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Just home from two weeks in Australia, I am brimming with thankfulness to God for his people there, and for the pleasures of working with them in Brisbane and Sydney and in the mountains of Katoomba.

One of the conferences was called Engage. It was focused on “young workers,” which, in their lingo, means young professionals in the workplace. I was asked in an interview if I thought this focus was a good idea. I said yes, because of 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

So they asked: How can young workers glorify God at work?

Here’s the gist of my answer.

Dependence. Go to work utterly dependent on God (Proverbs 3:5-6; John 15:5). Without him you can’t breathe, move, think, feel or talk. Not to mention be spiritually influential. Get up in the morning and let God know your desperation for him. Pray for help.

Integrity. Be absolutely and meticulously honest and trustworthy on the job. Be on time. Give a full day’s work. “Thou shalt not steal.” More people rob their employers by being slackers than by filching the petty cash.

Skill. Get good at what you do. God has given you not only the grace of integrity but the gift of skills. Treasure that gift and be a good steward of those skills. This growth in skill is built on dependence and integrity.

Corporate shaping. As you have influence and opportunity, shape the ethos of the workplace so that the structures and policies and expectations and aims move toward accordance with Christ. For example, someone is shaping the ethos of Chick-fil-A restaurants with this video.

Impact. Aim to help your company have an impact that is life-enhancing without being soul-destroying. Some industries have an impact that is destructive (e.g., porn, gambling, abortion, marketing scams, etc). But many can be helped to turn toward impact that is life-giving without being soul-ruining. As you have opportunity, work toward that.

Communication. Work places are webs of relationships. Relationships are possible through communication. Weave your Christian worldview into the normal communications of life. Don’t hide your light under a basket. Put it on the stand. Winsomely. Naturally. Joyfully. Let those who love their salvation say continually, Great is the Lord! (Psalm 40:16)

Love. Serve others. Be the one who volunteers first to go get the pizza. To drive the van. To organize the picnic. Take an interest in others at work. Be known as the one who cares not just about the light-hearted weekend tales, but the burdens of heavy and painful Monday mornings. Love your workmates, and point them to the great Burden Bearer.

Money. Work is where you make (and spend) money. It is all God’s, not yours. You are a trustee. Turn your earning into the overflow of generosity in how you steward God’s money. Don’t work to earn to have. Work to earn to have to give and to invest in Christ-exalting ventures. Make your money speak of Christ as your supreme Treasure.

Thanks. Always give thanks to God for life and health and work and Jesus. Be a thankful person at work. Don’t be among the complainers. Let your thankfulness to God overflow in a humble spirit of gratitude to others. Be known as the hope-filled, humble, thankful one at work.

There are more things to say about glorifying God in the workplace. But this is a start. Add to the list as God gives you light. The point is: Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink or work, do all to make God look as great as he really is.

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Author of “Good, Better, Best” and “Ten Times Better,” ‘Seun Salami explains why students fail and what we all can learn:

One Sunday during March 1965, the worship service at our church in Baltimore, MD got out early. Great, I thought. That gives me more time to play with my friends in the church yard. At 14 years old that was a main focus of Sunday mornings. I had spent eight years developing some great friendships in this church.

I did think it was unusual. We typically did not get out early. My father, the pastor, was very time conscience and would preach until five minutes before Noon. This time he had stopped at 11:40 a.m. But, that was not a problem for me.

As I was playing with friends, I was approached by a man in the church calling my name as he walked in my direction. “Oh no,” was my first thought. “What have I done now?” If anything was wrong with what we were doing, I was always the one singled out because I was the pastor’s son.

“George, something is wrong with you father. I think he is sick. He is in his office. You better go check him out.” I began running.

When I arrived at my father’s office, I saw him sitting in the chair behind his desk crying. My mother was at his side. Several deacons and other leaders of the congregation were also in the room.

It turns out my father was preaching, had a panic attack, stopped, offered a traditional invitation, sang one verse of a hymn, pronounced the benediction, and then turned around and went to his office to cry.

He had experienced a burnout incident right in front of the congregation. He had been unable to prevent it. The closest thing to burnout we knew to call what happened is that he had a nervous breakdown.

The following Tuesday my father left home for seven weeks. He had to get away from the pressure he was feeling in this stressful ministry setting.

