded his high view of work in atheism and therefore if there is no God everything is permitted. If everything is just evolution, what's wrong with depression? There's nothing wrong with depressing the workers.

So, where is the source of social healing in the world?"

Good ponderings.

To that end...............

Looking in, out and up: made for stewardship

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear

fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can

you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

- John 15:4

I'm attending a mastermind group focused on John Maxwell's new book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. John Griffin, a Maxwell certified coach and trainer, is leading the study and gave us an assignment to bring 2 questions about the Law of Curiosity to the next meeting. While these 7 weeks together doesn't give us time to do more than hit the top-of-the-waves, the book and Griffin's poking has caused me to dig, as I was hoping. Yet, I wasn't necessarily expecting the digging to be in regards to work.

So far, the two biggest "hmmmmm's" have come from the laws of reflection and couriosity. This is from a guy (me) that understands God's design for us to work, was already heavy into evaluation & correction, and doesn't like to ask "why?" (it's a QBQ thing).

As I was preparing to take Bubba for a walk this morning I had a strong desire (from Holy Spirit?) to listen to a Keller message. Made for Stewardship jumped out from the podcast list. This was at least the 5th time I've listened to the messge but today it collided with the study about growth.

Thus, I think it's a great time to dig and ponder a bit of Dr. Keller's teachings on work again and in particular, camp out on how it pertains to my growth. This is the first a series of posts on Dr. Tim Keller's message on Made for Stewardship.

We are called to work because God also worked - He created the world! We can work for God by using out gifts for others. We also need rest from our work, which comes from our security in God through Christ. - Dr. Tim Keller

Dr. Keller continues to intrigue me with his delivery style. It's a mix of intellict, humor and a soft stab to the gut. Dave Moore mentioned once that he's so glad that Keller doesn't yell! Amen to that.

Keller hits the top of a number of important points in this short message without going too deep into any and leaves the listener with much to ponder. At around 14 minutes lays out the three guidelines to work:

- looking In at what you're gifted to do,
- look Out at what people need and
- look Up to the One who's called you.
 
- look In to work because of who you are,
- look Out at the world around you and give the world what it needs to have and
- look Up to realize what you're destined to be


Dr. Keller's message can be found by clicking here.


To that end..........I pray I'm looking in, out and up, paying attention and growing purposefully.


ps....I believe Griffin's purpose was successful.


Link's mentioned in this post -

John Maxwell
15 Invaluable Law's of Growth
John Griffin
Dr. Tim Keller
Made for Stewardship

Pondersings on "Why Work? Number 12

Christians especially have a role to play in using their

enterprises as vehicles for stewarding their communities

- Joy at Work Bible Study Companion

I have to remind myself of the time and culture in which Sayers wrote this writing....1947, and in England. These were tough times in so many ways. Yet, she ends her writing with a passionate statement

To work to serve the community we must

forget the community and serve the work.

 

 

Her reasons? She gives three:

 

One - you cannot do good work if you take your mind off the work to see how the community is taking it....If your heart is not wholly in the work, the work will not be good - and work that is not good serves neither God nor the community; it only serves Mammon.

 

Two - the moment you think of serving other people, you begin to have a notion that other people owe you something for your pains; you begin to think that you have a claim on the community. But if your mind is set upon serving the work, then you know you have nothing to look for; the only reward the work can give you is the satisfaction of beholding its perfection..........The work takes all and gives nothing but itself; and to serve the work is a labor of pure love.

 

Third - if you set out to serve the community, you will probably end by merely fulfilling a public demand - and you may not even do that......The danger of "serving the community" is that one is part of the communtiy, and that in serving it one may only be serving a kind of communal egotism.

 

Ms. Sayers goes on to say....The only true way of serving the community is to be truly in sympathy with the community - to be one's self part of the communtiy - and then serve the work, without giving the community another thought. Then the work will endure, because it will be true to itself. It is the work that serves the community; the business of the worker is to serve the work.

 

Pondering this small writing has taken longer than I thought and while my journal includes many notes, I haven't written the comments here that I had expected. As I reflect over the past 9 months and the journey I've been on with my work, and community, I know I need to continue to reflect on my view of scripture and how my work serves God and let me (the worker) serve the work.

