Faith in the Workplace!

You invest more than one-third of your life at work. Punch the clock, turn on the computer, start your engines at 8 a.m., rest a few minutes at noon, but keep your mind and body in gear till the sun has set. Then tomorrow — repeat. Sound familiar?
So how can your relationship with God grow in all this? The easy temptation is to separate your life into two parts: career — public; faith — private.
But considering how much of your life you spend engaged in your career, perhaps that is the ideal place to grow in your relationship with Christ. Can you identify with these common arenas where your faith meets life?

Giving Faith a Face
Your friends at work know you are “religious” because...
You have mentioned occasionally that you are involved at church.
You’ve promised to pray for them as they go through a crisis.
There’s just that “something” about you: different yet attractive.
They’ve seen you go through a crisis and still maintain that “something.”
Whatever your style, ask the Lord to make your life a sweet “fragrance of the knowledge of him” (2 Corinthians 2:14 NIV). Look for ways to model God’s grace and “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15 NIV).

Heated Comments and Cold Shoulders
Throughout the workday, have you ever found yourself thinking?

I wish we could have one conversation that didn’t end in aggravation.
His memo floored me. How could he assume that of me? Why should I be the one to say anything? I’ll just get stuck shouldering the blame. This place feels like a television series. Sometimes it’s a drama. Sometimes a soap opera. But it’s never Happy Days.

Often on the stage of conflict, your faith grows even stronger. Behind the power plays or misunderstandings, you can trust that God is in control. Ask Him to help you to model Ephesians 4:31-32 (NIV): “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger.... Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

In over Your Head
Sometimes, in the middle of the workday, do you catch yourself thinking...
           How in the world did I end up here?
           I may look “all together,” but I hope no one realizes how fast my heart is racing.
           What do people really expect of me? Am I measuring up?
           How could I ever live for God in this place?
Centuries ago, a woman named Esther shared any one of these responses. The lesson for her life — and yours — can be summed up in Esther 4:14: “Who knows [if God hasn’t placed you here] for such a time as this?” God has planned each event of your job so that you have opportunity to trust Him. (Meditate on Proverbs 3:5-6.) What do you need to entrust to Him today?
As you head off to work tomorrow, believe that God is also at work — in the conflicts, in the opportunities, and in the heart of your day.

Defining Liberty Gods Way!

