Encouragement for Life

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, is forward progression in their careers.

Career mobility is not a bad thing to want. The question is, why do you want it? And, what do you do if it’s not happening right away and you feel stuck in some “lowly” position?

This is where we need to reorient our thinking around work as a calling from God. What might the Lord be doing in and through you during this time of waiting? Also, do you believe the work you’re doing now is less valuable than the work you will do in the future? Let’s look at two key biblical passages on this point.

1. We often need to take a lower position and wait for God to use us in greater ways.

In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable when he notices guests are picking places of honor at a meal:

When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give your place to this person,” and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher.” Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Lk. 14:8-11).

Note that it is better to take the lower place and wait for the appropriate time to be moved to the higher place. It is hard, especially for gifted young people, to start in a lower position in a job. We are often impatient to use our gifts more fully. If we are faithful in little tasks, we will prove worthy of greater responsibility.

Francis Schaeffer once said that in the lower place you have more peace and quiet and opportunity to spend time with the Lord. If you reach the highest position, you are weighed down with many cares, concerns, as well as a very demanding schedule that leaves you little time to rest and reflect on what you are doing. Schaeffer said it is better to stay in the lower place until the Lord sees you are prepared for the demands of the higher place. He will then “extrude” you to that higher responsibility (just as toothpaste is extruded out of a tube). You don’t have to be passive when opportunity comes, but it is important to realize the importance of being prepared.

2. God created people for every position in the Body, and every position on the corporate flowchart.

1 Corinthians 12 is an important reminder for those who feel they are a lesser part of the body:

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body (1 Cor. 12:14-20).

I have found some interesting cases among the hundreds of vocational profiles I have done. Relatively few people are made to be CEOs. Some are best as the second in command. Some are made to be inventors. Others love managing the details of an organization.

I interviewed one man whose greatest desire was to be janitor of the local school and make those floors shine. Another interviewee wanted to help the boss succeed and loved being a support person. Some love to be up front, to star, and others want to be out of the spotlight.

It is critical to know what you are made for, and not to desire, envy, or covet another’s position. Few are created to be Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, or Ravi Zacharias—but you can still find your place and delight in it.

Why Calling Matters

Seeing our work as a calling helps to reorient our thinking about its value. God calls people to a variety of different things and at different levels of responsibility. No job is more valuable than the other. Our identity is not in our job title but in the One who called us to the work in the first place. When we put too much stock in how far we’ve climbed, we tend to climb on top of others, not with them or for them.

In 1985, Robert Bellah wrote a classic book called Habits of the Heart. Bellah and his team interviewed many people throughout America about why they were committed to friends, spouses, community, and political life. They found that people had great difficulty articulating reasons for their commitment other than their own selfish interests. The language of commitment to others was lacking.

Bellah maintained that our nation desperately needed to recover the idea of calling. We are called out of our autonomous, self-centered existence in order to love God and others. To paraphrase President Kennedy, we need to ask “not what another can do for you, but what you can do for another.”

We live before an audience of One and are called by him to give our lives for others.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (www.tifwe.org). The original article appears here. It is an adapted excerpt from Art Lindsley’s new booklet, Be Transformed: Essential Principles for Personal and Public Life. IFWE is a Christian research organization committed to advancing biblical and economic principles that help individuals find fulfillment in their work and contribute to a free and flourishing society. Visit https://tifwe.org/subscribe to subscribe to the free IFWE blog.

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 them is like life without wisdom. It is important to know life’s terrain in order to negotiate it safely as well as to experience the fullness of life.

If we are to pursue our callings to the best of our ability, we need to obtain wisdom.

Really wise people have put a lifetime of effort into gaining wisdom. How do they do it? Here are eight steps.

1. Fear the Lord

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because when we are in awe of him we are humbled. We realize our finitude and fallenness. There are several verses throughout Proverbs that note this, including:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7).

The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom (Prov. 15:33).

Calvin began his Institutes by saying that all our knowledge comes down to knowledge of God and the self. The more we truly know God the more we can see who we are as created in God’s image, fallen, redeemed, and destined for eternal life. We then know our need of knowledge, wisdom, and grace to live our lives.

2. Be teachable

The humility that comes from properly fearing the Lord leads to a lifelong hunger to learn. Wise people are always teachable. They never feel like they have arrived. Note the following verses:

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil (Prov. 3:7).

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning (Prov. 9:8)

The wise desire to gain more knowledge, and they are also open to correction and reproof. Wise reproof is like an accurate mirror that gives a clear reflection of how you really look.

3. Learn from the wise

There is a tendency to learn from and model the people we are around the most. For instance, scripture warns us about associating with a habitually angry person:

Do not associate with a man given to anger, or go with a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself (Prov. 22:24-25).

On the contrary, associating with and listening to the wise is highly commended:

Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory (Prov. 11:14).

Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed (Prov. 15:22).

Cultivate relationships with wise people, then consult them on important decisions.

4. Watch out for spiritual entropy

As long as we keep listening and learning, we can continue to gain wisdom. Once we stop listening, things tend toward disorder, as with the thermodynamic law of entropy.

For example, Solomon started out as the wisest of kings, but later in his life he did some very unwise things. How was this possible?

I believe that he forgot the teaching ascribed to him (see Prov. 10:10), as recorded in Proverbs 19:27:

Cease listening, my son, to discipline, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

If you cease to listen, you will stray. Perhaps we all know those who seemed wise but have done foolish, life-altering things. In many cases, they fell in private before they fell in public. Spiritual entropy took over when they stopped listening to wisdom.

5. Seek wisdom every day

One of my favorite Old Testament passages is Isaiah 50:4-5:

The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning, he awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord God has opened my ear; and I was not disobedient…

Wouldn’t it be tremendous to gain a wise tongue so we could speak the right word at the right time in the right way? But, how?

Whether your best time is early in the morning or later in the day, it is important to orient your life to the Lord when you wake up. Unless we spend time with the Lord daily, we will not grow or gain wisdom. We need him to open our hearts and minds on a daily basis, enabling us to taste the goodness, power, and beauty of the scriptures and pray in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18).

6. Note the difference

Wisdom notes the differences. What does that mean?

We face many different situations throughout our workdays. Just because you have experienced similar situations in the past doesn’t mean that the present one is exactly the same.

The wise person perceives the similarities and the differences in each situation. The wise realize that they never experience exactly the same person, people, dynamic, or circumstances twice. Although past experience may be very helpful, it is essential to ask, “how is this situation different from anything I have experienced?”

7. Ask God for wisdom

Solomon asked for wisdom and received it. We are urged to do the same. James 1:5 says,

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Often we have not because we ask not. While we must ask God to provide wisdom, we are not to forsake the disciplined process by which we gain it.

We are to work, study, pray, fast, and fellowship to the best of our ability, but realize we have God to thank when we make progress.

8. Recognize that wisdom leads to flourishing

Those who gain wisdom are compared to a tree firmly planted, that yields fruit in abundance in due season, whose leaves do not wither; whatever they do prospers (Ps. 1:3).

They experience the Lord’s blessing (Ps. 1:1), which entails the Lord’s favor and peace in every direction of their lives.

Above all, remember that we are being made like him, conformed to his image, who is the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24).

This article is reprinted with permission from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (www.tifwe.org). The original article appears here. It is an adapted excerpt from Art Lindsley’s new booklet, Be Transformed: Essential Principles for Personal and Public Life. IFWE is a Christian research organization committed to advancing biblical and economic principles that help individuals find fulfillment in their work and contribute to a free and flourishing society. Visit https://tifwe.org/subscribe to subscribe to the free IFWE blog.

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 for restoration laid out in the book of Revelation.

We have lost sight of this perspective, and, as a result, we have lost any sense of calling. What is calling, and what does it mean for our lives?

Types of Calling

I want to focus on two types of callings:

• General Calling: The primary meaning of calling in scripture is a general one—we are called out of an old, sinful way of life into a new, redeemed, and faithful way of life. There are numerous references to this general calling throughout the New Testament, especially in Romans.
• Particular Calling: This type of calling, used in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24, refers to our state or condition of life. 1 Corinthians 7:20 and 7:24 repeat the refrain, “Let each man remain in that calling in which he was called.”

Even though the particular calling does not speak specifically to our jobs, it is important to note that the general call is sufficient to understand that we should be faithful to the Lord in all areas of our lives, including in our work.

Implications of Calling

The primary emphasis of scripture is on the general call. We are called to a new way of life and faithfulness to our Lord. This means being faithful to God, our families, our church, our nation (as citizens), and our work.

Our faithfulness can sometimes be gauged by examining our priorities, or how we spend our time. When we are faithful to the callings God has placed upon our lives, we will experience meaning, significance, and wholeness. If our priorities are askew, we will not.

If we are faithful, calling impacts and orients our lives in a variety of ways:

• A sense of calling gives us perspective on what we do. Whether we succeed or fail, we can sustain motivation to our calling if we remain faithful. For instance, William Wilberforce fought for the abolition of slavery in England for almost thirty years. He endured constant vilification and many disheartening obstacles. Yet he pressed on towards his goal because he knew what God had called him to do.
• Calling can keep us from compromising. Sometimes in our work we face the temptation to compromise our values. We may be challenged to act unethically in order to advance in our careers. I have a friend who became a whistleblower.  He worked for a state government and found out that some workers were being treated in a way that was not right. He was warned that exposing the issue would lead him to lose his job and worse. Because of his faith in Christ, he decided to do what was right. What was most important to him was faithfulness to Christ—faithfulness to calling, not to compromise.
• We are called to be good stewards of our gifts. If you look at 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, Romans 12:6-8, and Ephesians 4:11-13, you will find various lists of gifts to be used in the body of Christ. We are called to know what our gifts are and to use them vigorously for his kingdom. We are to use the same gifts in the world with respect to our work. Our “natural” gifts are our “created” gifts—given to us by God. The Fall has withered, misdirected, or twisted our natural gifts. However, the Holy Spirit can redirect these gifts to benefit both the church and the world.
• Don’t expect a “perfect” use of your gifts. We live in a world that is far from perfect. It is often difficult to find a job that fully fits your gifts. Even if you could land the perfect job, you would find that it wasn’t perfect because you are fallen, and the people around you are fallen. Although you shouldn’t expect perfection, you should strive to be a good steward of the gifts you were given.

You have been called for a purpose—to use your gifts to serve the common good, bring glory to God, and to advance his kingdom. By God’s grace, we can know whywe are called, what we are called to do, and how we are to do it.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (www.tifwe.org). The original article appears here. IFWE is a Christian research organization committed to advancing biblical and economic principles that help individuals find fulfillment in their work and contribute to a free and flourishing society. Visit https://tifwe.org/subscribeto subscribe to the free IFWE Blog.

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 feel satisfied, content that the work you did was your very best and made a difference in the grand scheme of things.

You want the peace of mind, the satisfaction that comes with living out your purpose in the world.

You want fulfillment.

And you know what? You can find it. Everyone can.

Each person is created in God’s image, and like him, has the desire – and the ability – to be creative and find fulfillment using their God-given talents.

You can find fulfillment in many ways, by knowing your place and purpose in your community, your family, your church, and especially in work.

You can find fulfillment by living into who God created you to be, and doing what he created you to do.

In short, you find fulfillment when you discover and carry out your calling. This fulfillment finds expression in many ways – in serving your community, church, and family. In these places, you can make contributions that have eternal significance.

Work especially is an area where you can find fulfillment. Your daily work provides you with the challenges and opportunities to serve God and others. In fact, it’s the best way to serve others. And service is key – ultimately, work isn’t just about your personal fulfillment. It’s about serving your neighbors and even complete strangers by using your God-given gifts, talents, and resources to help meet their needs. Your service gives people a glimpse of how things will be when Christ returns and restores creation in full.

There are, of course, times when work may be difficult. Some days you feel the “thorns and thistles,” the stress, the burden of your responsibilities more than others. Through it all, work remains a formative activity for finding fulfillment by teaching us about God and ourselves.

Fulfillment can be found in whatever work God places in front of you, regardless of whether it’s your dream job or not. When we work hard everyday at the work God has given us, it’s pleasing to him and way more fulfilling for us.

Ultimately, fulfillment is not found in our circumstances, but in the actions – and attitudes we take towards our work, family, church, and community each and everyday. It’s found in working diligently to glorify God, serve the common good, and advance the kingdom of God in all that we do.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (www.tifwe.org). The original article appears here.IFWE is a Christian research organization committed to advancing biblical and economic principles that help individuals find fulfillment in their work and contribute to a free and flourishing society. Visit https://tifwe.org/subscribeto subscribe to the free IFWE Blog.

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 insight as a starting point for answering these questions:

Let me tell you why you’re here, You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth… Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world (Matt. 5:13-14, The Message).