 

I'll remind again that you can find a link to a free copy of this writing in the above right column. There's also a link to David Miller's republished edition that includes his excellently written forward.

 

 

To that end..........worship well



Ponderings on "Why Work?" Number 11

One of the great puzzles to solve in life is to find a
job you can love and that someone will pay you to do.

- Doug Shermand / William Hendricks
in Your Work Matters to God

Sayers' 3rd Propostition is this: "The Worker's first duty is to serve the work."

She follows this startling statement with a discussion on Christ's 1st and 2nd commandment to love with an emphasis...

to remember if we put our neighbor first, we are putting man above

God, and that is what we have been doing ever since we began

to worship humanity and make man the measure of all things.

Some reading this little book might be struck how common her examples are to today's culture. This proves once again Ecclesiates' (1:9) "there's nothing new under the sun." Sayers (page 25) gives the following quote to drive home the negative impact of focusing on community...

"I expect the judicature to understand that the nation does not exist

for their convenience, but that justice exists to serve the nation." - Hitler

(Remember that "Why Work?" was written by Sayers in 1947)

The last 3 pages of this book are probably the most revolutionary of the 27 and I remind the readers of this blog that the book is available free online. In the next post I'll begin wrapping-up this pondering with Sayers' 3 reasons why "serving the community is to falsify the work and the only way to serve the community is to forget the community and serve the work."

To that end....

Ponderings on "Why Work?" Number 10

Stewardship means continuously asking, "How would God want me to

treat this thing that He has placed within my control?"

- fm Joy at Work Bible Study Companion

Continuing with Sayer's 2nd Proposition "the only Christian work is good work well done" the author offers the following...

• God is not served by technical incompetence
• Incompetence and untruth always result when the secular vocation is treated as a thing alien to religion
• when you find a man who is a Christian praising God by the excellence of his work - do not distract him and take him away from his proper vocation to address religious meetings and open church bazaars.
• Serve God in the way to which God has called him. If you take him away from that, he will exhaust himself in an alien technique and lose his capacity to do his dedicated work.
• This worker is not there to serve the church; he is there to serve God by serving his work

As a reminder, Sayer's offers her doctrinal position....

"work is the natural exercise and function of man - the

creature is made in the image of his Creator"....

 

and then she offers Propositions and Consequences of the Propositions.

 

This "the only Christian work is good work well done" really sums it all up, doesn't it? The Bible is specific that we're made in his image. Right? So, even though we're sinners, shouldn't we strive to do work well?

 

Where does the pay check become a real factor? Is it ok to do a job poorly while we strive to get better?

 

Forgiveness...where does it play to incompetence? Where's the division, if there is, between a poor job intended to do well, and pure incompetence?

 

Sayers ends here 2nd Proposition with...

 

He, God, is not there to serve me; I am

there to serve God by serving his work.

 

To that end....

 

 

 

Ponderings on "Why Work?" Number 9

See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel..

and He has filled him with the Spirit of God

...to work in artistic workmanship.

Exodus 35: 30-33

In her 2nd Proposition (page 23 of Miller's publication) Sayers uses an illustration of what she means by "the only Christian work is good work well done."

She tells of a "dear old pious lady" who was struck by the beauty of the four great archangels who stood throughout Sayers play "The Zeal of Thy House." The lady asked Sayers "whether she selected the actors who played the angels for their excellence of moral character."

Sayers replied first that they were selected by the producer because he had the technical qulaifcations for selecting suitable actors. The actors were selected because of their abilities to do the job required of them; they needed the physique, to be well spoken and reasonably good actors.

Sayers went on to say..."after that, and only after that, one might take character into consideration, but that-provided his behavior was not so scandalous as to cause dissension amount the company-the right kind actor with no morals would give a far more reverent and seemly performance than a saintly actor with the wrong technical qualifications."

I've worked with people, employed people, because they were Christians. Is that wrong? Yes and no. If they could do the job, that was right. If they couldn't do the job, everyone connected were hurt if they were kept employed just because they were a believer in Christ. I'm being specific here...I'm not referring to someone that was being trained for a job, but someone that specifically had a job to do and incapable of performing the tasks to achieve the necessary results. As to the trainee, he/she needs to be capable of being trained and the training not an excuse for being hired and/or kept employeed.