Without becoming needlessly academic, I want to define a term that I've been tossing around. What do I mean when I declare that the Christian has liberty? Essentially, liberty is freedom . . . freedom from something and freedom to do something.
Liberty is freedom from slavery or bondage. It is initially freedom from sin's power and guilt. Freedom from God's wrath. Freedom from satanic and demonic authority. And equally important, it is freedom from shame that could easily bind me, as well as freedom from the tyranny of others' opinions, obligations, and expectations.
There was a time in my life without Christ when I had no freedom from the urges and impulses within me. I was at the mercy of my master Satan and sin was my lifestyle. When the urges grew within me, I had nothing to hold me in check, nothing to restrain me. It was an awful bondage.
For example, in my personal life I was driven by jealousy for many miserable years. It was consuming. I served it not unlike a slave serves a master. Then there came a day when I was spiritually awakened to the charming grace of God and allowed it to take full control, and almost before I knew it the jealousy died. And I sensed for the first time, perhaps in my whole life, true love; the joy, the romance, the spontaneity, the free-flowing creativity brought about by the grace of a faithful wife, who would love me no matter what, who was committed to me in faithfulness for all her life. That love and that commitment motivated me to love in return more freely than ever. I no longer loved out of fear that I would lose her, but I loved out of the joy and the blessing connected with being loved unconditionally and without restraint.
Now that Christ has come into my life and I have been awakened to His grace, He has provided a freedom from that kind of slavery to sin. And along with that comes a freedom that brings a fearlessness, almost a sense of invincibility in the presence of the adversity. This power, keep in mind, is because of Christ, who lives within me.
In addition, He has also brought a glorious freedom from the curse of the Law. By that I mean freedom from the constancy of its demands to perform in order to please God and/or others. It is a freedom from the fear of condemnation before God as well as from an accusing conscience. Freedom from the demands of other people, from all the shoulds and oughts of the general public.
Such freedom is motivated—motivated by unconditional love. When the grace of Christ is fully awake in your life, you find you're no longer doing something due to fear or out of shame or because of guilt, but you're doing it through love. The dreadful tyranny of performing in order to please someone is over . . . forever.
Grace also brings a freedom to do something else—a freedom to enjoy the rights and the privileges of being out from under slavery and allowing others such freedom. It's freedom to experience and enjoy a new kind of power that only Christ could bring. It is a freedom to become all that He meant me to be, regardless of how He leads others. I can be me—fully and freely. It is a freedom to know Him in an independent and personal way. And that freedom is then released to others so they can be who they are meant to be—different from me!
You see, God isn't stamping out little cookie-cutter Christians across the world so that we all think alike and look alike and sound alike and act alike. The body has variety. We were never meant to have the same temperaments and use the same vocabulary and wear the same syrupy smile and dress the same way and carry on the same ministry. I repeat: God is pleased with variety. This freedom to be who we are is nothing short of magnificent. It is freedom to make choices, freedom to know His will, freedom to walk in it, freedom to obey His leading me in my life and you in your life. Once you've tasted such freedom, nothing else satisfies.
Perhaps I should reemphasize that it is a liberty you will have to fight for. Why? Because the ranks of Christianity are full of those who compare and would love to control and manipulate you so you will become as miserable as they are. After all, if they are determined to be "cramped, somber, dull, and listless," then they expect you to be that way, too. "Misery loves company" is the legalists' unspoken motto, though they never admit it.

Hope Beyond Failure!

Rarely will one of God’s heroes show up in the Scriptures having lived a life free of failure. Take Peter, for example. As soon as you read the name, you remember his story. Peter experienced the extreme highs and lows of life — from days spent in blessed fellowship with Christ...to the heart-wrenching erosion of loyalty when he denied the Lord. Not once. Not twice. Three times. Once he realized his failure, the Bible says, “he went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62).
Can you remember a failure that was so dramatic and so tearful for you that you hardly need to be reminded of the feelings? I remember Betsie ten Boom’s words, “There is no pit so deep but that He is not deeper still.” As dark and as deep and as tragic as your failure may be, He is willing to go to the depths of it with you.
This was true of Peter too. Look back at Luke 22. After the surprising warning of Satan’s attack, Jesus gave Peter a statement of fact: “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” Then there was a veiled reassurance: “And you, when once you have turned again...”. Then a final command: “Strengthen your brothers” (22:32).
What does that suggest? It suggests that Peter was going to fall. “Once you have turned again.” “Retraced your steps” is another way someone else has put it. “Once you have turned again,” Jesus said, “then use it to strengthen your brothers.” Jesus knew Peter to the core. He knew Peter would fall, but He prayed for him that he would not remain fallen. Jesus loved Peter — even at his point of deepest weakness.
How did He prove that love? Mark 16:6-7 answers that question. After the Resurrection, while the women were standing at the tomb, an angel told them:

“Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter.” (emphasis added)

Isn’t that great? “Don’t forget Peter. He’s the last one who thinks that I’ll ever want to talk to him again. Tell Peter!” What grace!
Somewhere between the time Peter fell and this angelic announcement there was a process during which Peter wallowed in remorse, wishing he could, if possible, correct his error...but he couldn’t. And somewhere in the midst of it he heard the Lord say to him, “Peter, I forgive you. I understand. Use it to strengthen your brothers.”
That’s why Peter later was able to write the following words to early Christians:

May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection. (1 Peter 1:2-3, emphasis added)

Why did this mean so much to Peter? Because it was at the Resurrection Peter’s name was called, and the Lord in tender mercy said, “Tell him I’ve come back.”
First Peter is a letter of great hope written by a man who experienced it! By the time he wrote this letter, Peter had come to the place where he was not only back on the scene, he was aggressively engaged in the formation of the early church.
It can happen to you too. Just like fallen and forgiven Peter, you can find new hope despite your failures. If you are a believer, you are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).
What tender mercy! What triumphant grace! Failure is not forever. God specializes in forgiveness and hope. He can use even your worst failures in a mighty way.

Creativity and Tenacity!

On May 24, 1965, a thirteen-and-a-half-foot boat slipped quietly out of the marina at Falmouth, Massachusetts. Its destination? England. It would be the smallest craft ever to make the voyage. Its name? Tinkerbelle. Its pilot? Robert Manry, a copy editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who felt that ten years at the desk was enough boredom for a while. So he took a leave of absence to fulfill his secret dream.
Manry was afraid . . . not of the ocean but of all those people who would try to talk him out of the trip. So he didn’t share it with many, just some relatives and his wife, Virginia, his greatest source of support.
The trip? Anything but pleasant. He spent harrowing nights of sleeplessness trying to cross shipping lanes without getting run over and sunk. Weeks at sea caused his food to become tasteless. Loneliness led to terrifying hallucinations. His rudder broke three times. Storms swept him overboard, and had it not been for the rope he had knotted around his waist, he would never have been able to pull himself back on board. Finally, after seventy-eight days alone at sea, he sailed into Falmouth, England.
During those nights at the tiller, he had fantasized about what he would do once he arrived. He expected simply to check into a hotel, eat dinner alone, then the next morning see if, perhaps, the Associated Press might be interested in his story. Was he in for a surprise! Word of his approach had spread far and wide. To his amazement, three hundred vessels, with horns blasting, escorted Tinkerbelle into port. And forty thousand people stood screaming and cheering him to shore.
Robert Manry, the copy editor-turned-dreamer, became an overnight hero. His story has been told around the world. We need more Roberts who have the creativity and the tenacity to break with boredom and try the unusual.

Act Medium!

The children worked long and hard on their little cardboard shack. It was to be a special spot—a clubhouse, where they could meet together, play, and have fun. Because a clubhouse has to have rules, they came up with three:

Nobody act big.
Nobody act small.
Everybody act medium.

Not bad theology!
In different words, God says the very same thing:

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
A stranger, and not your own lips. (Proverbs 27:2)

“Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.” (Matthew 20:26-27)

Give preference to one another in honor. (Romans 12:10)

Through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13)

Regard one another as more important than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

Just “act medium.” Believable. Honest, human, thoughtful, and down to earth. Regardless of your elevated position or high pile of honors or row of degrees or endless list of achievements, just stay real. Junk any idea that you deserve some kind of super recognition for a job well done. Who did you do it for anyway? If you did it for God, He has an infinite number of unseen ways to reward you. If you did it for human glory, no wonder you’re seeking the credit! So easy to draw out that praise for yourself, isn’t it? Ye olde ego is a wily one.
Just “act medium.”
Again, what is it Solomon said? “Let another praise you . . . a stranger, and not your own lips.”
Meaning what? Meaning no self-reference to some enviable accomplishment. Meaning refusal to scratch a back when yours itches. Meaning no desire to manipulate and manufacture praise. Meaning authentic surprise when applauded.
Like the inimitable Principal Cairns, headmaster of an English school, who was walking onto the platform along with other dignitaries. As he stepped up, a burst of spontaneous applause arose from the audience. In characteristic modesty, Cairns stepped back to let the man behind pass by . . . as he began to applaud his colleague. He genuinely assumed the applause was for another.
Just “act medium.”
But one final warning: Don’t try to fake it. False humility stinks worse than raw conceit.
The answer is not in trying to appear worthless or “wormy.” The answer lies in consistently taking notice of others’ achievements, recognizing others’ skills and contributions . . . and saying so. That’s called serving others in love. And that’s what Christ did.
Got the rules memorized?
“Nobody act big. Nobody act small. Everybody act medium.”
Such good advice from a clubhouse full of kids who, by the way, are pretty good at practicing what they preach.

