Like an archer who wounds at random is one who hires a fool or any passer-by. (Proverbs 26:10)
In 2012, the CEO of Yahoo was fired just months after getting the job when an investor discovered that the CEO had lied on his rĂ©sumĂ© about holding a bachelorâs degree in computer science.
The CEO lost his job. The company was forced to pay out $7 million in severance. And Yahooâs employees lost a leader and direction.
Who was to blame for all this destruction? The CEO, of course. But also, to quote the Wall Street Journal, the "botched vetting" of the CEO by Yahooâs Board of Directors who seem to have been in a rush to fill the position.
Thatâs a dramatic example of what can happen when we fail to heed the warning in todayâs passage. The manager who hires too quickly is bound to hire a âfool.â She is âlike an archer who wounds at random,â harming herself, the âfoolâ she hires, and the rest of her team.
How can we avoid being the archer todayâs proverb is describing? Let me offer a coupl...
It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider oneâs vows. (Proverbs 20:25)
How many times have you and I fallen into the âtrapâ this proverb is warning us against?
Iâve said âyesâ to projects at work only to later renegotiate the deadline I could have never hit. Iâve agreed to volunteer at church only to grumble and complain about the commitment on Sunday morning.
Sound familiar?
You and I need practical ways to avoid the trap of saying âyesâ too quickly and flippantly. Here are four practices that typically work for me.
#1: Delay every âyesâ by at least 24 hours. It is really hard to say ânoâ if you feel pressured to give an answer to a request for your time the moment youâre asked. So, the next time youâre asked to dedicate your time to something, do whatever you can to delay responding for at least a day. Buy yourself some time by saying, âLet me sleep on it,â âLet me check with my spouse,â or âLet me check my calendar and current commitments and get back...
One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys. (Proverbs 18:9)
There were many causes of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. But a culture of âslackâ work was undeniably a contributing factor. In his book, Midnight in Chernobyl, Adam Higginbotham explains that:
The quality of workmanship at all levels of Soviet manufacturing was so poor that building projectsâŠwere forced to incorporate an extra stage known as âpreinstallation overhaul.â Upon delivery from the factory, each piece of new equipmentâtransformers, turbines, switching gearâwas stripped down to the last nut and bolt, checked for faults, repaired, and then reassembled according to the original specifications, as it should have been in the first place.
Thatâs an extreme example of what Solomon says in todayâs passageânamely that mediocre work âdestroys.â
Of course, itâs unlikely that poor performance in your job is going to lead to a nuclear meltdown today. But it can absolutely destroy trust, relationship...
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plansâŠ.In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their stepsâŠ.The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:3, 9, 33)
In his terrific memoir, On Writing, novelist Stephen King says, âI used to tell interviewers that I wrote every day except for Christmas, the Fourth of July, and my birthday. That was a lie. I told them that becauseâŠI didnât want to sound like a workaholic dweebâŠThe truth is that when Iâm writing, I write every dayâŠnot working is the real work."
I deeply resonate with that last line for two reasons. First, because I (like you) love the work God has given me to do. Second, because rest is an act of faithâitâs a way of trusting that the world will keep spinning even if Iâm not doing the spinning!
Yes, Scripture frequently commands us to hustle and work hard (see Colossians 3:23). But it also tells us to trust that it is Godânot usâwho produces r...
When there are many words, wrongdoing is unavoidable, but one who restrains his lips is wise. (Proverbs 10:19)
Hamilton might be the fastest-moving musical of all-time. Sung at an average of 144 words per minute, the show is more than twice the speed as average-paced productions like Phantom of the Opera, largely because of how much the showâs protagonist, Alexander Hamilton, has to say.
When Hamilton first meets Aaron Burr on stage, Burr is blown away by how much Hamilton can talk. So he offers Hamilton some free advice: âTalk lessâŠFools who run their mouths off wind up deadââa not so subtle foreshadowing of the day Hamiltonâs âmany wordsâ will lead Burr to kill him in historyâs most infamous duel.
Thatâs a good, albeit dramatic, case study of what God is warning us about in Proverbs 10:19. I love how the New Living Translation renders todayâs passage: âToo much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.â
Weâd be wise to apply that advice to our work where âmany word...
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)
Weâve seen a few helpful definitions of idolatry throughout this series. Let me offer my own: An idol is anything you canât live without. Itâs anything other than God that functions as your deepest source of joy.
And so, if we want to keep our work from becoming an idol, we would be wise to voluntarily practice self-denialâresting from the good gift of work as a means of proving to ourselves that God is the only thing we ultimately need.
Pastor Joe Rigney whose book Strangely Bright inspired me to write this devotional series says this about self-denial: âBiblical self-denial is the voluntary giving up of good things for the sake of better thingsâŠ[it] keeps our legitimate love of earthly things [like work] in check. We enjoy them when we have them. But we don't covet and crave themâŠ.We can voluntarily give them up for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.â
That brings us to our fourth and final principle for enjoying our...
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1-2)
Last week, I argued that paradoxically one way to ensure your work doesnât become an idol is to enjoy your work most fully as a means of better appreciating the âbetternessâ of Christ.
But how does that advice match up with todayâs passage? Isnât Paul telling us to ignore âearthly thingsâ like work and focus our mind on exclusively heavenly things?Â
Not exactly. A few verses later Paul explains what he meant by âearthly thingsâ saying this: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatryâ (Colossians 3:5-6).Â
The word Paul used for âearthly thingsâ in verse 2 is the exact same word we translate âearthlyâ in verse 5. Whatâs the point? Paul is condemning our engagement with âearthly things...
âYou have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.â (Psalm 4:7)
Weâre in a series exploring four principles for enjoying our work without turning our jobs into idols. Last week we unpacked Principle #1: Insist that Jesus is better. Today we turn to Principle #2: Delight in your work freely and fully.
Now, I know that may seem oxymoronic. After all, if Jesus is better than my job, shouldnât I try to love my work less, not more? Iâd argue thatâs impossible to do and foolish to try for two reasons.Â
First, God created you to enjoy your work. Work was Godâs first gift to humankind in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 1:26-28) and one of the many gifts he has in store for us on the New Earth (see Isaiah 65:17-23). So, to try to love your work less is to fight against Godâs design.
Second, the more you enjoy Godâs gifts, the more you can appreciate the âbetternessâ of God. You see this idea all throughout the Psalms where joy in the Creator is frequently de...
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37)
Thereâs a tension we see throughout Scripture.Â
On the one hand, we are invited to delight in creation and our work with creation. âEvery good giftâ is from God (James 1:17) given to us âfor our enjoymentâ (1 Timothy 6:17). And that includes our work! Ecclesiastes 2:24 says âa person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toilâ because those good things are âfrom the hand of God.â
These verses are good examples of what I call the âdelight in creationâ passages of Scripture. But on the other side of this perceived biblical tension, we find the âdelight in Creatorâ passages that command us to love God above all things. This was summarized most succinctly in Jesusâs 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 separati...
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 âpersonal treasures of gold and silver,â 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 âproudâ they were of me for taking this action.
It didnât take long for me to realize that I was quietly anticipating this praise. While my mo...