21 Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22 But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I...
My first few jobs through and after college were work. And they were just that; they were jobs that no one may have found glamorous, and I certainly did not see them as anything but a means to a paycheck and a stepping stone to...
9 Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. 10 Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish....
At the risk of sounding like an annoying overachiever, the idea of hard work has never really bothered me. I'm probably too competitive for my own good, so the thought of a challenge (even a dumb one) has always called to something deep and elemental...
65 Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep, like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor. 66 He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame. 67 But he rejected Joseph’s descendants; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. 68 He chose instead the tribe of...
Sometimes our souls get sifted and shaped in surprising ways and places. For me it was in a city on the Florida gulf coast nick-named “New Port Nowhere” because, as the joke goes, “Why would anyone be from there?” We were a little over two...
Today’s culture holds a different standard of rest and recreation than the Bible. If we don’t arm ourselves with the truth of rest in Scripture, we will chase after hopeless things and attempt to control what is not ours to start with. Rest is built...
13 So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord,...
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” (Colossians 3:23) My vocation is by nature “for the Lord.” I came to Papua New Guinea to plant a church because I wanted to work for the Lord generally, and I...
1 Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected...
As we’ve been learning the last several weeks in our Work series, work is hard! Parenting is work, and it’s extremely hard work. So as a disclaimer, let me state up front that we have had all the struggles with this role of parenting that...
16 I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! 17 I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.” 18 I also thought...
Legos are a tangible illustration of, or metaphor for, the different parts and pieces that can be assembled to build something splendid. Opening a box full of Legos, you will see several different colors and sizes, each containing a different number of stud notches. Each...
5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 So humble yourselves under the mighty...
Work has been corrupted by our fallen world.. As parents, we have a responsibility to prepare our children for work. We are called to invest in and disciple them to prepare them for their future. This task pushes us to wrestle with the character issues...
When each of these previous roles came to an end- “basketball player”, “teacher/coach”, and “FCA staff member”- I found myself frustrated, discouraged, really seeking purpose and significance and questioning who I was. ...
1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. 2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. 3 Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude 4 A river brings...
Since I was young I’ve heard the joke about stay-at-home moms sitting on the couch, watching Soaps and eating bonbons all day. I just Googled it and received over 17,000 results, so apparently the saying is still floating around. And even though I never saw...
1 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them....
A few years back, I went through what I like to call a “Christian man’s midlife crisis.” Unlike the Hollywood depiction of a man at midlife, I didn’t want a new car and thank goodness I didn’t want a new wife. But yet, I knew...
9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so,...
11 A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense....
Work was created by God and is ultimately good, but it has been corrupted from God’s original design. This corruptions leads us to seek escape in one of two ways: escaping into work or from work, both motivated by proud unbelief and selfishness....
20 Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged....
Men and women relate to and experience the corruption of work in different ways. Check out these additional resources referenced by Bill White from our Men's Roundtable study, A Man and His Work, and a session from our recent Ezer conference, A Woman's Words, for...