When there's bad results, it's a bad witness for everyone concerned; employer, co-workers, clients and the employee himself.

To that end........

Paid to do, Made to do

A career is what you are paid to do.

A calling is what you are made to do.

- Howard Hendricks "Prof"

Howard Hendricks, Prof at DTS tells the following story -

I had one of the foremost surgeons in Dallas in my office a few years ago crying like a baby. When I finally got him under control, he said "Howie, do you think I ought to quit medicine and go into the ministry?" And then I wept with the realization that here was the most prominent and influential in his field and he didn't have a clue he's in the ministry.

This is the guy they call in when there's serious head injuries, he's the expert, the guy with the credentials, and he doesn't know he's in the ministry already. I can take you to the Southwestern Medical School and introduce you to numerous professors, students and former students who have become believers, or strengthened their walk with Jesus because of this man. And he didn't know he's in the ministry.

This guy has a ministry that I can't come close to!

You are living in a generation that is weary of words, but starving for reality. They have heard every rhetoric that has come down the pike, but when they see a man, particularly someone they respect, a good businessman, not someone who's perfect, but someone who is honest enough to say "I don't have it together, but let me tell you about someone who changed my life and in the process of continuing to do that everyday."


To that end.........

Insight - Jonathan Edwards and Work

In 1748 Jonathan Edwards wrote a sermon titled

A Divine and Supernatural Light,

Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God,

Shown to be Both Scriptural and Rational Doctrine

One of the subtitles and content is

All Moral Knowledge and Business Skill from God

God is the author of all knowledge and understanding whatsoever. He is the author of knowledge that is obtained by human learning: he is the author of all moral prudence, and of the knowledge and skill that men have in their secular business. Thus it is said of all in Israel that were wise-hearted, and skilled in embroidering, that God had filled them with the spirit of wisdom, Exodus 28:3.

 Let's not forget that the subject of business and work have been on the hearts, minds, lips and pens for much longer than just our own existence.



Does my behavior reflect my belief?

If this is the only book you ever read,

you'll never understand this book

- Howard Hendricks

Taking a small break from "Why Work?" Below is a cut/paste from John MacArthur's James 1:26-27 sermon "The Belief that Behaves."

http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/59-11/the-belief-that-behaves-part-3

I find it interesting in a couple of ways, one being - I'm reading Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" (the current English version…if you've read it, or tried!, you'll understand!)…..anyway…I love it when I've been pondering something and God shows it to me through another's teachings. Two - I struggle with bringing my behavior in line with "what I think I believe." And there it all lays in my ponderings of Bunyan's messages, engaging in Christian practice/application of life. (I used application because MacArthur did below)

More and more I understand what Howard Hendricks meant when he said, holding the Bible high above his head, "if this is the only book you ever read, you'll never understand this book."

To that point…….

John Bunyan, speaking of the wonderful glass which the shepherds of the delectable mountain  showed to Christian and Mercy, wrote "Now the glass was one of a thousand. It would present a man while looking one way with his own features exactly and turn it but another way and it would show one the very face and similitude of the prince of pilgrims himself. Yea, I have talked with those that can tell and have said that they have seen the very crown of thorns upon His head by looking into this glass. They have therein also seen the holes in His hands and His feet and on His side." So said Bunyan.

What he was saying is if you look into the Word of God you'll see two things. One, you'll see your own sin and two; you'll see your Savior. The man who continues looking into the mirror of God's Word sees in it things far more wonderful than his own face. Yes he sees his own face and he sees the sin on his own face, he sees his own filthy garments, he sees the spots and the stains on his life, but the longer he looks the clearer comes out of the glass the face of Jesus Christ, the thorn-crowned brow, the Christ on the cross, the Savior whose blood cleanses him from all that sin. And such a person who sees and then responds to Christ and then lives out the Word is blessed in the doing. Joshua 1:8 the Scripture says, "The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate on it day and night and observe to do all that is written therein and then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success." The doer puts the Word into living. Enjoying the Word then is more than a momentary experience; it is the application of truth to a life time, to a life time. And any other reaction to the Word but doing it is self-deception, self-deception. And so many people are self-deceived.

