Finding God at Work

Each of us has within us a center that gives us life and determines the direction of our life: our heart.   Your heart can turn one way or the other. It's your heart that's the hinge.   We each have a will, a capacity to choose.   So how can we learn to choose well?   Sources: Luke 10:25-28 (NIV) Deuteronomy 30:15-18 (NIV) Joshua 24:23 (ESV) James 4:13-16 (NIV) Luke 9:23-24 (multiple translations)...

Our thoughts and our feelings can inform each other rather than compete with each other. When we're emotionally self-aware in the workplace, it actually helps us do the work of thinking through work problems logically.   Have you ever developed a bit of resentment toward a boss or a coworker? That resentment leads to a division in your relationship, a kind of subtle two-faced dynamic. Like Shakesp...

Spiritual director Alice Fryling calls our feelings "the spontaneous response we give to our interpretation of an event." Often, our immediate emotional responses are beyond our control. They're spontaneous. But if we pay attention to them, we can begin to see how they reveal our hidden beliefs—our interpretations of the world around us. Sources: Luke 10:25-28 (NIV) Jonah 3:10-4:11 (NIV) Alice Fry...

What does it mean to "love the Lord your God with all your mind" while doing your daily job? Often, it means embracing the pain of thinking hard about things, in order to get to the pleasure of true problem solving. Without embracing that pain of careful, diligent thought, we won't be able to get to the real, glorious triumphs at work. Sometimes we get confused about this. We think that being good...

We kick off a new series with this episode— Whole-Hearted: Becoming Healthier Christians at Work .   If you're like me, your work and your mental health influence each other quite a bit.   On the one hand, you want to experience that elusive sense of security and well-being that doesn't depend on your work performance. You want to be a healthy human being.   On the other hand, you want to perform....

A couple months back, Chris got to preach this sermon at his home church, City of Light . Its focus is Jesus' call of the first disciples: Jesus tenderly catches us in all our inadequacy, so that we can learn to catch others in the same way. Sources: Luke 5:1-11 (NIV) John August Swanson, Great Catch #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #GoodNews #Gospel #TheGospel #Sermon #Luke5 #Disciples #Miracle #C...

After the episode, hear from Chris about the Finding God at Work online course! Evangelism at its best is helping people catch a vision of just how beautiful Jesus is. Sources: 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 (NIV) Timothy Keller, as quoted in Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2022).   #Findi...

The work environment presents its own unique challenges for spiritual conversations. Depending on where you work, your organization might be supportive of faith conversations, or might be antagonistic towards them. Often, restrictions are against "proselytism"—but if we're having thoughtful conversations as we listen to our colleagues and gauge whatever we share to their level of openness, it's un...

Jesus constantly used the language of "entering" the kingdom. It's possible to be outside, and then to get inside. We enter through faith; the moment when someone places their confidence in Jesus is their entrance into the kingdom of God.  At the same time, it's just the *first* moment of a whole life of discipleship to Jesus that is beginning to unfold. Dallas Willard once said, "Discipleship is...

How can God be good when there is so much evil and suffering in the world? This question is in some ways the most profound challenge to Christian faith. Everyone who asks that question is asking it at two different levels. One is the intellectual level: Is there any way to make moral sense of this world? The other is the personal level. Every human being has known pain in some way. How can we resp...

We Christians believe some pretty strange things. One of the things we believe, which is at least pretty strange today in the Western world, is that spiritual knowledge is possible. We believe it is possible to be known by God, and to come to know God, and things about God. Not just beliefs, not just points of inspiration, but genuine knowledge. This puts us in a sticky situation when it comes to...

The point of sharing the Good News is not "winning." Helping our friends in their journey toward Jesus is not a debate or an intellectual contest. Jesus didn't answer every question asked of him by people who weren't really looking to be persuaded of his message. Instead, he taught in a way that reached the hearts of those who were genuinely seeking God. At the same time, when people are seeking G...

