Finding God at Work

One of the most powerful ways we can love our teammates is praying for them. In this episode, we'll look at four ways to pray: For the work For the workers Without words With your teammates God cares about the work and the ones who are doing it; he's happy for us to come to him in prayer with the mundane concerns of our normal workdays. When we do, we find we're better able to collaborate with him...

No one you work with is dealing with *too much* encouragement today. And you're better positioned than most people on the planet to specifically encourage your teammates. When we look at the Bible, encouragement isn't icing on the cake. It's essential strength for the work God has given us. One of the most practical ways you can love your teammates is by encouraging them well. An acronym to help y...

"Vibe coding" caught my attention recently: using AI tools to produce code and putting it into production in public-facing apps, without a human coder building anything. I was both intrigued and horrified to learn of such a thing. To better explore my intrigue and horror, I figured I'd give it a shot. Behold, Mission Moment , a fully vibe-coded web app from Mission Central! #VibeCoding #AI #Claude...

Saint John Paul II (or JP2, as we theology nerds affectionately call him), once said, "the human person. . . is a creature that God willed for his own sake. At the same time, he can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself." You only find out who you are when you give yourself away. That's part of what it means to be a person. A person, rather than, say, a machine.  This ra...

Studies show that happier workers are less likely to look for other jobs. That makes sense. But the joy that Jesus invites us into is even deeper than that. It's a joy that goes hand-in-hand with self-sacrifice, with service that sometimes hurts. In Philippians 2, Paul speaks of this kind of joy as he compares himself to a "drink offering" that is "being poured out" for others (v. 17, NIV). Jesus...

Sometimes, Jesus doesn't give us much data about what he asks us to do. He shows us a next step, but not a complete roadmap. Jesus gives us a way to serve, but not the full picture of what he plans to accomplish through our service. In the story of Jesus at the wedding at Cana, we see how this dynamic works in the experience of the servants. Jesus asks them to do a hefty task, but doesn't tell the...

The discipline of service helps us grow in humility, and humility makes us ready to serve. It's a reciprocal relationship. The same is true for service and courage: When we make a habit of serving, we find ourselves willing to do the right thing even when it's risky. And there are some kinds of service that require great risk! The story of Esther helps us discern when we've been called to our work...

Doing our work out of the motivation of service makes it meaningful in three different ways: Our work contributes to the common good . Our work images God in the world Our work is the stuff of salvation . We're saved through faith, not by earning God's favor. But when we lean into what it means to "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling" as "God . . .  works in you," we see a...

Sometimes job postings list "progressively responsible work experience" among the prerequisites for a position. It means they're looking for someone who's taken on more and more responsibility over time, someone who has an arc to their career pointing upward. It's not necessarily a bad thing to be entrusted with more when you've done well with little. Jesus endorses that model. But he also shows u...

It feels awful when someone looks down on us. When they treat us as "less than." When they're snooty toward us. But we can be snooty ourselves. How do we break that spiritual habit? Is there anything we can do? Timothy Keller and Richard Foster share insights about how we can grow in humility. Sources: Luke 6:45 (TLV) Mark 10:35-45 (ESV) Tim Keller, "The Advent of Humility," Theology, Christianity...

What can nursing mothers teach us about life with God in the workplace? In our work relationships, we have the opportunity to give the gift of ourselves to others. The Apostle Paul uses the image of nursing to describe this kind of gift of the self: "But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. . . . we were ready to share with you . . . our own selves" (1 T...

It's difficult to be honest about our weaknesses. When we don't have the courage to humbly admit how we come up short, we instead project an image of a stronger, better self to others. This image is how we want to be perceived, even though it's not the truth about us. It's a false self, an inflated balloon of our fragile ego. So what does it look like to pop that balloon? Sources: 2 Corinthians 12...

Sometimes we're ashamed about our weaknesses. Sometimes we're ashamed about our sin. When we come clean about our sin, we're owning something wrong. But when we "come clean" about our weaknesses, we realize they're nothing to be ashamed of. It takes humility to name them. But there's freedom and growth when we do. Sources: Genesis 2:25 (ESV) 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV) 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (ESV) Ps...

