My Devotionals

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.' Jeremiah 29:4-7 (NIV)

We began this devotional series considering the question of whether or not our work matters. Over the past few weeks, we found that the Bible’s answer to that question is an unequivocal “Yes!”

Our work matters because God Himself is a worker and we have been created in His image and likeness. Work is a part of who God is and, as such, it is a part of who we are. It is in our DNA. We work because our Creator first...

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2:15 (NIV)

Work is not a new thing. It is not some evolutionary survival technique that developed and then went sideways, enslaving humanity in an endless cycle of toilsome labor. Nor is work a more recent invention of the humanist project seeking to gain power, prestige, and material dominance over one’s neighbor.

No, from a biblical perspective, work was a part of the plan from the very beginning. It was a component of God’s good design from the get-go. When the Creator (worker) God crafted human beings in His own image and likeness, the ability, necessity, and power to work was embedded deep within us. God works, so His creatures work. In this manner we truly are, to borrow the crude expression, “a chip off the old block.”

Not only are we workers, but we are workers with a specific task. We are meant to carry forward God’s grand and wondrous building...

This is what the Lord says—the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts. Isaiah 45:11-12 (NIV)

When asked to describe who God is and what He is like, most Christians tend to give an account of His divine attributes. They will passionately proclaim that God is good, loving, holy, wise, or omnipotent. However, what is almost never mentioned is the notion of God as a worker. For whatever reason, most overlook, or at least do not actively consider, this glaring reality of who God is.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

This is the first verse of the first book on the very first pages of the Bible. It is the first time we are introduced to the God who is there. It is also the beginning of the whole story of...

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV)

We all want to be affirmed in what we do. To be recognized for our efforts. To have them confirmed and heralded as good, meaningful, and beneficial. This is one of our most primal longings. We thrive on approval. To hear the words “good job” or “well done” immediately stirs up something deep inside of us. Something that moves us to be more passionate, more diligent, more intentional. This is the power of affirmation. It helps us to see that our...

God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:28-31 (NIV)

The Bible gives us very little detail of Jesus’ life between the ages of twelve and thirty, when He began his public ministry. One of the only things Scripture notes about this significant chunk of time is that Jesus was known in...

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.' Exodus 31:1-5 (NIV)

In this somewhat obscure passage in the book of Exodus, we meet a man named Bezalel who God is calling to create the Tabernacle of the Lord. This was an incredible call and responsibility, for the Tabernacle was meant to be the physical place in which God met with His people as well as home to the Ark of the Covenant, the beautiful, gold-covered chest containing the stone tablets in which God had inscribed the Ten Commandments.

God chooses Bezalel to do the hard, God-like work of creating the Tabernacle. But before Bezalel gets to work “to make artistic designs for work in gold,...

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3 (NIV)

The first thing God reveals about Himself in Scripture is not that He is loving, holy, omnipotent, gracious, or just. No, the first thing God shows us is that He is creative. In Genesis, He brings something out of nothing. He brings order out of chaos. He creates for the good of others. In short, God is the first entrepreneur.

“Entrepreneur” is a title thrown around so much today that it has become very difficult to define. I would submit that an entrepreneur is anyone who takes a risk to create something new for the good of others.

Using this definition, the Creator of the universe certainly qualifies as the first entrepreneur. In Genesis, He is clearly creating something new. Before creation,...

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ The man...

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. Romans 12:6 (NIV)

Last week, we saw that identifying our passions are key in the process of discerning our calling. But passion without competence is worthless. In Romans 12:6, Paul said, “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly.” We have largely ignored this verse in the Church today, choosing to define calling as simply what we are really passionate about, rather than the intersection of both our passions and giftings.

Our work won’t feel like a calling until we reimagine it as service to our Caller and the world. It’s impossible to serve someone well if you aren’t gifted at your craft. You may be really passionate about wanting to fly an airplane, but if you’ve never been to flight school, you won’t be serving others by taking...

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

Throughout Scripture, God reveals three primary pointers on the road to discerning our calling: our passions, our giftings, and our opportunities to use the combination of those two to glorify God and serve others.

Have you ever wondered why God created the earth and humankind? He certainly didn’t need to. So in one sense, it appears that God created for the pure joy of creating. It’s impossible to read the creation account in Genesis 1 without imagining the thrill God must have had bringing the earth into being, flinging the stars into the sky, and turning the oceans loose. This truth points us to the first question on the road to discerning our calling: What are you passionate about? In other words, what work brings you unspeakable joy?

Isaiah 64:8 says that...