As we have conversations with our friends about spiritual things, one of the most powerful things we can do is share stories of our own experiences with Jesus. We see paradigms for this kind of sharing in the Bible itself. After delivering him from demonic oppression, Jesus says to the man of the Gerasenes: "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you" (Mark 5:19 ESV)....

We all live inside stories. When someone's seeking, trying to get to a point of resolution, trying to get answers, then the story of the Bible can come alive for them with new urgency and clarity. This is the most fruitful time in someone's journey toward Jesus to dig into the stories of faith with them. We're following Jesus' lead here; he taught using stories—specifcally, using parables. These s...

There's a difference between having a kind of meandering interest in something and actively seeking it. When spiritual questions become urgent for someone, they're seeking. They want answers. When someone's at this stage, we can include them in our communities—places where they can ask their questions honestly and deeply. We can also help them clarify their quest and focus it on Jesus. Our friends...

Cats—even affectionate ones—are often less than fond of crowds. They can get a bit skittish. They stay aloof. Some of our coworkers are like that, too. It's not that they're unkind or rude; it's just hard to see them open up. They're a bit . . . aloof. Let's not assume that someone isn't open just because they aren't *immediately* open. Sometimes, you just have to find the right context to put som...

In their journey toward Jesus, our friends eventually may get to the point where they ask, "Could this change me?" Sometimes it sneaks up on people unexpectedly. They've been exploring ideas or talking with a Christian friend, and suddenly they realize, "Something is happening inside of me." We want to be really attentive to this moment when it's happening for someone. We can help them begin to co...

In this special episode, Chris interviews Weija Chang and Rose Brucal, his coworkers and co-conspirators at Northern Illinois Food Bank. These three started an unofficial lunchtime discussion group together called Hungry for More, a place where coworkers have permission to talk about the issues that often get skipped over at work: faith, politics, social issues, and more. Listen up to hear how the...

In the New Testament, we see the Good News being proclaimed to and through communities of people.  Sharing the Good News is not a solo endeavor. It's something that we do together in community with other believers. But what does that look like when you're at work? It's not like your whole church goes to work with you. What if you could be the one to catalyze disciples of Jesus coming together in y...

Many people are not antagonistic toward Christianity, but they aren't deeply curious about it either. They're just doing life, moving along. They might have some awareness of Jesus and some Christian friends. But it's just not their driving concern at the moment. So the question is, how can we come alongside people and help gently provoke curiosity? We don't need to be anxious about it. We're just...

In Luke 18, Jesus asks a man who was blind, "What do you want me to do for you?" He doesn't assume. He asks. He lets the man speak in his own voice. He honors his autonomy. Then a moment of faith and healing occurs. We can learn to do the same as our Master: Listening well, in a way that lets others speak in their own voices. We can . . .  Q U - Ask questions to understand P - Paraphrase what they...

Who do you trust most? Trust is foundational to our relationship with God. Think about faith: In terms of covenant, faith is loyalty. In terms of the intellect, faith is belief. In terms of relationship, faith is trust. If we want to help others come to see Jesus as worthy of their trust, we have to become trustworthy ourselves. Sources: Don Everts and Doug Schaupp, I Once Was Lost: What Postmoder...

Have you ever had a really good teacher? Part of what makes a teacher great is their ability to see where their student's "zone of proximal development" is. What is the next step that this student can take that's going to be challenging, but that they can master with guidance and help? People also need guidance on taking their next steps in faith. Don Everts and Doug Schaupp, two leaders from Inte...

There's no verse in the Bible that commands everyday disciples to share the Good News with other people. The Great Commission? Addressed to the apostles. "Do the work of an evangelist" (2 Timothy 4:5)? Addressed to a pastor. If you really hate the idea of evangelism, you've got an out. You're not commanded to do it. But you are commanded to "always be ready" (1 Peter 3:15) if someone asks you. Thi...

What is "eternal life"? People often assume that this phrase simply means life that doesn't end. An unending sequence of lived experience, stretching into a future beyond the length of time we can imagine. But as many astute thinkers have pointed out, if the only thing that changes about your life is that it *keeps going,* that's not very good news. It could, in fact, be bad news.  When the phrase...