This scripture conveys two rich metaphors, of salt bringing out God-flavors and light bringing out God-colors in the world. When you think about it, there are infinite flavors and colors, and our task is to uniquely reveal some piece of those infinite ranges. 

Each of us is necessary if we’re going to reveal the entire palette of God’s flavors and the entire range of all God’s colors! That’s great news, for it’s an assurance that there is a unique story we each get to convey with our lives—a story that is part of God’s larger story. Each individual story is important, no matter how different or unconventional that story might be.

Many of us struggle with discovering our story, or understanding the significance of our story. Society tells us that in order to be successful, x, y, or z has to occur. One common notion is that we have to be front and center. We have to be the star.

But this is not what God is telling us. Just like one dish is composed of multiple ingredients and flavors, the same can be said of your life in relation to those around you.

Just because you aren’t the pasta of the dish doesn’t mean that your small amount of oregano isn’t essential in making the dish sing. We are all integral parts of a bigger entrée, ultimately making it taste great. In the same way, a painting has both soft and bold colors, each essential in creating the masterpiece and conveying its beauty and message to the viewer.

So how do you become salt and light, giving expression to your unique role in revealing God’s flavors and colors to the world around you?

One key way you can do this is through risk-taking. God is constantly speaking to us and inviting us to take risks, ranging from small and simple to looming and large. He’s asking us to get outside our comfort zones. As we do, we become salt and light. Our stories gain depth and nuance.

Risks are varied and diverse, of course—saying hello to someone, helping a neighbor you don’t know too well, asking for a promotion, taking a new job, moving across the country, going back to school, making a call to a relative, resolving a conflict with a co-worker, the list goes on. God’s invitation to risk for you is going to look different from his invitation to someone else.

We can’t expect to fully be salt and light without first stepping out in faith and taking steps of risk toward who and what we are meant to become.

This might feel daunting at times, but remember: God has promised us that we are all salt and light. What we have to bring to the table is indeed enough. Not only is it enough—it is essential!

I want to encourage each of you that through risk, your personal story can come alive! Through risk, you become an expression of salt and light to the world around you. Through risk, you can step into and align with God’s far bigger story.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics ( www.tifwe.org ). The original article appears here . IFWE is a Christian research organization committed to advancing biblical and economic principles that help individuals find fulfillment in their work and contribute to a free and flourishing society. Visit https://tifwe.org/subscribe to subscribe to the free IFWE blog.

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 identity and worth. Consider the way a conversation goes when you meet someone for the first time. Next time you greet a visitor at church or strike up conversation on the train or meet a new family in your neighborhood, you will likely, without even thinking, ask, “So, what do you do for a living?” Their answer will, to some extent, inform the way you think of them.

I spend much of my time in either Nashville or Washington, D.C.—two cities where this question takes on heightened significance. In Nashville, a city blessed with a vibrant artist community, people are often defined by their creative acts. I’m a songwriter. I’m working on a project with so-and-so. I’m working in marketing for this or that label/company/nonprofit. In D.C., it’s a power game, where business cards are exchanged and contacts are stored to leverage influence. I work on the Hill on Ways and Means. I just started at this think tank. I work at this government agency.

Think about the questions work often provokes:

• Is my job significant?
• Does it give me influence?
• Do people know what I do and do they think it matters?

We don’t ask these questions out loud, of course, but we think them, subconsciously.

And so it is very easy to end up worshiping work as that which gives us our significance, our ultimate fulfillment. Sometimes it’s important for us to step back and see what work, when worshiped as an idol, demands of us. We don’t just leave it at the office or the factory floor—we take it home. It is in our pocket, always pulling us away from our family and friends with one more check of our email, one more phone call, one more quick project. Work whispers in our ears that we are God-like, without a need for rest.

If we are not careful, we will load our vocations with the weight of a significance they were not meant to bear. As long as we are working, productive, and influential, we think we are happy. We often don’t even realize we’ve worshiped this faceless god until we’ve looked up and seen all of the unnecessary sacrifices we’ve made to it.

Work matters, and it matters to God, but it makes a poor god. We were not created in the image of our salaries or our positions or the organization for which we work. These good things will one day pass away, leaving us, if we are not careful, empty and unfulfilled.

