1: Imagine we are in a church. We see a table of books. We wander over. There’s a book titled The Man God Uses or The Woman God Uses.
What do we assume about this book?
Probably, it’s about a missionary. Perhaps a church leader.
Yet, when we read the Bible, we see God works through all sorts of ordinary people.
“It is often hard to get Christians to see … continue reading
1: “One of the most vivid depictions of the frustration and fruitlessness of work is found in Peter Shaffer‘s play Amadeus,” Timothy Keller writes in Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work.
The play features Antonio Salieri, a 19th-century composer with wealth and power. Antonio has written several extremely successful operas and has risen up to become the court composer for the Hapsburg emperor.… continue reading
1: Ecclesiastes says, “A person can do nothing better than to . . . find satisfaction in their own toil” (2:24).
But how? How should we approach our work in a way that leads to satisfaction and delight?
The Bible has specific answers to this question, Timothy Keller writes in Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work.
The Bible tells us, “We were built for work and the … continue reading
1: “We know there is something wrong with us, but we can’t admit it or identify it,” Tim Keller writes in Every Good Endeavor.
“There is a deep restlessness, which can take various forms—guilt and striving to prove ourselves, rebellion and the need to assert our independence, compliance and the need to please others,” he observes.
“Something is wrong, and we may know the effects, but we fall short … continue reading
1: Idealism says, “Through my work I am going to change things, make a difference, accomplish something new, bring justice to the world,” Timothy Keller writes in Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work.
Cynicism says, “Nothing really changes. Don’t get your hopes up. Do what it takes to make a living. Don’t let yourself care too much. Get out of it whatever you can,” he notes.… continue reading
1: “One of the most poignant expressions of the way human work can feel so profoundly meaningless comes from a very ancient document, the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes,” Timothy Keller writes in Every Good Endeavor.
“So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind,” says the Philosopher in Ecclesiastes … continue reading
1: Back in 1989, a seminary professor named Dr. Timothy Keller began meeting with 15 people in an apartment in the Upper East Side of New York City.
They were gathering to pray about starting a new church in the heart of Manhattan for professional New Yorkers. This group was concerned that new believers were finding it difficult to find a church in New York they could attend that was … continue reading
1: J.R.R. Tolkien was at an impasse.
He was laboring over the writing of The Lord of the Rings. “The project required creating at least the rudiments of several imaginary languages and cultures as well as thousands of years of various national histories—all in order to give the narrative the necessary depth and realism that Tolkien believed was crucial for the tale to be compelling,” Timothy Keller writes in … continue reading
1: Not according to Martin Luther, the German priest, theologian, and leader of the Protestant Reformation.
Back in the middle ages, “the only way to be called by God into service was as a monk, priest, or nun,” writes Timothy Keller in Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. “They were called ‘the spiritual estate.'”
Everyone else? Their work was seen as worldly and a “demeaning … continue reading
“You can praise the Lord by peeling a spud, if you peel it to perfection.” Eric Liddell‘s missionary father in Chariots of Fire
1: February 24, 1989. Captain David Cronin was piloting United Airlines Flight 811 from Honolulu to New Zealand.
“The 747 had climbed to twenty-two thousand feet when the forward cargo door of the jet blew open, tearing a huge hole in the side of the plane,” … continue reading