To that end..........apply well and not be self-deceived.

Danny

Oh...and this time I really believe I'll get through Bunyan's classic.

Ponderings on "Why Work?" Number 8

God instructed Adam and Eve to expand the Garden

to the whole earth and to serve as His representatives...they

were eventually thrown out of the Garden for eating the

fruit, but they were still responsible for stewarding the ground.
- fm Joy at Work Bible Study

From Sayers argument of the 2nd Proposition: Let the Church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade - not outside it. The Apostles complained rightly when they said it was not meant they should leave the word of God and serve tables; their vocation was to preach the word. But the person whose vocation is to prepare the meals beautifully might with equal justice protest; It is not meant for us to leave the service of our tables to preach the word. The official Church wastes time and energy, and, moreover, commits sacrilege, in demanding that secular workers should neglect their proper vocation in order to do "Christian" work.

Ask someone "why work?" most people will answer - I like to eat - to provide for my family - to earn money to buy things - I have bills to pay. When pressed for more, the answers will include giving to charity - feed the poor - to tithe to the church - to support foreign missions.

But rarely will the answer to "why work?' include

God made me to work

Through my work I'm able to worship God

Work itself has deeply intrinsic value

God called me to work

My work is my ministry

In the thousands of pages written about the God and Work subject, the authors consistently give us scripture and correlation to our lives. Yet few outside that circle of authors will search this matter out. And thus, the work becomes drudgery, church becomes seemingly irrelevant and the two drift farther apart.

But it doesn't need to be, the two don't have to seperate.

To that end.........search the matter out.

In His glory, God conceals matters. The

glory of kings is to search matters out.
                                            Proverbs 25:2

Ponderings on "Why Work?' - Number 7

As renewed people, we have been given the

motivation and power to re-create the Garden.

- Joy at Work Bible Study

Sayers 2nd Proposition: It is the business of the Church to recognize that the secular vocation, as such is sacred. Christian people, and particularly perhaps the Christian clergy, must get it firmly into their heads that when a man or woman is called to a particular job of secular work, that is as true a vocation as though he or she were called to specifically religious work....

.......In nothing has the Church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments to find that, as result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends..

.......How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?

"How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?"

"How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?"

Over the past 20 years I've read a few thousand pages about what-God-has-to-say-about-work, and Sayers is quoted in at least 1/2 of the books. Of the 4 Propositions she lays out in "Why Work?" I find this one the most telling.

And heart breaking.

Many many many people, especially men, never become or don't remain interested, much less engaged, in Church because of......Relevance.

They ask, "where's the relevance?" They might not know they're asking it, but they know there's something they aren't getting and they never connect, or they connect and move on. I go back to what Sayers says... The Church has allowed work and religion to become separate departments to find that, as result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends.

And we come to Church wanting to fill something we know is missing. And though the filling seems good, it sounds good, it doesn't stay connected with the rest of the week. Or when we (I'm talking majority, large majority) try to connect it, those leading us don't know how to keep it connected. They haven't been trained to connect it.

And yet, the Scripture is covered with the relevance. It's there, on almost every page -

Work. God has so much to say about our 9/10s.

But not talking about it, covers it up.

I was encouraged years ago to read through the Bible with a "work" mindset, to notice how much God writes about work. Sometimes the "Church" doesn't totally fill the need we have, and arguably is not supposed to.

That's when we must engage in our own studies and dig deeper, find the relevance, and not run.

To that end.....


Comments and dialog welcome...click comments below.

Ponderings On "Why Work?" - Number 6

But is is appropriate here to point out that man was created not

for leisure but for work, even in the state of innocence.

- Martin Luther, Lecture on Genesis 2:15

Sayers 4th Consequence of her 1st Proposition is that we should fight tooth and nail, not for mere employment, but for the quality of the work that we had to do. We should clamor to be engaged on work that was worth doing, and in which we could take a pride......The greatest insult which a commercial age has offered to the worker has been to rob him of all interest in the end-product of the work and to force him to dedicate his life to making badly things which were not worth making.

Genesis 2:15 states, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." With that in mind, think about this statement from page 23 of the "Joy at Work Bible Study Companion"

As renewed people, we have been given

motivation and power to re-create the Garden.