A Sheltering Tree!

Shortly before his death, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote Youth and Age in which he reflected over his past and the strength of his earlier years.
To me, the most moving line in this quaint work is the statement: “Friendship is a sheltering tree. . . .”
How true . . . how terribly true! When the searing rays of adversity’s sun burn their way into our day, there’s nothing quite like a sheltering tree—a true friend—to give us relief in its cool shade. Its massive trunk of understanding gives security as its thick leaves of love wash our faces and wipe our brows. Beneath its branches have rested many a discouraged soul!
Let me name a few. Elijah was ready to quit. Depressed and threatened, he turned in his prophet’s badge and wrote out his resignation. God refused to accept either. He gave him rest, good food, and a “tree” named Elisha—who “ministered to him” (1 Kings 19:19-21). Using the analogy by Coleridge, Elijah rested in the shade of Elisha’s “sheltering tree.”
Paul had a similar experience. In fact, the trees in his life significantly sustained him. There was Barnabas who stood by him when everyone else ran from him (Acts 9:26-27; 11:25-26). There was Silas, his traveling companion over many an otherwise lonely mile (15:40-41). When you add Dr. Luke and Timothy and Onesiphorus and Epaphroditus and Aquila and Priscilla, you find a veritable forest of sheltering trees. Even Jesus enjoyed Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Even He was refreshed beneath those sheltering branches from Bethany (John 11:5).
But of all the trees God placed beside His choice servants, one human redwood looms the largest, in my opinion. David was hunted and haunted by madman Saul. Between Saul and David, however, stood a sheltering tree named Jonathan. Loyal and dependable, Jonathan assured David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you” (1 Samuel 20:4). No limits. No conditions. No bargain. No reservations. Best of all, when things were at their worst, he “went to David . . . and encouraged him in God” (23:16). Why? Because he was committed to the basic principles of a friendship. Because he loved him as he loved himself (18:1). It was the kind of love that causes men to lay down their lives for their friends, as Jesus put it (John 15:13). No greater love exists on this globe.
Beneath whose branches are you refreshed, dear reader? Or, dare I ask, who rests beneath yours? Occasionally, I run across an independent soul who shuns the idea that he needs such a shelter, feeling that trees are for the immature, the spiritual babes, or those who haven’t learned to trust only in the Lord. It is that person I most pity, for his horizontal contacts are invariably superficial and shallow. Worst of all, his closing years on earth will be spent in the loneliest spot imaginable—a hot, treeless desert.
So, then, let’s be busy about the business of watering and pruning and cultivating our trees, shall we? Would I be more accurate if I added planting a few? Growing them takes time, you know . . . and you may really need a few when the heat rises and the winds begin to blow.

Conforming or Transforming?

Romans 12:1 deals with the physical, our bodies. Romans 12:2 deals with the metaphysical, our minds.
Jews focused all of their attention on the ethical, public behavior of a person, which is good in many ways. However, Jesus was not satisfied with mere external, physical obedience. He called for His followers to have clean hearts first, then clean hands (Matthew 15:17–20; Mark 7:14–15). That's because both sin and righteousness begin in the mind, meaning we have a choice between two alternatives. We can either "be conformed to this world" or we can "be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind" (Romans 12:2).
The Greek word for "conform" is syschematizo and means "to be molded according to a pattern." It is a compound of the preposition with and the term from which we get our English word schematic.
The word rendered "transform," metamorphoo, means "to be changed from one thing into another." This Greek word is transliterated to render the English word metamorphosis, which is commonly used to describe the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
Our world was created good, but it has since been corrupted by human sin. We look forward to the day when Christ returns and refashions the world to reflect God's character. Until then, we are to reject the pattern of thinking that comes from the corrupted world and instead live out changed lives that look different from those who are living in accordance with the fallen world system.