He went to our home state—North Carolina. He visited the Baptist hospital there, had a complete physical, had a psychological evaluation, received some anxiety medicine, and stayed nearby for regular counseling. He also visited friends and relatives around North Carolina.

It was a very anxious time for my mother—and for me. We did not know when Dad would come home. We did not know what shape he would be in. At my age, I did not understand a lot of it. I probably caused my mother additional stress beyond what she was already feeling as I tried to cope with this experience.

The external presenting issue for my father that led to his burnout is that this congregation was the first ministry setting that had not made great progress under his leadership. He tried everything he knew to do, and nothing was working. The congregation was going backward numerically, and the people were not spiritually maturing in a manner that met my father’s expectations.

Also, two months before his burnout incident, my father’s first grandchild had been born. He was not prepared to be a grandfather as that seemed like something old people experienced. He was only 53 years old, which is certainly old enough to be a grandfather.

Dad did finally come home. We were so glad to see him. He resumed preaching and engaging in other responsibilities as a pastor. However, he knew he needed a fresh start. He needed a different type of challenge.

This was not a fairy tale where everything turned out fine once Dad got home. He was still stressed. This did not last days, weeks, or months. It lasted several years. It was three years before Dad could preach again without medication to help him deal with his anxiety, and the fear of another panic attack while preaching.

Four months after my father returned home, we moved to Philadelphia, PA where my parents went to start new churches as Southern Baptist missionaries. This was the new start Dad needed. Long-term it led to the most fulfilling 13 years of my father’s ministry. During this time, he became a regional denominational executive director and served a term as second vice-president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

My father was not the only one in our family impacted by his burnout. I had two married sisters. One lived in Baltimore and the other in North Carolina. The sister in Baltimore was invaluable to my mother during the seven weeks my father was gone. She also worried a lot about what would happen to Mother, Dad, and me.

The younger of the two sisters did not have primary experiences with the rest of our family during Dad’s burnout and the several years afterward. She defended Dad and felt the rest of us were being hard on him. It was difficult for her to understand the slow pace of the healing process because Dad seemed fine to her.

My mother was a spiritual rock. That does not mean she did not worry. She prayed a lot. She cried a lot. She counted on me. I did not always know how best to respond. She stayed on the telephone talking to our network about other ministry possibilities for Dad.

I thought through what I might have done that caused my father to burnout. I was in 10^th grade, and it was my first and only year in a large downtown high school with major cultural and academic challenges. I had extremely low grades that year and worried I would not pass 10^th grade. In a way, I was having my own crisis, but I was unable to fully express it because the focus needed to be on my father.

Moving to Philadelphia was a new beginning each of us needed. My personal challenges disappeared in a new environment. Dad’s emotional and spiritual health slowly came back.

Did my father become an ex-pastor? In a way. In retirement, after 13 years in Pennsylvania, he became a pastor again. That is when the final healing took place. I will save that story for another post. Let’s call it—Is There Ministry After Burnout?

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George serves as President and Strategic Leadership Coach for The Columbia Partnership Inc. [TCP], based in Columbia, SC which seeks to transform the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain vital Christ-centered ministry.

If you’re looking for a new job, here’s a good place to start.

Career website Glassdoor Inc. has released its annual report on the best places to work based on employees who elected to anonymously submit a company review on its website over a 12-month time frame. This year’s winner, Bain & Company Inc., has been in the top five since the list’s inception in 2009 and has been No. 1 three times. Employees cite a great salary, benefits, mentorship, and a culture that promotes employee engagement, according to Scott Dobroski, Glassdoor community expert.

While a company has yet to take the top spot two years in a row, past winners don’t tend to fall precipitously. Airbnb Inc., however, bucked the trend this year, falling to No. 35 after taking the top spot in its Glassdoor debut in 2015.

“Airbnb has definitely dropped amongst the most ever,” said Dobroski. Some of the factors that played into the fall have to do with the typical growing pains of a startup. “Airbnb continues to grow, and employees say it’s now harder to find work-life balance, opportunities for advancement, and transparency from the top,” Dobroski added. The company still receives high ratings from employees, so Dobroski isn’t particularly worried. “These are common themes among emerging, private companies that are doing well globally.”

Airbnb spokeswoman Brittany Cornejo said that the firm “strives to create a work environment where all of our employees feel welcome, appreciated, and inspired by the work they’re doing every day.”