This is why we must return, again and again, to the truth that our identity is not dependent on our utility or our influence or our paycheck, but is grounded in the love God has for his image-bearers. And in Christ, we know we are not merely laborers for corporations, but co-heirs with him forever. Tim Keller says that “faith gives you an inner ballast without which work could destroy you.”

As much as we are tempted to exalt our work, we are tempted to diminish it as well.

I’ve heard variations of this sentiment in the churches I have served: “Pastor, I wish I could really serve Jesus like you do. I have to sling it in a factory or stuff bags on an airplane or serve coffee to college students.”

This reflects an underdeveloped view of work, as if only what we do on Sundays when we meet as a church “counts” as Christian service, and work is just the way we get a paycheck and the place we go to try to evangelize.

Sadly, much of this exists because of misguided teaching and preaching. We pastors have often failed to teach a robust doctrine of work and have often elevated our own vocations higher on the heavenly org chart than God does. When we reduce the significance of our callings to mere utilitarian purposes, we diminish our own dignity. God did not create us as mere money-generating bots, but as creators, even if much of our creating seems mundane and monotonous.

Perhaps I’m particularly sensitive to this because I felt that everyday vocations such as my father’s were considered second-class by the church culture in which I grew up. It is too easy for those of us who receive paychecks from Christian organizations to consider our callings more sacred than those of the people we serve.

Constructive work is in and of itself a way we live as image-bearers. And the way we work can be a way we demonstrate that we understand the value of those we work alongside, and those we interact with. Our work is how we love and serve our neighbors.

When my father gave full attention to installing plumbing systems that work, he was serving the family whose house he worked on, and thus the community and the world. A craftsman should make good products because fellow image-bearers will use them. A baker should produce delicious baked goods because they will be consumed by fellow image-bearers. A retail employee should stock shelves with excellence because those shelves will be perused by fellow image-bearers looking to purchase goods. And in all of this, our Father is watching, pleased with our honest labor (Col. 3:23).

This article is copied with permission from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics ( www.tifwe.org ). The original article appeared here. IFWE is a Christian research organization committed to advancing biblical and economic principles that help individuals find fulfillment in their work and contribute to a free and flourishing society. Visit https://tifwe.org/subscribe to subscribe to the free IFWE Daily Blog.

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 of our culture (and I am not sure that is true) are we in the 21^st century moving away from the idea that the acquisition of “things” and the pursuit of pleasure are the driving forces and measuring rods of a successful life?

If so, what does success look like today?  What is the measure of success? Does it look different for Christians? What is the Biblical definition of success?

I was asked to preach this weekend as part of the Labor Day Weekend Service at my church. I set out to try to answer these questions.  My sermon title was “The Biblical Meaning of Success,” and I used the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25:14-30 as my text.

I told the congregation they had been lied to. Two great lies have been told to them by everyone from their kindergarten teacher to the U.S. Government:

1. You can be anything you want to be.
2. You can be the best in the world.

These two lies distort the Biblical meaning of success, and set all of us up for disappointment and failure.

The antidote for these two great lies is the Parable of the Talents, which teaches us three important lessons:

1.  We are called to work while we wait for the return of the King.

The Parable of the Talents teaches us how to work while we wait for the second coming of Christ. Many Christians believe that our salvation is a bus ticket to heaven, and what we do while we wait for the bus makes little difference. The parable makes it clear this belief is false.

One of my favorite quotes is spoken by General Maximus in the opening scenes of the film, “Gladiator.” General Maximus tells his troops, “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”  While this may not have been true about them, it is certainly true for Christians. Our work matters to God.

2.  We are given everything we need to do what God has called us to do.

Do you know what a talent is worth in today’s dollars? Somewhere between five hundred thousand and a million dollars.  Even the servant that was given only one talent was given more than enough to set up a business and produce the expected return for the master.

God has given each of us unique resources and talents to be used in everything we do, especially our vocational callings. The master gave out a different number of talents to each servant “according to the servant’s ability.”  The one talent servant was not expected to produce five talents.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10,

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We seldom associate this verse with our vocational work, but we should.

3.  We will be held accountable for what we do with what God has given us.

As Christians we work “as unto the Lord,” not for an earthy boss. The Parable of the Talents shows us we will be held accountable for what we do while we wait for the return of our King. Thankfully, we are not held to some arbitrary standard. What God expects from us is based on what he has given us.

However, it will take just as much effort for the two talent servant to produce two additional talents as it does the five talent servant to produce five additional talents. This is why the reward for both is the same. This is the great lesson of this story.

