Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Instead of Becoming a Pastor, I Minister as a Plumber. Nathaniel Marshall writes “I’ve discovered that practicing being in God’s presence and growing in the Christian life is something any of us can do in virtually any line of work, not just as pastors or church leaders.”
• 4 Leadership Lessons from the Life of Queen Elizabeth II. Colin Smith writes about Queen Elizabeth, “What can we learn from her? Here are four lessons for leaders from the life and example of Her Majesty.”
• Lost Your Job? The Good Shepherd’s Got You. Brittanie Young shares three things she learned through her own job loss that she hopes will encourage you.
• How to Get a Return on Failure. No one enjoys failure, but what if there was a way to get a positive return on your failure? On this episode of the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, Stanley visits with John Maxwell about how to leverage success from failure.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• • • More links to interesting articles
    • The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
    • My Review of Uncommon Influence: Saying Yes to a Purposeful Life by Tony Dungy and Lauren Dungy
    • Quotes from the book You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly Kapic

• What We’ve Learned About the Theology of Work in 2022. Jacqueline Isaacs asked some of the regular IFWE blog contributors (including Russ Gehrlein and John Pletcher), what God has been teaching them about the theology of work in the past year. Here are their responses.
• Embracing the Liturgy of Labor Day. Arianna Molloy writes “When we approach our callings in a way that reflects the work of God, we are worshipping him in spirit and truth—yet we cannot talk about healthy work without talking about rest.”
• Clarifying Your Purpose in the Third Third of Life, Part 3. In this article, Mark D. Roberts offers two additional avenues that can lead you to clarify your purpose as you enter the third third of your life: Pay attention to what God is putting on your heart, and pay attention to where you are bearing fruit.
• Mere Christians: Tony and Lauren Dungy. On this episode of the Mere Christians podcast, Jordan Raynor talks with Tony and Lauren Dungy about the barber who had a profound influence on Tony growing up, the best compliment you can receive at work, and the tension between pursuing excellence at work and being called to loving sacrifice at home.
• I Know I Matter to God, But Does My Work? Part 1. Steve Lindsey writes “What is it that relates what we are doing with our work lives directly to living in and for the Kingdom of God as Jesus commanded? Just how does God respond to our deepest questions about work?”
• The Antidote to Work Anxiety and Addiction. Bryan Chapell writes “Instead of fueling my work with anxiety, I have the privilege of saying to myself, God’s got this. It’s in his hands. So, get some rest, and wake up refreshed and ready to tackle life’s challenges with the courage and energy that come from the assurance of his care.”
• Why Has God Put Me Here? Russ Gehrlein asks “If God, in His mercy and grace, chose to place one of His precious daughters into a job where she would have the opportunity to be God’s coworker to bring about His will to be “done on earth as it is in heaven”, could He not do the same with you in the position that you have today?”
• Called to Lead. My book Called to Lead: Living and Leading for Jesus in the Workplace is available in both a paperback and Kindle edition. Read a free sample (Introduction through Chapter 2).
• Your Work Matters. But Don’t Deify It. Daniel Darling writes “The Gospel gives renewed purpose to our work. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Christians are the best artists and craftsmen and administrators and stay-at-home moms and lawyers, but that the gospel helps us see the creative value of our work and points us toward the kingdom of God, where our labors will finally be free of the thistles and thorns that steal our dignity.”
• Cultivate Your Daily Work by Weeding. John Pletcher writes “Muster the courage to take action on attitudes, habits, negative people, and unfruitful team practices that really need to go. Pull the weeds, make room, and experience the joyof greater growth in your own life and your workplace this summer!”