The competition this year was particularly fierce: All 50 companies on the list are within a 0.5 range on a scale of 0 to 5. In order to qualify for consideration, at least 75 employees of a company must submit reviews. The average score for a company this year was 3.3.

Here’s the full list of 50, with their rankings.

Originally published via Bloomberg

That’s what’s so great about keyboard shortcuts. They make you way more productive.

Every day your work probably requires you to navigate lots of different operating systems, browsers, and software. That’s why I’ve previously shared some brilliant hacks to make your life simpler–especially if you use Gmail, Excel, Word, Twitter, and Google search.

Think about it. All that time you take hunting around through pulldown menus with your mouse adds up.

Lucky for you, someone has done just that. Essay Writing Service Pro has created an infographic that compiles 60 essential keyboard shortcuts every office worker needs to know.

Whether it’s Windows, Mac, popular Microsoft programs (including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), Google Chrome, or Gmail, this infographic has you covered.

Check out all these invaluable keyboard shortcuts that will boost your productivity, including how to:

• Create a new folder in Windows.
• Take a screenshot on a Mac.
• Insert a new slide in PowerPoint.
• Find something in Chrome.
• Add bolding, italics, or underlines in Gmail.

Take advantage of as many of these awesome keyboard shortcuts as you can every day. Be more productive.

Open your pure eyes.

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things (Philippians 4:8).

After struggling with sexual temptation for years, author Jonathan Welton devoted himself to finding a way to be completely free from sexual sin. He read books, attended 12-step groups, and participated in counseling—with no success.

Spurred on by countless friends and acquaintances who shared a similar broken struggle and longed for freedom, the author searched Scripture—there he found the answer and shares it with you in a compassionate, nonjudgmental way.

Eyes of Honor helps you understand how to live a life of purity by realizing:

• Your personal identity.
• How to view the opposite sex correctly.
• Recognizing your enemies.

Eyes of Honor is honest and refreshing, offering hope and complete freedom and deliverance from sexual sin. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and your salvation guarantee rescue from the appetite of sin. Your true identity empowers you to stop agreeing with the lies of the enemy that ensnare you.

You can purchase at Amazon, or reach out to Laterna Books in Nigeria.

A few years ago I crushed my thumb with a hammer as I was trying to build three “Easy to Assemble” bookshelves from the department store.

I couldn’t get the shelves to wedge together, so I leaned the boards against each other and gave them a little tap.

Nothing. Didn’t budge.

Then I gave them a second tap. Didn’t move again.

So, I got angry, stood up, wedged the boards between my legs and swung the hammer with everything I had, brilliantly forgetting to move my hand in the process. The head of the hammer smashed my thumbnail so hard it instantly turned it black and red.

I screamed. I danced. I yelled. My eyes watered. I kicked things over. My whole hand went numb. I had never experienced so much pain in my entire life. I could literally feel my heartbeat pulsating in the tip of my thumb, “Bump bump. Bump bump. Bump bump.”

That night I couldn’t sleep. The next morning it hurt so bad I couldn’t eat. I skipped work. Everything in my life was put on hold. Finally, I went to the doctor and he sadistically helped alleviate the pain. I’m not going to describe what he did, but it involved a really scary needle. I’ll leave it at that.

Paralyzed by Pain and Hurting

When we get discouraged and go through difficult times, our natural human response is to focus all of our attention on our pain, much like it is a swollen thumb. We hurt, so we assume that the logical thing to do is to gather whatever resources we can to alleviate the pain we’re feeling.

What we have to remember is that sometimes our instinctive responses, if they are overdone, are the wrong responses.

Why? The more we focus on ourselves when we get hurt, the more miserable we become. It’s a vicious self-perpetuating cycle.

We get hurt, so we focus all our energy on getting better. Our recovery is all we end up thinking about. We talk about it, pray about it, read about it, and because all of these actions have one thing in common, me, they end up making me more miserable.

The Right Way to Lose It

Jesus said in Matthew 16:25, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

The word translated “life” is the Greek word “psyche,” from which we get our word psychology, and which simply meant “soul.” You can just as accurately translate this verse, “Whoever loses their soulfor me will find it.”

Jesus says the way to find life again, not just physical life, but life emanating from the spirit, is only rediscovered as one gives their life away in service of others.

You might say “What? I’m too sick to lose my life.” Do it anyway. Find a way. You might wonder, “How can I point people to God when I’m questioning myself?” Forge ahead.

