Finding God at Work

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 us a different kind of "career arc": one that points downward through progressively humble service. Sources: Matthew 25:19-23 (ESV) Philippians 2:1-13 (NIV) Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (2025). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Humility #Service #Career #Matthew25 #Philippians2 #Bugonia #JessePlemmons #EmmaStone #Olympics #IliaMalinin #QuadGod #GoodAndFaithfulServant #Character #Honor #Glory #Obedience #GettingAhead #Helpful #HowCanIHelp #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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 Today, December 2008. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (New York: HarperCollins, 1978, 1998, 2009, 2018). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Snooty #Humility #Service #DisciplineOfService #Secrecy #DisciplineOfSecrecy #TimKeller #RichardFoster #CelebrationOfDiscipline #DrivingWhileBlack #ShoppingWhileBlack #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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 Thessalonians 2:7-8 ESV). It's a self-giving love. That self-giving has been God's design from the beginning. In the Genesis account of creation, we see Adam and Eve engaged in work as their true selves. They were naked and were not ashamed: Their bodies said something meaningful about God. They were images of his love. So, too, for us: Our bodies have a meaning that points beyond ourselves to the self-giving love of God. Work is one of the primary contexts God gives us for expressing that meaning. Your everyday work is where you give the gift of yourself to other people. That's what shows them something about who God really is. Sources: 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 (ESV) Genesis 2:15,18 (ESV) Michael Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #1Thessalonians2 #Genesis2 #Bodies #NuptialMeaningOfTheBody #GiftOftheSelf #SelfDonation #Polanyi #BeingYourself #TrueSelf #FalseSelf #NursingMoms #Nursing #Breastfeeding #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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 12:8-10 (ESV) Mark 3:1-6 (ESV) Genesis 3:8-11 (ESV) David Brooks, "The Moral Bucket List," Opinion, The New York Times, April 11, 2015. David G. Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2004). Arthur Brooks, "Humility is the full acceptance of the truth about ourselves," Facebook, December 3, 2024. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Humility #Pride #HumblePie #Weakness #Weaknesses #Shame #Sins #Repentance #Genesis2 #Genesis3 #1Corinthians10 #Mark3 #DavidBrooks #MoralBucketList #RoadToCharacter #ArthurBrooks #DavidGBenner #BeingYourself #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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) Psalm 51:3,6 (ESV) "The Christianity Today Book Awards," Books, Christianity Today, January/February 2026. Arthur Brooks, "Humility is the full acceptance of the truth about ourselves," Facebook, December 3, 2024. Transformation Intensive #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Vocation #Humility #Pride #HumblePie #Weakness #Weaknesses #Shame #Sins #Repentance #Genesis2 #1Corinthians10 #2Corinthians12 #Psalm51 #ChristianityToday #AwardsSeason #ArthurBrooks #ValMcIntyre #TransformationIntensive #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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. 7 (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008). Leanne Payne, Restoring the Christian Soul: Overcoming Barriers to Completion in Christ through Healing Prayer (Ada, Michigan: Baker Books, 1996). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Vocation #Humility #Pride #HumblePie #SelfServingBias #Philippians2 #Deuteronomy8 #DonelsonForsyth #LeannePayne #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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 days. Sources: Psalm 103:13-18 (ESV) Leanne Payne, Restoring the Christian Soul: Overcoming Barriers to Completion in Christ through Healing Prayer (Ada, Michigan: Baker Books, 1996). C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 2001). First published 1952 by Geoffrey Bles (London). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Vocation #Depression #SeasonalDepression #SAD #Psalm103 #Compassion #SelfCompassion #SelfAcceptance #Forgiveness #LeannePayne #CSLewis #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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 that decisive action even look like? C.S. Lewis helps answer questions like these in his wonderful 1939 sermon, "Learning in Wartime." Sources: Psalm 140:12 (ESV) 2 Corinthians 6:2 (ESV) C.S. Lewis, "Learning in War-Time" (sermon, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, Autumn 1939). Christendom College, February 2021. C.S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy (New York: HarperCollins, 2009). First published 1954 by Geoffrey Bles (London). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Vocation #Emergency #Crisis #Venezuela #ICE #NormalLife #CSLewis #LearningInWartime #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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 Administer Justice, and an advisory board member of the Fox Valley Music Foundation. You can find his writing about faith, music, and everything else on his blog, Navigating By Faith. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Vocation #Attorney #Lawyer #Law #AdministerJustice #LegalAid #FoxValley #Batavia #Writing #NavigatingByFaith #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

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, Walden, or, Life in the Woods (Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1854), Project Gutenberg. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Vocation #Liturgy #Shema #Mezuzah #Daniel #Thoreau #Walden #WaldenPond #Habit #Routine #JesusPrayer #IntrinsicMotivation #ExtrinsicMotivation #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork