Author: Kara Martin

Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. Proverbs 31:10, 14, 16–17, 19–20, 30–31: 10 A [valiant wise worker] who can find?    She is worth far more than rubies.14 She is like the merchant ships,    bringing her food from afar.16 She considers a field and buys it;    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.17 She sets about her work vigorously;    her arms are strong for her tasks.19 In her…

Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. In 2010, Eugene Peterson declared, “I am prepared to contend that the primary location for spiritual formation is the workplace” (Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, p. 127). Let’s think about that for a moment. Surely not: it’s in church on Sunday, or at a spiritual retreat? However, Peterson was not just a…

Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. When I was a Mum with small children, I continued to do work projects. However, I struggled when people asked me “What do you do?” I tended to respond: “I’m just a Mum.” Two things to say about my response: “I’m just a…” That’s a value statement. It represents the fact that I valued…

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…