Encouragement for Life

By: Dr. Andrew Spencer Searching the phrase “work-life balance” produces an avalanche of results. The recommendations provided to create a work-life balance vary widely based on the author and the outlet of publication, but the popularity of the question shows that it is a significant problem for many people. Among other mistaken predictions, economist John Maynard Keynes predicted an abbreviated work week …

By: Jacqueline Isaacs Should you wear a mask or face-covering while returning to work and your regular activities? While this seems like a question that should have a clear science-based answer, all it takes is a quick browse of your social media feeds to realize that well-meaning folks can disagree vehemently about how to answer the great mask debate. As …

By: John Pletcher Are you certain you are ready to go back to work? For many of us, the current season is full of great eagerness and anticipation. Perhaps you’ve been working from home, and now there is the potential of going back to the office soon. Perhaps you were furloughed over previous weeks, but now you are hearing the news …

By Jimmy R. Lewis Fighting for joy in the midst of a busy schedule is sometimes difficult even for strong, mature Christians. As a young professional in Washington, D.C., I have experienced and struggled with some of the pitfalls surrounding busyness. In a city and society that views busyness as a badge of honor, these struggles are inevitable, but succumbing …

By: Dr. Art Lindsley  In the many vocational interviews I have done over the years, I have heard numerous stories about difficult bosses and strained relationships at work. Even in the organizations working for the highest causes, the tone of the corporate culture does not always match the lofty vision of their group. According to Sue Shellenbarger of the Wall Street Journal, this disconnect between an organization’s cultural values …

By Steve Lindsey Whether a book, the news, or someone’s facial expression, we all read things regularly in our daily lives. But have you ever considered reading your work? This type of reading requires discovering wisdom about what practices and principles best apply to your unique job. This skill of reading our job can lead to flourishing and prevent impoverishment. Mis-reading Our Work …

By John Lennox A Weighty Decision It is our heavenly Father who provides food for birds and clothing for flowers. We, who are more valuable to him, are therefore to trust him for the necessities of life. Anxiety and fear are real. Many years ago I was in Hungary and met a man whose demeanor impressed me greatly, a humble man of great …

By Hugh Whelchel But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. God has always been with us at work. And he wants us to be fruitful there as well as all the other areas of our lives. Yet, we often find it difficult. During …

By Dr. Art Lindsley “Climbing the corporate ladder” is a phrase frequently used in a negative way to describe someone who is selfishly advancing their career at the expense of others. Millennials, however, view rapid upward mobility as something to be desired and praised. According to Entrepreneur magazine, one of the most significant issues for this generation and, likely those following it, …

By: Dr. Art Lindsley If I were to take you in a helicopter to Afghanistan and parachute you into the middle of the country without a map and without knowledge of how to discern where one of 10 million land mines are located, how long do you think you would last? Being dropped into minefields without knowing how to avoid …

By Dr. Art Lindsley Our culture has a crisis in calling. We’ve been exploring this crisis, and how a biblical perspective on work can help us address it. A biblical view of work runs throughout all of scripture. We are given the cultural mandate (Gen. 1:28) in Genesis to use our gifts to cultivate the kingdom of God. Our work then plays a part in God’s plan …

By: Hugh Whelchel, originally posted on July 2, 2015. You wake up in the morning hoping your actions will have purpose. You want the work you do during the day to be affirmed, to be directed towards a meaningful end, and to have an impact on the lives of those around you. You want to lie down at night and …

Many of us often wonder what our true calling might be. We ponder what it is we can bring to the world, something that is uniquely “us.” We ask the questions “what difference can I make?”, “Am I significant?”, “When it’s all said and done, will my life have counted for something?” One of my favorite scriptures gives us some …

By Daniel Darling, originally posted August 20, 2018. Because we live in a Genesis-3 (fallen) world, we are tempted to think wrongly about our work in two ways. First, we can make our work everything: an object of worship and devotion instead of the good gift God created it to be. Our careers are often seen as a marker of …

By Hugh Whelchel, originally posted September 3, 2012. Recently I saw a bumper sticker that read, He who dies with the most toys wins, but he is still dead.   This must be a post-modern version of the late 1990’s original, which simply read, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” If bumper stickers are a reflection of the soul …

By Hugh Whelchel, Originally posted July 2, 2018 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — Thomas Jefferson, the U.S. Declaration of Independence Former U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall challenged Americans, “May we …

By Nancy Cotterill, Claiming Peace http://www.uniteindy.org/claiming-peace/ I remember a book I read called The Poisonwood Bible in which a family of fiercely evangelical missionaries go to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They took with them everything they believed they would need from home, but find nothing but sorrow and loss in the cruelty of the African wild. Nothing works, people …

By Gary Stanton, Walking Where Jesus Walked – My Trip to the Holy Land Traveling all the way to the Holy Land and experiencing scripture come alive was a great confirmation of what I believe as a Christian. Being able to actually visit the locations of some of the greatest successes and laments of biblical history reinforced my faith of …

By Darrel Geis, More to This Life In February of 2014, I stood at my younger brother Alex’s side as he sadly passed away at the age of 48 due to complications from years of alcohol abuse. He had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver that previous September, went through a detox program in October, and had been clean …

By Darrel Geis, The Greatest Birthday Gift Ever It was late in the spring of 2006, and my parents had come from their home in Pennsylvania to Cincinnati to visit my wife and me on the eve of my birthday. They hinted of a special surprise for me, and the next day we piled into their SUV and headed to …