Find the answers you’re looking for in the faces of the people Jesus has called you to serve.

After a lifetime of beatings, persecution, and mistreatment for his faith, famed author John Bunyan, wrote a little book he called Advice to Sufferers. I stumbled upon it years ago while walking the basement hallways of a musty old library. When I picked up the book my eyes landed upon the following words,

“I have often thought that the best Christians are found in the worst times.”

I’m slowly beginning to agree with him, bruised thumbs and all.

Brian Jones

Brian Jones is the founding Senior Pastor of Christ’s Church of the Valley, a church that has grown from 0 to 2,000+ amazing people in the northwest suburbs of Philadelphia.

Originally published via ExPastors.com

Tons of time management strategies have been developed over the years by hundreds of people to help you get more done in less time. Here are 8 of my favorite task management tips to help you stop procrastinating in your work and personal life.

Think about which one of these ideas could be most helpful to you right now, in your current situation.

1) Manage And Organize Your Tasks On Paper

Prepare thoroughly if you want to get things done. List every step of the job in advance. Break the job down into its constituent parts before you begin. Simply writing out every detail and thoroughly preparing in advance will help you to stop procrastinating.

2) Fully Prepare For Each Task

Second, come fully prepared for each task you work on.

When you sit down to work or to begin a task, make sure that you have everything on hand so that you won’t have to get up or move until the task is done. Being fully prepared is a powerful motivator for staying with the task until it is finished.

3) Take Small Steps To Manage Your Tasks

The 80/20 rule says that 20% of the task often accounts for 80% of the value of that task.

This is probably what Confucius meant when he said that, ‘‘A journey of 1,000 leagues begins with a single step.’’

Once you have taken even one small step to start the job, you will often find yourself continuing on with the task to completion.

4) “Salami Slice’’ Your Tasks

Just as you would never try to eat a whole loaf of salami at once, don’t try to take on all of a job from the start. Sometimes the best way to stop procrastinating and complete a major job is to take a small slice and complete just that piece, just as you would take a single slice of salami and eat it.

When you select a small piece of the task and then discipline yourself to do it and get it behind you, it will often give you the momentum you need to counter inertia and stop procrastinating.

5) Select A 5 Minute Task And Start There

Just as a block of Swiss cheese is full of holes, you treat your task like a block of cheese and you punch holes in it.

Select a five-minute part of the job and do only that. Don’t worry about the whole job.

For example, if you want to write an article or a book, break the task down into small pieces that take an identifiable amount of time to complete and do just one small piece at a time whenever you get a chance.

Many authors begin by writing one page a day. If you are doing research, you can read one article per sitting. Many people write complete books on airplanes or complete their college degrees with snatches of time between other activities. If you wrote one page a day for a year, you would have a 365-page book by the end of the year.

6) Do The Task That Causes You The Most Fear Or Anxiety

Often, it has to do with overcoming the fear of failure or rejection by someone else.

In sales, it may be associated with prospecting. In management, it may be associated with disciplining or firing an employee. In relationships, this may have to do with confronting an unhappy personal situation.

In every case, you will be more effective if you deal first with whatever is causing you the greatest emotional distress or fear. Often this will break the logjam in your work and free you up mentally and emotionally to get things done.

7) Start Your Day With The Most Unpleasant Task First

Get it over with and behind you. Everything else for the rest of the day will seem easier in comparison.

A recent study compared two groups of people. One group started an exercise program in the morning. The second group started an exercise program in the evenings after work. The researchers found that the morning exercises were much more likely to still be in the program six months later.

Starting the day with exercise was much more likely to lead to the habit of regular exercise than putting it off until the end of the day when it was easier to make excuses and procrastinate.

8) Think About The Negative Consequences If You Don’t Finish

What will happen to you if this job is not done on schedule?

Both fear and desire are great motivators of human behavior. Sometimes you can motivate yourself by the desire for the rewards of task completion. Sometimes you can motivate yourself into action by thinking about the negative consequences and what will happen to you if do not get things done as promised.

Before we wrap up, I’d like to leave you with a thought to share with you friends and followers: Start with the end in mind. What would your project look like if it were completed and excellent in every respect?

Now I’d love to hear from you, so my question today is: What do you do to help get motivated and stop procrastinating?

Leave a comment below.

What do you think about these task management tips? Have you tried any of them yourself? If you know other effective ways to stop procrastinating please share and comment below!