So what does this parable tell us about the Biblical meaning of success?

We are called to use all the resources God has given us and work diligently at our callings, maximizing the return for the Master while we expectantly await His return.

The late John Wooden, the most successful college basketball coach in history and a committed Christian, was asked how he would define success. He replied:

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

This is what the Parable of the Talents is all about.

We labor at the pleasure of the Lord God Almighty. Our work is driven by our love of the Master. Our only desire should be to hear his praise at the end of our days on this earth:

Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the master.

What do you think? What does the Parable of the Talents say to you about your work? About success? 

This article is copied with permission from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics ( www.tifwe.org ). The original article appeared here. IFWE is a Christian research organization committed to advancing biblical and economic principles that help individuals find fulfillment in their work and contribute to a free and flourishing society. Visit https://tifwe.org/subscribe to subscribe to the free IFWE Daily Blog.

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 think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.” As we prepare to celebrate the 242nd birthday of the United States of America, the question is, how are we stewarding our freedom?

The week Congress voted to declare independence, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, declaring the events he had just witnessed would “be the most memorable Epoch, in the History of America.” He went on to write:

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

And celebrate we have. But over the years, have we forgotten the most important, self-evident, unalienable right alluded to by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and codified by Madison in the U.S. Constitution: the right to religious freedom?

Freedom and Flourishing

We see the best examples of human flourishing today where people enjoy religious freedom, which we believe is foundational for economic freedom and self-government. Unfortunately, our exercise of this inalienable right, as defined by Jefferson, Madison, and America’s founders, is under attack today.

There are those who would replace religious freedom with religious tolerance or worse—allow anti-discrimination laws to trump religious freedom completely. Those who should be most uneasy with this development—people of faith—seem unaware or unconcerned. As Os Guinness writes in A Free People’s Suicide, the long-held truth of America’s founders, that “freedom requires virtue, virtue requires faith, and faith requires freedom,” has been lost, even by the faithful.

At IFWE, we believe religious, economic, and political freedom form the basis of uniquely American values and are essential to the flourishing we have enjoyed as a nation. Among these freedoms, religious freedom—our “first freedom”—is one of the most important things the American experiment gave the world.

Legal scholars throughout American history have believed that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution recognized the right to lead a life according to our faith and religious moral code, not only in our churches but also in our homes, our places of work, and in the public square. Yet, in recent years, that belief has been challenged.

We view this attack on religious freedom as an alarming development because it threatens to negate the guarantee of individual liberty afforded every person, regardless of their faith. Left unchecked, it will threaten the culture of freedom upon which our system of republican government was founded. Religious freedom provides a strong foundation for limited government because it is the bedrock for all human freedom. Freedom of conscience not only demands but ultimately justifies limited government.

Freedom and Responsibility

Conversely and consequently, limited government requires individual responsibility. Religious freedom necessitates the engagement of the moral responsibility of every person. In a free society, religion is an ally of good government as it forms the moral character of individuals and communities.

Today, a culture that exhibits an ever-decreasing sense of individual moral and civic responsibility seems to be pervasive. Religious liberties we took for granted twenty years ago are now being challenged in the courts. Ironically, those who support religious tolerance over religious freedom are proving the subtle danger of this concept by becoming intolerant of and excluding views other than those deemed politically correct in the public square.

In his first year as president, President Ronald Reagan was asked by Parade magazine to write about what Independence Day meant to him. The article, written in Reagan’s own hand, after describing his memories of the Fourth of July as a child, ends with the following:

In recent years, however, I’ve come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history. Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government. Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.

Free Indeed

As followers of Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that true freedom can only be found in a relationship in him. As Jesus said in the Book of John, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). We, among all people, should understand the importance of religious freedom, not just for Christians but for everyone, whether at home or work.

In our diverse, pluralistic culture, everyone must be free to live out their beliefs in matters of conscience, both in private and in the public square. If we all are not free to do this, none of us are free to do this. The former was the vision of our founding fathers, and we should not allow that vision to be lost.

This article is copied with permission from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics ( www.tifwe.org ). The original article appeared here . IFWE is a Christian research organization committed to advancing biblical and economic principles that help individuals find fulfillment in their work and contribute to a free and flourishing society. Visithttps://tifwe.org/subscribe to subscribe to the free IFWE Daily Blog.