The Working Believer

We ended our last Article on a bit of a cliffhanger: How do we “take full advantage of the time given”? This may seem to be a daunting task, but if you've ever said to yourself, "I wish I had done this, or that, or had more time for this, and not spent so much time on that," then this may be exactly what you need to read. When I became keenly aware of the time I was wasting, it was heartbreaking. I was looking specifically at the time I spent at work, but not engaged for the Gospel of Christ taking advantage of THAT time to let my light shine before those who may be lost, hurting, and in desperate need of Jesus. It was through this process of taking a Time Inventory that I started to redeem that time to serve and minister to others, but it didn't stop there. I began to take stock of my time all throughout the day, and it was both encouraging, and deeply convicting. If you want to take a similar Time Inventory, here is where I would suggest beginning: 1. Tak...

In the first part of this series, we looked at the Dilemma with our time, specifically as it related to the Time we spent serving the Lord. If our only service to the Lord are those activities which we do with and through our church, we are drastically limiting the time which we are given. And, as is usually the case, we will say things like, "We are too busy," or, "I don't have any time," and these would be untrue. As we mentioned before, no one just HAS time: we have to MAKE it or TAKE it. As we consider our time and how we use it, I want to look through a familiar passage of scripture: Matthew 25:14-30 ( before proceeding with the blog, let me encourage you to read this passage ). First, in this simple parable that Jesus shares, I wanted identify the gifts that were given. Notice that e ach servant was given a DIFFERENT amount of treasure, or means: "To one [the Master] gave five talents, to another two, and to another one..." And ...

When will we find time to serve the Lord? Have you ever heard anyone say, "I wish I had more time to study the Bible." Or, "I would love to Serve God more, or be more active in the Church, but we are just so busy!" Such a statement has probably been heard often. There was even a time when I said that phrase myself. However, I have come to understand something about time. No one just HAS time. They don’t. There are only two ways to get more time: you either MAKE it, or your TAKE it. It is not more time that we seek: it is more discipline. Every year we have 8,760 hours at our disposal. It is the most fair distribution of the most common gift ever given. Of those, we will spend approximately 2,920 hours sleeping, leaving us 5,840 of waking hours we can spend in pursuit of growing in Christ, being active in the Body of Believers, and serving the Lord. However, like most people, our time is not all our own: we have to work to keep the lights on, food o...

How do you fit in to your company's organizational chart? If you haven't given that much thought, it's not a problem. In fact, you company may not have a specified organization chart (Org Chart), but there absolutely is a "pecking order". Who reports to who? Who is in charge? Who answers to who? When 'X' speaks, 'Y' should listen and respond. It may not be complicated, but any business that has more than two or three people on the payroll usually have some kind of flow to communication, responsibility, and role of Leadership. As I have been a part of organizations, and served at different levels of an Org Chart, it was all wonderfully simplified for me when I realized that the Bible actually lays out the 3 basic work relationships that we have: Manager to Direct Report Peer to Peer Direct Report to Manager A passage of Scripture that has been primary in my rediscovery of the lost great Mission field that is the Americ...

In the last two articles, we looked at the Purpose for our life (to Know Jesus, Represent Jesus, and to Glorify Jesus), and we looked at the Plan for our life (Our Salvation, our Sanctification, to Share the Gospel, and to Make Disciples). These are the foundational principles on which our lives in Christ are built. They are specific to our relationship and walk with Him, but yet leave room for God to change and direct the details of the day to day. And usually, it is in the seeking to understand the details of the day to day, or specific crossroads of decision in front of us, that we get most hung up on knowing exactly what we need to do, and whether or not we are making the right choice. This is where many get frustrated. "How am I to know whether God wants me to go here, or there, to do this or that?" It is a fair question, but let's look at a few passages in scripture, as well as a few quotes from one of my favorite Bible teachers as we seek to understand how...

In the first installment of this series, we looked at the question, "What is God's will for my life?" and the statement, "I'm just trying to seek God's will." These questions are not unimportant, but I suggested that perhaps we give them more gravity than is merited. The purpose of your life is an important thing to understand, but I do not believe it was ever meant to be some overly complicated, or mystic, pseudo-spiritual exercise by which we discovery the specific details and events along the way. As a quick review, the Purpose of our life is simply to KNOW Jesus, to REPRESENT Jesus, and to GLORIFY Jesus. Honestly…it really is that simple. This purpose supersedes any other aspect of our life, and even when events dramatically change the course and details of our lives, our core Purpose remains the same. To dive into that concept further, please read "3 Essentials to Knowing your Purpose (Part 1 of 3)". THE PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE ...

If you have never asked this question for yourself, I am confident that you have heard someone you know ask this question for themselves: "What is God's will for my life?" Or perhaps they didn't ask the question, but offered it up as a statement of mystic importance: "I'm just trying to seek God's will for me right now." And, full confession, I've asked that question, AND I've made that statement before while trying to understand some major decisions: life after high school, collegiate pursuits, jobs, churches in which I've served, and of course relationships. Here is another question that tends to raise more questions than it answers: "What is my calling?" Again, just the way that question sounds, or is asked by others ("What is your calling?"), it begs to be answered, but how do we answer it? What is a calling, and how do we go about figuring out what is our specific calling in life? Without realizing it, we ...