This article was originally published via

Marital Analogies Teach Us Truths about God

“[Marriage] is the merciless revealer, the great white searchlight turned on the darkest places of human nature.” – Katherine Anne Porter

For about a decade after college, I joined eight of my former classmates for an annual weekend retreat. On one particular retreat, a good friend pulled me aside and mentioned that he was considering returning home that night; he and his wife were hoping to conceive another child, and by his wife’s calculations the time was right.

“Do it,” I urged him. “You can be back by breakfast.”

“I don’t know . ..,” he said hesitantly. “Do it,” I said more strongly, and another friend weighed in with his support.

Finally, he gave in and went home. That night a child was conceived.

I look at that child now and smile, wondering if he’ll ever know how close he came to not being (and how much he owes me!). There are few more dizzying realities of life than cooperating with God to produce another human being. If my friend and his wife had waited another month, perhaps they would have had a girl or a shorter boy or a boy with darker hair. It’s amazing.

This aspect of the marital experience— cooperating with God to bring children into being— should be particularly meaningful for Christians (and a key reason that having difficulty conceiving can be so painful to so many couples). The picture of God as Creator is central to his authority, identity, and purpose. In fact, the Bible is framed around the fact that God is Creator. The first thing we learn about God in the book of Genesis is that he created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1); the last image of the New Testament shows God creating a new heaven and a new earth. When God says, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5), the word making is in the present tense. It’s an ongoing process. God walks into eternity creating.

This is just one of several analogies that connect various aspects of marriage with our understanding of God. In this chapter, we’ll explore how these various analogies use the experience of marriage to teach us valuable truths about the nature of God. Through the experience of being married, we can come to know God in new ways.

DIVINE ROMANCE

The prophet Hosea leads us into a startling reality—that God views his people as a husband views his wife: “ ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord, ‘you will call me “my husband”; you will A giant thread runs throughout Scripture comparing God’s relationship to his people with the human institution of marriage. Sacred Marriage 30 no longer call me “my master.” . .. I will betroth you to me forever’ ” (Hosea 2:16, 19). Think about the difference between a husband and a master— and all that these images conjure up in your mind. God wants us to relate to him with an obedience fueled by love and intimacy, not by self-motivated fear, and with a loyalty to a divine-human relationship, not a blind adherence to “principles.” A husband harbors a passion toward his wife that is absent in a master toward his slave.

How do you view God— as a master or as a husband?

Isaiah uses marital imagery to stress how God rejoices in his people: “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5). We live in a world in which many people are simply too busy or too preoccupied to notice us. But God delights in us. We make his supernatural heart skip a beat.

At times, Jesus himself employed this marital imagery, referring to himself as the “bridegroom” (Matthew 9:15) and to the kingdom of heaven as a “wedding banquet” (Matthew 22:1–14). This picture is carried over into the culmination of earthly history, as the book of Revelation talks about “the wedding of the Lamb” in which “his bride has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:7).

The breakdown of spiritual fidelity is often depicted with marital analogies as well. Jeremiah compares idolatry with adultery: “I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries” (Jeremiah 3:8). Jesus picked up on this same imagery, referring to an “adulterous” generation (Mark 8:38). In context, Jesus is not attacking human sexual foibles; he is agonizing over a spiritually unfaithful nation that is violating its divine marriage to God.

Throughout Christian history, teachers have explored the similarities between the marital union and the various mysteries of faith that also involve a union: Besides the Trinity there is the joining of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ; the Eucharist, in which the bread and the wine are joined to signify the body and blood of Christ; Christ’s union with his church; and other similar analogies.

Ruminating on these analogies is not merely amusing wordplay. For Christians seeking to gain spiritual insight from their marriage, these analogies provide the necessary ingredients for serious, contemplative reflection. The reason God became flesh was so that we might know him. Correspondingly, God did not create marriage just to give us a pleasant means of repopulating the world and providing a steady societal institution for the benefit of humanity; he planted marriage among humans as another signpost pointing to his own eternal, spiritual existence.

As humans with finite minds, we need the power of symbolism in order to gain understanding. By means of the simple relationship of a man and a woman, the symbol of marriage can call up virtually infinite meaning. This will happen only when we use our marriage to explore God. If we are consumed with highlighting where our spouses are falling short, we will miss the divine mysteries of marriage and the lessons it has to teach us.