This is the last of the consequences of Sayers 1st proposition that work is the thing one lives to do...the thing in which one finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.

I told my friend Dave Moore this week about how much I remember Max Anders giving a sermon on evaluation and correction (some 20+ years ago). Max said that he literally sees himself turning his head and looking over his shoulder to look at how well he's lived the Gospel. I don't remember the verses he's used, but this is the essence of a good evaluation and correction system....looking back on the path you've traveled these past minutes, hours........years.

I haven't fought hard enough, definitely not tooth and nail. Hopefully, through an agenda of robust evaluation and correction, that is changing.

To that end..........

Ponderings on "Why Work?" - Number 5

A quick reminder of the 1st Proposition: work is the thing one lives to do....the thing in which one finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.

The 3rd consequence of this proposition Sayers points out is - if we really believed this proposition and arranged our work and our standard of values accordingly, we should no longer think of work as something that we hastened to get through in order to enjoy our leisure; we should look on our leisure as the period of changed rhythm that refreshed us for the delightful purpose of getting on with our work..............We should all find ourselves fighting, as now only artists and the members of certain professions fight, for precious time in which to get on with the job - instead of fighting for precious hours saved from the job.


Hmmmmmmmm. (And I seem to be doing a lot of Hmmm lately) "...we should look on our leisure as the period of changed rhythm...."

As I think about my work, and how God brought me back to it, I must embrace it as His will. And, I'm finding more and more joy in it, more passion, more means of making a difference and a profit. Brother Lawrence, 17th century monastry lay member, wrote "Men invent means and methods of coming at God's love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God's presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?"

....just to do our common business wholly for the love of him.."

I meet people that have choosen careers and every once-in-a-while someone that is in their calling. There's a big difference, even with those in vocational ministry; between picking a career and a calling. There's a big difference, but "in ministry" is THE calling of all Christian believers.

I pray that I offer myself to God through my work and it helps me find spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction.......after all, I spend most of my waking hours working. I pray that I focus on my calling and keep margins in place to help me stay in that rythm of my walk with Him.

To that end.......Amen.

Ponderings on "Why Work?" - Number 4

The work is not a building, place, book, system or tradition.
It's something living in our hearts and minds - if we find it.

- M. Nicoll

Keeping Sayers' 1st proposition in mind (see previous posting), the 2nd consequence she points out is "we have no clear grasp of the principle that every man should do the work for which he is fitted by nature. The employer is obsessed by the notion that he must find cheap labor, and the worker by the notion that the best-paid job is the job for him."

So I ask, can both be achieved?

Notice the author did not mention in this consequence the worker being suited for the job. Instead, she contends the worker is looking for the best-paid job, regardless of being suited well to it. Nothing from the worker or the employer about job-fit or enjoyment.

Can both be achieved? Yes, in theory, but rarely in practice. In practice, they conflict. Or seem to. (?)

What causes the conflict? Purpose? The purpose, the why, we work? Philosophers since Socrates have pondered the one thing man wants and have all concluded it to be.....joy (pleasure, fun, happiness). Thus, in this fallen world the more-than-common man and employer fail on the side of money. One typically wanting to get more, the other give less.. The pursuit of joy is usually substituted with the use of money to easy pain. Not all, but most.

Performing a job suited to one's nature, desire and/or passion normally goes out the door, until one takes or is force into a state of pondering. Something drives him to test, to evaluate and work toward the right goals...to adjust her dreams to God's will...."to do the work one is fitted by nature to do."

To that end.

Ponderings on "Why Work?" - Number 3

Biblical theology is practical to its core and it is heretical to promote, 

as theological institutions have for decades, unapplied theology.

- R. Paul Stevens

Ms. Sayers' 1st proposition: stated quite briefly, is that work is not, primarily a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker's faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God.

The author then offers consequences of her point, one being the "question of profits and remuneration." Personally, her 3 paragraphs containing 350 or so words are boiled into the following...

...the mere fact that a man will put loving labor into some hobby which can never bring him any economically adequate return. His satisfaction comes, in the godlike manner, from looking upon what he has made and finding it very good. He is no longer bargaining with his work, but serving it.

