Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter Vocations Part IIDevotional: 4 of 4It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-46)Imagine you live in Jerusalem in the first century. Like so many of your neighbors, you work as a farmer. One day, you’re out harvesting olives, when all of a sudden, the clock strikes noon and the sky goes dark. You can’t see your hand, much less the olive trees, and so you are forced to head inside and rest from your labor.Thousands of people must have experienced something similar the day Jesus died. The darkness that accompanied Christ’s finished work on the cross undoubtedly led many people to rest from the work of their hands that first Good Friday. But it also led to a rest for you and me today. Not a rest from the work of our hands so much as a rest from the work of our souls—the work beneath our work that so often leads us to overwork and burnout.Maybe the work beneath your work is performance—using your work to elicit the intoxicating praise of your peers. Anyone who has accomplished any level of professional success can attest that the applause of others never truly satisfies. It only leaves you addicted to the need for more.The cross is the only thing that can free us from that addiction. Once we see that God’s only Son died so that you and I could be called “children of God” (1 John 3:1), we can rest from the exhausting work of using our work to impress others.Maybe the work beneath your work isn’t performance, though. Maybe it’s fear of not having enough. Here too, Jesus’s work on the cross is the only thing that can free you. Once you grasp that God kept his promise to slay his perfect Son, you can trust that he will keep his promise to provide for all of your needs (see Matthew 6:25-34).You and I are called to work hard with our hands (see Colossians 3:23), but not with our souls (see Matthew 11:28-30). We are called to busy ourselves with the work of the Lord while we experience what Tim Keller called “the REM of the soul.” How do you experience that REM of the soul? By dwelling on the cross.Buddha’s last words were, “Strive unceasingly.” Jesus’s last words were, “It is finished.” The work beneath your work is finished, believer. So strive with your hands for God’s glory and the good of others. But refuse to strive with your soul today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter Vocations Part IIDevotional: 3 of 4But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man [Jesus]! Release Barabbas to us!” (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:18-21)For most of my life, I viewed Barabbas as a senseless murderer—the ancient equivalent of Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. But that’s likely an inaccurate portrait of this man.Many scholars believe that Barabbas (or “Jesus Barabbas” as he’s referred to in Matthew 27:17) was likely a religious zealot. As pastor Daniel Darling explains: “Many Jewish people in the first century were wary of Rome…But the cohort of zealots to which Barabbas belonged to took resistance to another level. They sought to overthrow the Roman government by any means possible…assassination plots, targeted murder, and terrorism.”If Jesus Barabbas had a mission statement for his work, it likely would have sounded similar to Jesus Christ’s—to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. But the methods of these two men could not have been more different.While Jesus Barabbas plotted the downfall of the government, Jesus Christ preached respect for the emperor (see Mark 12:13-17). While Jesus Barabbas sought to slaughter Roman soldiers, Jesus Christ “let the soldiers hold and nail him down so that he could save them” (see Matthew 27:39-44).In short, Barabbas pursued the mission of God while neglecting the methods of God. You and I are tempted to do the same thing today—to, as pastor Skye Jethani puts it, “divorce the work of Christ from the way of Christ…to separate the scope of God’s mission from the nature of God’s mission.”What does it look like for you and me to pursue the mission of Jesus while neglecting the methods of Jesus?It looks like building businesses so that we can give generously to missions, while failing to pay our employees and contractors fairly (see James 5:1-5). Or working “heartily as unto the Lord,”  without ever questioning whether the products our employer sells are “true…noble…and right” (see Philippians 4:8). Or spending so much time doing “the work of the Lord” that we neglect abiding with the Lord as we do that work (see John 15:4).You’re unlikely to commit murder like Barabbas today. But you are likely to join Barabbas in pursuing God’s mission apart from God’s methods. Pray for the Lord’s help to pursue his mission with his methods today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter Vocations Part IIDevotional: 2 of 4While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22)We’re in a four week series exploring what the vocations of some of the characters of Easter can teach us about our own work today. This morning, we turn our attention to someone in the background of today’s passage: The unnamed woman or man who baked the bread Jesus used at the Last Supper.Scripture gives us zero detail on who this person was. But I think it’s safe to assume that they viewed baking this bread as just another mundane task on their to-do list, much like you might view the emails you have to type, the papers you need to grade, or the nails you have to hammer today. And yet, today’s passage shows that God used the work of this baker’s hands to accomplish something extraordinary. Their bread helped Jesus reveal something about himself—namely the way his body would break to redeem the whole of creation on Good Friday.This is not the first time