In the next section, we’re going to accent one particular analogy to showcase how these life-pictures can bring together our marriage and our faith and also teach us about the purpose of marriage. While future chapters may seem more “practical,” it’s important to briefly explore the doctrine behind Christian marriage and what makes the marriages of believers different from the marriages of unbelievers. This difference is showcased in the preeminent marital analogy of Christ and his church.

RECONCILIATION

There’s an old rabbinical story about how the spot was chosen for God’s holy temple. Two brothers worked a common field and a common mill. Each night, they divided whatever grain they had produced and took their own portion home.

God planted marriage among humans as another signpost pointing to his own eternal, spiritual existence.

One brother was single, and the other was married with a large family. The single brother decided that his married brother, with all those kids, certainly needed more grain than he did, so at night he secretly crept over to his brother’s granary and gave him an extra portion. The married brother realized that his single brother didn’t have any children to care for him in his old age. Concerned about his brother’s future, he got up each night and secretly deposited some grain into his single brother’s granary.

One night they met halfway between the two granaries, and each brother realized what the other was doing. They embraced, and as the story goes, God witnessed what happened and said, “This is a holy place— a place of love— and it is here that my temple shall be built.” The holy place is that spot where God is made known to his people, “the place where human beings discover each other in love.”1

Marriage can be that holy place, the site of a relationship that proclaims God’s love to this world. Notice what makes this story so moving: two individuals who have greater empathy for the difficulties in each other’s situation rather than in their own. Selfish marriage is the opposite: each partner feels their own pain more intensely and their spouse’s pain callously.

For all their ambivalence about whether marriage is an inferior state, the early church fathers at least recognized that the analogy of reconciliation is the highest aim of marriage, pointing as a sign to the union of Christ with his church. Paul explores this theme in his letter to the Ephesians (5:22 – 33).

One of these early thinkers, Augustine (AD 354–430), suggested three benefits of marriage: offspring, faith (fidelity), and sacrament. Of the three benefits, he clearly points to the latter (sacrament) as the greatest. This is because it is possible to be married without either offspring or faith, but it is not possible to be (still) married without indissolubility, which is what a sacrament points toward. As long as a couple is married, they continue to display— however imperfectly— the ongoing commitment between Christ and his church. Thus, simply “sticking it out” becomes vitally important.

Centuries after Augustine, Anglican Reformers responded to these three blessings with three “causes.” An early (1549) prayer book suggests that marriage is for procreation, a remedy against sexual sin, and mutual comfort.2 This last element, unfortunately, replaced the sacramental aspect of marriage (namely, showcasing Christ and his church) with something much more pedestrian (namely, relational comfort).

Knowing why we are married and should stay married is crucial. The key question is this: Will we approach marriage from a God-centered view or a self-centered view? In a self-centered view, we will maintain our marriage as long as our earthly comforts, desires, and expectations are met. In a God-centered view, we preserve our marriage because it brings glory to God and points a sinful world to a reconciling Creator.

More than seeing marriage as a mutual comfort, we must see it as a word picture of the most important news humans have ever received— that there is a divine relationship between God and his people. Paul explicitly makes this analogy in his letter to the Ephesians. You’ve probably read these words (or heard these words quoted) dozens, if not hundreds, of times: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25 –27).

Though theologically I am on the side of the Protestants, I must declare to my early Anglican brothers that I believe it is unfortunate and sad when something as profound as living out an analogy of Christ and his church is reduced to experiencing this relationship as merely something that will help us avoid sexual sin, keep the world populated, and provide a cure for loneliness.

In fact, both the Old and New Testaments use marriage as a central analogy— the union between God and Israel (Old We preserve our marriage because it brings glory to God and points a sinful world to a reconciling Creator. Sacred Marriage 34 Testament) and the union between Christ and his church (the New Testament). Understanding the depth of these analogies is crucial, as they will help us determine the very foundation on which a truly Christian marriage is based. If I believe the primary purpose of marriage is to model God’s love for his church, I will enter this relationship and maintain it with an entirely new motivation, one hinted at by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians: “So we make it our goal to please him” (2 Corinthians 5:9). The goal of my marriage will be to please God.

WHAT MAKES GOD HAPPY?

