When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble. (Proverbs 11:2)
A few weeks ago, I was having dinner with one of my favorite authorsâsomeone who has sold millions more books than I have.
I was picking my friendâs brain on publishing and book marketing, when all of a sudden, he started asking me questions about marketing childrenâs books.
Given the massive respect I have for this person, I was really taken aback by his questions. âWhy are you asking me about book marketing?â I asked.
My friend replied, âBecause I have not cracked the nut on childrenâs books, and honestly, itâs been a bit frustrating. You, on the other hand, seem to have figured this out.â
After muttering some false humility, my friend cut me off by quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson: âJordan,â he said, âEveryone I meet is my superior in some way.â
I love that perspective. And my friend only had it because of the frustrating âthorns and thistlesâ he has experienced in his work (see Genesis 3:17-18).
...To Adam he said, âBecause you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, âYou must not eat from it,â âCursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.â (Genesis 3:17-18)
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." I donât know who coined this popular piece of fortune cookie wisdom, but I can tell you they never read Genesis 3.
After sin entered the world, God said that work will be âpainful toilâŚall the days of your life.â Not âpainful toilâŚuntil you choose a job you love.â Work will be frustrating until the New Earth (see Isaiah 65:17-23).
Now, I love what I do. Iâve never been more confident that creating content like these devotionals is the work God created me to do. And Lord willing, Iâll be helping you connect the gospel to your work for the next 50 years.
But e...
âThe one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.â (Psalm 50:23)Â
âGlorifyâ is one of those Christianese terms we use so much that its meaning can feel muddled. So, when you read a passage like 1 Corinthians 10:31 that urges you to do âwhatever you doâŚfor the glory of God,â you might understandably wonder what that looks like practicallyâespecially in the workplace.
Letâs look to Godâs Word to remove some of the mystery together. Here are just five ways Scripture says you can âglorifyâ God at work today.
#1: Give thanks. Psalm 50:23 makes clear that simply thanking God for the gift of your work and the fruit itâs producing âglorifiesâ him.
#2: Do good work. Jesus said, âlet your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heavenâ (Matthew 5:16). The Greek word ergon that we translate to âgood worksâ here literally means âwork, task, [and] employment.â And so, you can be confident you are glorifying God today ...
Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to youâŚ.What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? (Psalm 116:7, 12)
A friend of mine was watching a kid play his heart out on the basketball court even though his team was up 20 points. After the game, my friend asked the boy why he was hustling so hard when victory was guaranteed. The kidâs response was perfect: âBecause I love my coach.â
Thatâs a pretty good picture of what David is getting at in Psalm 116.
In verse 7, David instructs his soul to rest. Why? Because âthe Lord has been goodâ to him. As we express gratitude for the things God has already done in and through our work, we can rest and be content even if the Lord doesnât provide anything else in the future.
In short, thankfulness is a path to rest. But itâs not just a path to rest. In verse 12, David says that rest is a path to ambitionâto leave it all out on the court, if you will. âWhat shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?â D...
[God] makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivateâbringing forth food from the earth...All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. (Psalm 104:14, 27)
After praying and thanking God for our dinner, my daughter Kate (3 at the time) said, âDaddy, God didnât give us this food. Mommy bought it at the grocery store!â
âYouâre right, Kate,â I said. âMommy did buy this food at the grocery store. But who created the apple on your plate?âÂ
âGod,â Kate answered.
âThatâs right,â I said. âAnd he also made the farmer that picked that apple, and the engineers who built a truck to take the apples to the grocery store which was built by entrepreneurs, carpenters, and bankers. God used the work of all of those people and more to give us this dinner!â
By this point, I had long lost Kateâs attention. But one day, I pray she will read Psalm 104 and appreciate what I was trying to teach her.
The Psalmist says that God "makes grass grow," but leaves it "...
May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for usâyes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17)
This is the final verse of Psalm 90, the only Psalm that credits Moses as its author. Itâs not surprising that Moses concludes his Psalm with these words, as he prayed a similar prayer six times in the book of Deuteronomy alone (see Deuteronomy 2:7; 14:29; 16:15; 24:19; 28:12; 30:9).
Why was this such a frequent prayer of Moses?
First, I think Moses understood that this prayer is a practical way of reminding ourselves that God alone produces results through our work. In Deuteronomy 8:18, Moses said that âââit is [God] who gives you the ability to produce wealth.â How do we remind ourselves of that truth? By joining Moses in praying the words of todayâs passage.
Second, I think Moses continually offered up this prayer because it is deep within the heart of any human being for our work to outlive us. Thatâs what Moses is praying for in Psalm 90:17. ...
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
Iâve noticed a strikingly consistent theme in the biographies of historyâs most impactful Christians: They thought about deathâa lot.Â
At the age of 29, Martin Luther told a mentor âhe didnât think he would live very long.â William Wilberforce âseriously believed he was likely to die violentlyâ before he completed his lifeâs work of abolishing the slave trade. And Alexander Hamilton âimagine[d] death so much it [felt] more like a memory.â
These men lived and worked hundreds of years ago when death was far more common and thinking about it was in some ways inevitable. That stands in stark contrast to our culture today. In an essay titled The Pornography of Death, anthropologist Geoffrey Gorer argued that death has replaced sex as the most taboo topic of our modern age.
But in Psalm 90, Moses says that meditating on death is one of the wisest things we can do. Why? Because dwelling on death leads us to âwa...
In you, Lord my God, I put my trustâŚGuide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:1, 5)
Can you repeat Davidâs words with a straight face? âGodâŚmy hope is in you all day long.âÂ
I know I canât most days. That might be true in the mornings after I have spent time in the Word meditating on the hope of the gospel. But once I sit down at my desk, it often feels like my hope is in signing the next book deal, hitting the next milestone in podcast subscribers, or helping my kids get straight As at school.
These are examples of good things that you and I should be ambitious for. Done with proper motives, they are part of the âgood works which God prepared in advance for us to doâ (see Ephesians 2:10).
But our good work canât be the source of our hope. Why? Because the results of our work arenât secure! I have no ultimate control over my next book deal or whether or not my kids make the honor roll. Thus, setting my ultimate hop...
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not witherâwhatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)
Growing up, we had a tree in my yard that would produce delicious tangerines each year. Do you know what I never saw that tree do? Hoard the fruit for itself. Why? Because thatâs not the purpose of a fruit tree. A fruit tree exists to share its fruit with others.
I think thatâs part of what the Psalmist had in mind in todayâs passage. The Psalter opens by describing âone...whose delight is in the law of the Lordâ and says that whatever that person does âprospers.â Who is that prosperity for? Primarily for othersâjust like âa tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit.â
Is it wrong to enjoy the ...
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. (Matthew 25:14)
When it comes to escaping the comparison trap, there may be no more helpful passage of Scripture than the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25.
Jesusâs parable focuses on a Master (representing himself) who âentrusted his wealthâ to three servants. âTo one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,â and then, he went on a long journey.
Upon his return, the Master found that the first servant had diligently put the Masterâs money to work and turned five bags of gold into ten. The Master turned to the first servant and said, âWell done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your masterâs happiness!ââ
Then, the Master came to the second servant who turned his two bags of gold into four. And the Master gave him the exact same blessing that he gave the first servantâeven though the second servant wound up with six fewer bags of gold....