Jesus used bread to reveal a spiritual truth. In John 6, Jesus pointed to another piece of bread to point out that he was the “the bread of life.”The bakers of the bread in these passages point to an important truth—namely that the things you and I create at work have the power to reveal things about the Creator God. Here’s how pastor Joe Rigney put it:“…it's not merely that God's creation reveals who Jesus is. Human culture reveals who Jesus is. Jesus says that he is the bread of life, not the grain of life. Grain is something that God makes. Bread is something that people make out of the grain that God makes. That's what culture is—a mixture of God's creation and man's creativity. And this tells us that not only is creation designed to reveal God, but human culture is also capable of showing us what God is like.”The question then is this: What is your work revealing about God today? Are the emails you’re typing, the papers you’re grading, and the nails your hammering revealing God’s excellencies? Can people look at your business and see God’s character of grace, mercy, and justice in the way you treat your team, vendors, and customers? Is the way you engage with your co-workers reflecting a God who loves his enemies?Like the baker’s bread, your work has the power to show the world what God is like. Work to ensure you’re revealing an accurate and winsome picture of him today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Easter Vocations Part IIDevotional: 1 of 4…a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor….Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:2-3)Because you’re subscribed to my devotionals, I’m confident you’ve overcome the unbiblical hierarchy that elevates the calling of pastors and missionaries above the work of mere Christians who work as entrepreneurs, accountants, and baristas.But if we’re not careful, another hierarchy of callings can slip into our thinking—one that elevates the work of mere Christians most clearly “changing the world” above the work of those of us who are simply sustaining and serving it. Prosecuting human traffickers matters, but not selling insurance. Curing disease matters, but not waiting tables. Teaching kids matters, but not writing novels. This too is an unbiblical way of thinking. All throughout Scripture, God shows that he values work beyond its “usefulness.” He creates trees that are helpful and beautiful (see Genesis 2:8-9). He decorates cities with 5,600 miles of seemingly superfluous gems (see Revelation 21:10-21). He makes it rain in uninhabited deserts, apparently because he thinks that sounds fun (see Job 38:25-27).In short, God doesn’t limit his work to the useful. Sometimes he does work the world would call useless. And in today’s passage, we see Jesus encouraging Mary to do the same.This scene took place the night before Palm Sunday—just days before Jesus’s death. While we can’t be certain what Mary did for work most days, on this night, she engaged in the work of washing Jesus’s feet with her most precious perfume.“But one of [Jesus’s] disciples, Judas Iscariot…objected,” saying, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages” (see John 12:4-5).Judas, like so many of us today, was obsessed with function. “How impractical!” we can hear him screaming. But check out Jesus’s response: “Leave her alone,” he told Judas (John 12:7). Because what Mary did brought a smile to Jesus’s face. And that was enough, because bringing a smile to God’s face is the essence of worship. What does that mean for you today? It means you can joyfully lean into the job you love making donuts or building software—even if your work isn’t solving one of the major problems of our age. It means you can spend a few extra hours on that project for your client in the name of God-glorifying craftsmanship—even if you can’t point to an increase in ROI.If you, like Mary, are doing your work in a God-honoring way, then you can feel freedom from the tyranny of utility. Because 1 John 3:22 says that when “we keep his commands,” we “give him pleasure when he sees what we are doing”—even if the world can’t see the “use” of our labor.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 5 of 5I will show you the most excellent way…love…keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:5)Tim Goeglein collapsed in his White House office. His secret life of plagiarism had been found out and the guilt and shame were literally crippling.A couple days after his resignation, Goeglein received a call. His former boss, President George W. Bush, wanted to see him.Terrified, Goeglein entered the Oval Office, looked President Bush in the eye, and began his groveling apology: “Sir, I owe you…” But the President wouldn’t let Goeglein finish his apology. “You’re forgiven,” Bush said.Goeglein was certain he misunderstood what the President said, so he attempted to apologize twice more until Bush said, “You know, Tim, grace and mercy are real. I have known grace and mercy in my own life and you're forgiven. We can talk about all of that [referring to Goeglein’s plagiarism] or we can talk about the last eight years.”Throughout this series, we’ve been studying what Paul called “the most excellent way” to live and work, chronicled in the famous “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13. Today, we conclude with a look at Paul’s words that love “keeps no record of wrongs,” a truth beautifully exemplified by President Bush.But the ultimate example of course—and the ultimate motivation for us to keep “no record of wrongs”—is the love God has shown us by removing our sins “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:11-12).Now, keeping “no record of wrongs” is not the same as “forgive and forget.” For starters, it’s impossible to literally forget many