Paul answers a lot of questions for us when he writes, “We make it our goal to please him.” Ask ten people on the street what their goal in life is, and you’ll get an amazing variety of answers. For the Christian, Paul couldn’t be clearer: his “consuming ambition, the motive force behind all he does,”3 is to please God. But Paul doesn’t just say pleasing God is his “consuming ambition”; he assumes it will be ours as well: “We make it our goal to please him.”

When something is the motive force behind all we do, it drives every decision we make. And Paul is crystal clear: The first question we should ask ourselves is, “Will this be pleasing to Jesus Christ?”

The first purpose in marriage— beyond happiness, sexual expression, the bearing of children, companionship, mutual care and provision, or anything else— is to please God. The challenge, of course, is that it is utterly selfless living; rather than asking, “What will make me happy?” we are told that we must ask, “What will make God happy?” And just in case we don’t grasp it immediately, Paul underscores it a few verses later: “Those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

I have no other choice as a Christian. I owe it to Jesus Christ to live for him, to make him my consuming passion and the driving force in my life. To do this, I have to die to my own Finding God in Marriage 35 desires daily. I have to crucify the urge that measures every action and decision around what is best for me. Paul is eloquent about this fact: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10).

Just as Jesus went to the cross, so I must go to the cross, always considering myself as carrying around “the death of Jesus” so that his new life— his motivations, his purposes, his favor— might dominate in everything I do.

This reality calls me to look at my spouse through Christian eyes: “From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” (2 Corinthians 5:16). The reason is clear: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (verse 17). Part of this new identity is a new ministry, one that is given to every Christian, as it is inherent in the person of Jesus Christ: “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (verse 18).

Think about this. The very nature of Christ’s work was a reconciling work, bringing us together again with God. Our response is to become reconcilers ourselves. C.  K. Barrett defines reconciliation as “to end a relation of enmity, and to substitute for it one of peace and goodwill.”

Clearly Paul is talking about carrying the message of salvation. But we cannot discuss with any integrity the ending of “a relation of enmity” and the dawning of “peace and goodwill” if our marriages are marked by divorce, fighting, and animosity. Everything I am to say and do in my life is to be supportive of this gospel ministry of reconciliation, and this commitment begins by displaying reconciliation in my personal relationships, especially in my marriage.

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It’s Monday morning. For most people, the weekly chase for accomplishments begins again at the ring of the alarm clock before sunrise. Project statuses to review, documents to draft or examine, vendors/suppliers to follow-up, assignment deadlines, and the list goes on…

Here are inspirational quotes from the Bible that can help inspire you in times of doubt, loss, mourning, sadness, or hopelessness. The Holy Bible has many passages that can encourage you and give you the strength you need to get through each day.

2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that ALL Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. The Bible is a work of God that was written by human men that were inspired by God. What better source of inspiration than our Creator! Whether you are looking for motivation, encouragement, reassurance, or peace, the Bible can inspire you!

This collection of inspirational Bible verses can lead you into a deeper understanding of who God is and what His plan is for your life. He wants to “prosper you and not to harm you, to give hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11) You can also send these to a family member or friend in need and be assured that God can work miracles when we choose to believe His promises! Use these verses to be inspired and motivated to continue believing and having faith!

• 1. Jeremiah 29:11

  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

  2. Psalm 27:4

  One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORDall the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORDand to seek him in his temple.

  3. Psalm 34:8

  Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

  4. Proverbs 17:17

  A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

  5. Isaiah 40:28-31

  28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORDwill renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

  6. John 15:13

  13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

  7. Romans 8:28

  28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

  8. Romans 8:31

  31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

  9. Romans 15:13

  13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  10. Romans 8:38-39

  38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  11. 1 Corinthians 13:12

  12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

  12. Lamentations 3:22-23

  22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

  13. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

  16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

  14. 1 Corinthians 16:13

  13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.

  15. Philippians 3:7-9

  7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

  16. Ephesians 3:17-21

  17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

  17. 1 John 3:22

  22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

  18. 1 John 3:1-3

  1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

  19. Hebrews 10:19-23

  19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

  20. 1 Peter 2:9-11

  9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

  21. James 1:2-4

  2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

  22. Romans 1:17

  17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

  23. Deuteronomy 31:6

  6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

  24. Psalm 23:1

  1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

  25. Joshua 1:7

  7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

  26. 1 Corinthians 15:58

  58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

  27. Hebrews 12:1-2

  1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do have a fabulous new week!