I don't care who you are...and we can, and will, debate other factors concerning wages and profits, but that statement is good. Really good.. With our hobby, what we love to just DO, we are serving that work. And work is good.

Our culture has taken a turn, it always does.....take turns, and isn't just fashionable that many are on paths of "finding our passion," "finding the life we love," "exploring our emotions," etc, etc. To seek what we want to be when we grow up....no matter what our age, has become important.

"His satisfaction comes, in the godlike manner, from looking upon what he has made and finding it very good." Setting with a group of businessmen this week, my friend Dale Miller, co-owner of Austin Fine Floors, asked the question

"if you could do any job you wanted, what would it be?" 

I was very surprised that 6 of the 7 men answered "what I'm doing. The job I have."

Pondering the answers the past 3 days, and in light of Sayers 1st proposition, the follow-up question should have been

"what if you weren't paid any money, would it still be the job you wanted? If not, what job, what work, would you do"

If money was out of the picture, would I work? What work would that be?

To that end....

Ponderings on "Why Work?" - Number 2

It is always strange and painful to have to change a habit of mind..

- Dorothy Sayers

Sayers asks "what is the Christin understanding of work?" and then follows with propositions arising from her doctrinal position: work is the natural exercise and function of man - the creature who is made in the image of his Creator.

That position mostly alludes me and when I happen upon it, and really start pondering it, like now...my thoughts run from "huh? to why don't I hear more about this, to...well Smitty...it's throughout the scripture. Pay attention."

Sometimes I get that far, mostly it continues to allude me, or me it.


During the past year I've been helping out from time-to-time at HCBC's Austin Job Seekers Network. Craig Foster runs an incredible program for 100 or so white collared (mostly), career minded men and women that come through there each week. Many, or most, have had there lives turned upside down by a sudden loss of job. Others have been in a constant turmoil of job changes their entire life.

We've all personally experienced, or had close family or friends, who've been without work, savings eroded, career path halted and seeming to end. It's tough, it brings about some strange thoughts and struggles and I don't wish it on anyone. Proverbs 25:2 says The glory of God conceals matters; the glory of kings is to search matters out.

The loss of a job, career and income can cause struggles that are difficult to search out.

Yet, so can any job, at any time. Many reading this are in jobs, and struggling. Why?

Work is a tough subject, a tough task and most want to embrace, tackle or run from it based upon its enjoyment and/or monetary fruits.

I pray that I ponder, dwell, at least THINK a bit more today on work being my natural function and how I'm made in the image of God, my Creator.

To that end....

Ponderings on "Why Work?"

We might be well-served to remember the ancient Hebrew word "avodah;" the Old Testament translates it three different ways - to work, to worship and to serve.

- David W. Miller 

Why work?

In some form or fashion I assume everyone asks himself this question. While in high school (40+) years ago(!) I remember a teacher, Mr. Casper, asking the question "if you were wealthy and didn't have to work, would you?"

My answer was "absolutely!" Johnny Snead snickered and said "no way."

All these years later, I don't know what made Mr. Casper ask this question but I can only assume he wasn't just wanting to plant the subject into his students' thoughts, but was pondering the question himself. Johnny? Well, he was much closer to reality than me.

Why Work? is the title to a small book Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) wrote in 1947. Some would say Ms. Sayers, crime writer, poet, playwright and Christian humanist, was "ahead of her time." Without debating that right now, I will give in and say her style and thoughts resonated with many during her lifetime and many theology of work writers (Doug Sherman, R. Paul Stevens, David Miller, Os Guinness, etc) since. Resonates with me too.

This is the first in at least 12 posts where I'll be pondering the subject and Ms. Sayers writings on that question....Why Work?

Why work? What's the purpose of work? Should one ever stop working? Where's the balance to working your tail off, but depending upon God?

Augustine reportedly said work like it depends upon you and pray like it depends upon God.

I say "huh?, really?, work like it depends upon me?" Is that right, or is it pray AND work like it depends on God.

To that end....let's see what Dorothy has to say about this subject of Why Work? and the path these ponderings take.

PS...thanks to the Britt Harris and The Austin Christian Business Summit for the copy of Dorothy Sayers' Why Work?