sins committed against us. It’s also unwise. If you’re a principal of a school and a teacher is accused of sexual abuse, you’re called to forgive them, but it would be the height of folly to allow that teacher to come back to work the next day.So what does it look like to keep “no record of wrongs” at work? At a minimum, it looks like extending forgiveness to the wrongdoer. But I think Christ’s example leads us to do more than that. I think it calls us to pray for the wrongdoer and their flourishing, to refuse to consider past wrongdoings when evaluating someone’s current performance, and to avoid sharing details of a co-worker’s sins and shortcomings with those who don’t truly need to know.Does it sound impossible to live and work in this loving way? It is apart from Christ in us. May we abide in him daily so that we’re so filled up with a sense of his love for us that we can’t help but extend the overflow of that love to those we work with. For this is “the most excellent way.”Jordan P.S. If you want to go deeper on what true biblical forgiveness looks like at work, listen to Tim Keller and I discuss that topic here.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 4 of 5I will show you the most excellent way…Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:4-5) To the church in Corinth, Paul promised to show them “the most excellent way” to steward their spiritual and vocational gifts. He then proceeded to launch into the famous “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13 explaining what Christian love is and what it is not.Of all the attributes Paul lists, not being “self-seeking” may be the rarest in the modern workplace. We live at a time when the idea of self-sacrifice is viewed as naive at best and career-ending at worst. But self-sacrifice is the way of The Way, Jesus Christ.In Philippians 2:3-4, Paul says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition…Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”You can almost hear Paul’s readers screaming, “How, Paul!?” To which he says, “Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” who “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” for us (Philippians 2:5-7).In other words, it is only as we meditate on the example of the One who “chose meekness over majesty” that we will be able to love in a way that is “not self-seeking.”What does it look like practically to work in ways that are not self-seeking? There are infinite answers to that question. Here are just three.#1: Listen to understand—not to win. Oftentimes we hear what our co-workers are saying, but we don’t actually listen, because we’re mentally calculating how we will respond in order to pivot the conversation towards our agenda. Paul’s command to not be self-seeking compels us to truly listen and understand the needs and desires of others.#2: Open your calendar to those who can’t serve you. Any of Ancestry.com’s thousands of employees can get one-on-one time with CEO, Deb Liu—even an intern. Why? Because Deb isn’t self-seeking with her time. She is seeking the needs of her team as she explained on my podcast.#3: Serve first, sell second. Commenting on today’s passage, a marketer named Debbie La Bell told me, “Our culture says ‘love yourself first,’ and then out of the resources of your self-love, you'll have the capacity to love those around you. Whereas Jesus tells us to love one another and trust him to provide what we need.” And that leads her team to create marketing messages that serve way more than they sell. These three actions aren’t meant to be prescriptive, but inspirational. Take a moment right now to pray and think about where God is calling you to replace self-seeking with self-sacrifice in your work today.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 3 of 5I will show you the most excellent way…love…does not boast. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:4)George Washington Carver had captivated the United States Congress. It was January 1921, and Carver was testifying about the dozens of different foods he had learned how to make out of peanuts: ice cream, cereal, pickles—the list went on and on. Amused, one congressman asked where Carver learned how to do this. “From a book,” Carver replied. What book? the congressman wanted to know. “The Bible,” Carver said. “I didn’t make these discoveries,” Carver explained. “God has only worked through me to reveal to his children some of his wonderful providence.”What a terrific example of the “the most excellent way” Paul calls us to at work: without boasting. The NASB translates this passage as saying, “love does not brag.” The NKJV says “love does not parade itself.” Because that is the example we have in Christ, the perfect personification of love.John 8:53 records a religious leader asking Jesus, “Are you greater than our father Abraham?” Christ, of course, had every reason to boast and answer that question in the affirmative. But instead, he replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me” (John 8:54).That’s the rationale behind Paul’s command to “not boast.” I don’t know about you, but it is hard for me to boast about nothing. Maybe I’m just an excitable, exuberant guy, but I think all of us feel the need to boast in or praise something.Scripture seems to agree, which is why I think God’s Word doesn’t just tell us what not to boast about. It also encourages us to boast about three things.#1: Boast about the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 1:31). This is what we saw in George Washington Carver. When offered an opportunity to boast in his professional accomplishments, he pivoted to boast in God.