Humble pie does not taste great. It's hard to eat it, to get it down. It's hard to admit that we're wrong. It's hard to revise our estimate of ourselves in a downwards direction. But it sure is good for us. Sources: Philippians 2:8 (ESV) Deuteronomy 8:11-18 (ESV) Donelson R. Forsyth, "Self-Serving Bias," International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences , edited by William A. Darity, 2nd ed. Vol....

What can you do when you can't hack it at work? When you just can't get it done? When you hit the wall? Sometimes our limitations surprise us. But they aren't a surprise to God. The Bible tells us that "he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14 ESV). In God's compassionate embrace, we find that we can be compassionate toward ourselves, even (and especially) on our worst work...

How do we make sense of "normal life" when it feels like the world is on fire? In the midst of global and national crisis, thoughts like these go through my mind: At such a time, is it right for us to keep following our routines, working and playing, resting and reading? Isn't this an emergency? Shouldn't we disrupt our lives to go take decisive action on behalf of the vulnerable? But what would t...

Chris interviews attorney Kevin Drendel about how his faith has intersected with his practice of law, both at work and through a nonprofit legal aid ministry. Hear how God showed up when he realized he could do nothing to help a client, coming to the end of himself. Kevin Drendel is Managing Partner at Drendel & Jansons Law Group in Batavia, Illinois, a board member and local Justice Champion for...

We are all creatures of habit. We have a routine for how we start our workday, even if we've never given it much thought. That means you already have a workplace "liturgy." A pattern and order to your work day. What would it look like to shape that liturgy intentionally, so that it helps you stay present to God as you work? Sources: Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV) Daniel 6:10 (ESV) Henry David Thoreau, Wa...

Chris interviews Pastor Daniel Small about his unusual vocational journey, his experiences dealing with workplace anxiety (including at least one unexpected bout of sleep-talking), how practices like prayer walks and the prayer of examen help him spiritually ground his work, and how he's seen people in his community discover the spiritual meaning of their "secular" jobs.   Daniel Small is Communit...

What if the mild annoyances we face from our coworkers can build a spirit of forgiveness in us over time? If we engage them as "little weights" of forgiveness to lift, we build our muscle. Low weight, high repetition!   Eventually, we may get strong enough in God's grace to forgive even more serious wrongs. After all, Jesus calls us not just to love our friends, but also our enemies. What could he...

God is crafting your soul, like a woodworker in a shop.   What if God is using the abrasive experiences in your life like spiritual sandpaper, sanding down the rough edges of your character?   The minor inconveniences of our working life may have value in helping us become more patient, gracious people.   And even in more serious moments of suffering, we can find grace to grow through it. Sources:...

Sometimes God calls us to do things that are pretty unstrategic.   As Gideon is leading his soldiers to battle, God has him *reduce* the number of troops. And then reduce them again. When Gideon courageously obeys, God still carries the day.   Could it be God is asking you to do something unstrategic in your career?   What would it look like to let him carry the day in your work?   Sources: Matthe...

You've been on a journey your whole life long to become the kind of person who can do the things that you are doing today.   God has been at work on you to prepare you—in your heart and in your character—for the challenges you are facing today.   Jesus teaches that God doesn't judge us based on how impressive the results of our efforts are. Instead, he's concerned with the quality of our response...

Is a sanitation worker called to their job in the same way that a classroom teacher is?   How do we make sense of the idea of calling in jobs that people don't often dream of getting?   Our egalitarian impulses may lead us to say that "Every job is a calling." But it doesn't seem quite true that every job is a calling in just the same way.   Maybe it's not so helpful to ask, "Is this job a calling...

Chris interviews Dr. Elaine Howard Ecklund about her new book, coauthored with Denise Daniels, Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work . Hear about how less than half of Christians view their work as a calling, how there can be more than one dimension to our calling at work, what standing up for coworkers of other religious traditions can look like, and how we can influence the systems...