Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. A couple of weeks ago, I talked about Jesus’ work as a carpenter and builder, which is not often remarked upon even though it took up 60% of his life. It is not remarked on because there is not much written about it in the Gospel accounts. However, what IS written about,…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. Lately I have been doing some work in the Gospel of Luke. I’ve been looking at Jesus’ work, and how it relates to our working. For most of my life the only connection I heard between Jesus and work was that he was a builder, and then, at age 30, he started…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. I have been thinking lately how important it is to reframe our work as an act of worship. I think it helps transform the profane to profound, the secular to sacred, the ordinary to extraordinary, and the natural to supernatural. I see Christians feeling defeated in the workplace, from a faith perspective, because…
Reprinted from Workship. Recently I was asked to speak to a theological college about some of the changes happening in the wider world of work and how they might impact on Christian organisations, including churches, as well as the experience of workplace Christians in our congregations. The changes have been and continue to be massive. Employees don’t want to go…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. Part two of two; read part one here. In my Bible study group, we are working through the book Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend. The authors explain that boundaries are biblical limits that we are created with, and many issues that we suffer from are a result of us not establishing boundaries, or other people’s…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. Part one of two; read part two here. In my Bible study group, we are working through the book Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend. The authors explain that boundaries are biblical limits that we are created with, and many issues that we suffer from are a result of us not establishing boundaries, or other…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to live wholeheartedly for God, particularly considering the Hebrew word tamim. Integrity points to the core of what it means to be integral, to be whole-hearted. It is being honest and truthful in word and action and thought. It refers to consistency in…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. In the current uncertain climate, some of our ideas about work are being challenged, as the place of work for some gets relocated temporarily to home. It is a good opportunity to reconsider the place of work in our lives. Derek Thompson, writing in The Atlantic, has warned that work has become a…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. There is an unverified story about the origin of the Nobel Prize, created from the fortune of Alfred Nobel, whose wealth came from the invention and development of dynamite. Nobel never spoke publicly about his motivations, but many believe it was inspired by an earlier case of mistaken identity. In 1888, Nobel’s…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. A few years ago, I was asked by the Gospel Coalition Australia to contribute a reflection on work to their website, and I decided to include a “Letter to Myself as a Young Worker”. To my surprise it was very popular, it seemed to hit a nerve. It occurred to me that…