#2: Boast about your weaknesses (see 2 Corinthians 11:30). Why? Because when we’re transparent about our weaknesses and we succeed, it allows us to point to the Lord as the source of our strength. #3: Boast about others. Paul had no problem boasting about his co-workers (see 2 Corinthians 7:4). Neither should we. I was reminded of this recently when speaking with a reader who really impressed me. I was about to invite this guy onto my podcast, but before I could, he said, “Man, you should have my boss Tim on your show!” Here’s my challenge for you this morning: Identify one thing you’re tempted to boast about today—closing a deal, getting a promotion, whatever. Next, jot down how you can reframe your boast to brag not in yourself, but in the Lord, your weaknesses, or others.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 2 of 5I will show you the most excellent way…love is kind. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:4)If you had to describe Fred Rogers (of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fame) in a single word, it would likely be kindness—a virtue he learned from his father.According to Fred’s biographer, Maxwell King, Jim Rogers made it a habit to “walk through the rows of manufacturing machines,” in his businesses, “addressing each employee by name, inquiring about their work and about their welfare.” Those inquiries helped Jim Rogers discover financial pain in the lives of his employees, which he frequently offered to alleviate. When Jim died, his journal recorded “thousands of ‘loans’ that were never collected.”The kindness of Fred Rogers’s father led to extraordinary acts of kindness of his own—stories of which have literally filled many books. So it should be with us. As we meditate on the kindness of our Heavenly Father, it should lead us to model that same kindness to those we work with as this is part of “the most excellent way” Paul is calling us to in 1 Corinthians 12-13.We know what kindness looks like. The challenge for us busy professionals is seeing the needs of those who need kindness the most. How can we spot opportunities to show God’s kindness to those we work with? Here are three ideas.#1: Ask co-workers about their welfare—not just their work. See Jim Rogers as Exhibit A.#2: Schedule one-on-ones where work is the only thing not on the agenda. If you’re a leader in your organization, consider borrowing this practice from my friend Sean Kouplen, CEO of one of the fastest growing banks in America. As Sean shared on my podcast, managers at his bank are required to spend 30 minutes with every direct report every week just to check-in on them personally. These meetings are crazy costly by the world’s standards, but crazy valuable by God’s, as they unearth tons of opportunities to show kindness to those in need.#3: Refuse to hurry. It’s impossible to show kindness without first seeing a need for kindness. And it’s impossible to see a need for kindness when you’re constantly in a rush (see Jesus, Jairus, and the hemorrhaging woman as case-in-point in Mark 5:21-43). Want to spot opportunities to show kindness to your co-workers? Budget plenty of margin into your day.Jesus said the world will know that we are his disciples, not by what we say we believe, but by our love for one another (see John 13:35). Find one opportunity to show your love of Jesus by demonstrating uncommon lovingkindness to a co-worker today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: The Most Excellent WayDevotional: 1 of 5Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you’re bound to see today’s passage popping up in your social media feeds as a reminder of how God calls us to love our significant others. But the context of this passage was not primarily marital love. Paul was writing about how to steward spiritual and vocational gifts.After listing out gifts such as teaching, healing, and helping, Paul says this: “And yet I will show you the most excellent way….If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (see 1 Corinthians 12:31 - 13:1). And then, a few verses later, he launches into the famous, “Love is patient, love is kind,” etc.Paul’s point is that you can be the most exceptional teacher, filmmaker, or entrepreneur on the planet. But if you work without love, you are “nothing” (see 1 Corinthians 13:2). While the world may call your work excellent, God does not.Over the next five weeks, we’ll zoom in on five of Paul’s descriptions of love from today’s passage that are most difficult to live out at work. Let's start here: “Love is patient.”That client whose constant delays make your life difficult? That boss who can’t stop micromanaging you? That little one who’s always barging into your home office? You and I are called to show love to these people through our patience with them. Why? Because “the Lord…is patient with you” and me (see 2 Peter 3:9). We deserved death after just one sin (see Romans 6:23). But God showed immense patience with us prior to salvation and continues to demonstrate patience with us today in our sanctification. Thus, we are called to be ludicrously patient with those we work with.How? Here are three ways to cultivate patience with those we work with today. #1: Get specific about where God is patient with you. I’m in a season of habitually failing to love a certain “enemy.” The Lord is patiently sanctifying me here. And being cognizant of his patience with me has led me to be more patient with others who struggle with different sins.#2: Remember that if not for God’s grace you’d struggle with the same shortcomings. If you value punctuality and are impatient with those who are late, remember that were it not for God’s grace, you too would be habitually tardy.#3: Pray for patience. Right now, ask for God’s power to follow “the most excellent way” of loving those you work with through your patience with them today!

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