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• Many times, people think if God has called you to something, he’s promising you success. He might be calling you to fail to prepare you for something else through the failure. Tim Keller
• Servant leadership is the only approach to leadership that Jesus validates for His followers. Ken Blanchard
• The concept that our work has eternal implications is critical. Russ Gehrlein
• All our work for God should be done thoroughly, and especially that part of it that lies lowest and is least observed by people. Charles Spurgeon
• The best leaders are servant leaders. They’re the first to put their people’s needs before their own and they never stop working to make their people better. They inspire their people to do their best and to be their best. Simon Sinek
• As Christ-followers, we are compelled to pursue excellence in each of our callings in life. Jordan Raynor
• One sign of godly leadership is a willingness, even an eagerness, to apologize when shown to be in the wrong. Another sign is to humbly search for nuggets of truth within criticism that is either unfair or false. Scott Sauls
• Pastors, our ultimate aim isn’t the conference circuit, but the counseling room, the hospital bed, the graveside, the local church, being faithful in the daily little things, the ordinary life of a servant. Burk Parsons
• As long as you are alive, there is gospel work for you to do. You may retire from your career, but you never retire from ministry. Steven Lawson

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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:

Uncommon Influence: Saying Yes to a Purposeful Life by Tony Dungy and Lauren Dungy. Compassion. 252 pages. 2022
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Don’t we all want to live a life of purpose? If you are a Christian, don’t you want to live a life in which you hear the Lord tell you “Well done, good and faithful servant?” (Matthew 25:23).
In this book, Tony and Lauren Dungy write about the handful of ways that God has prompted them to “give up our lives” for his sake along the way. They revisit what were the choices he’d asked them to make, and how had those various decisions led them to where they are today. The authors, who also wrote Uncommon Marriage, alternate writing chapters in this helpful book that covers topics such as integrity, legacy, being faithful, prayer, preparation, teamwork, selflessness, steadiness, patience, rest, shining brightly, and what love requires that we do.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

• Think of it this way: your profession is what you do, while your purpose is why you do it. Tony
• God is looking for followers of his who won’t just sit on the gifts and talents he’s given us but who instead will invest those resources wisely, believing that God will use those investments for good. Tony
• Integrity is doing what you believe. Tony
• Regardless of the specific spheres of influence in your life, the question I have for you is this one: Are you stewarding them well? Tony
• What we practice is who we become. Lauren
• One excellent decision made today can positively alter the course of our lives. Lauren
• What happens to the one who keeps choosing steadiness is that they learn to persevere. Lauren
• We are more productive when we are rested. We work harder (and also smarter) after a day of rest. Tony
• It matters how you win. Tony
• Whatever you do in life, be sure you’re running the right race. Tony
• Real life is living not for our glory but for God’s. There’s no higher purpose to be found than that. Tony

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Faith and Work Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?

We are reading through You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly Kapic. The list of demands on our time seems to be never ending. It can leave you feeling a little guilty–like you should always be doing one more thing.
Rather than sharing better time-management tips to squeeze more hours out of the day, Kelly Kapic takes a different approach in You’re Only Human. He offers a better way to make peace with the fact that God didn’t create us to do it all.
Kapic explores the theology behind seeing our human limitations as a gift rather than a deficiency. He lays out a path to holistic living with healthy self-understanding, life-giving relationships, and meaningful contributions to the world. He frees us from confusing our limitations with sin and instead invites us to rest in the joy and relief of knowing that God can use our limitations to foster freedom, joy, growth, and community.
Readers will emerge better equipped to cultivate a life that fosters gratitude, rest, and faithful service to God.

This week we look at the second half of Chapter 6: Have We Misunderstood Humility? Joyful Realism. Here are a few quotes from the chapter:

• Sin has clearly distorted and disordered not only our individual lives but also our ability to live in community with each other.
• The clearest way of cultivating self-denial is by replacing sinful self-centeredness with the practice of treating the needs of others as more important than our own.
• We can happily praise people, because such praise recognizes God’s own work.
• It is not that we can’t benefit from our talents and developed skills, but we should subordinate our personal benefits to the interests of others.
• Sin perverts our perception of humility and opposes our efforts to live humbly. God’s invasion of our world and our lives, however, corrects our vision and enables us to live for others and not only for ourselves.
• The life of humility puts everything into God’s hands, only to realize that it was already there, so you may as well trust him for it.
• One of the main results of genuine humility is that we cease to condemn or have contempt for others.
• We find it is easy to be judgmental when either of two things happens: when we are ignorant of the details and complexity of a situation, or when we are ignorant of our own shortcomings and sin.