Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Common Grace & Uncommon WorkDevotional: 2 of 5Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. (Luke 6:27)Last week, we began exploring how our work should be uncommonly shaped by the reality of common grace: the goodness God shows to “the righteous and the unrighteous,” his friends and his enemies (see Matthew 5:45).Today, we’ll see that common grace should lead us to be good to our enemies.Interestingly, that’s the context of Matthew 5:45. Jesus said, “I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…because [God] makes his sun rise on both evil and good people, and he lets rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:44-45).You see it right? Jesus is saying that we should do good to our enemies because of God’s common grace! God is so good that he longs to do good to “the righteous and the unrighteous.” And he’s calling you and me to be the conduits for his blessings.Now, you may not have anyone at work you’d describe as an “enemy.” But do you have a boss who’s hard to love? Or a co-worker who’s spreading lies and gossip about you? Or a competitor who’s knocking-off your product? Of course you do. Everyone is currently working with or for someone they consider to be less than friendly. God isn’t calling you simply to “do no harm” to that person. But to proactively bless them! What does that look like practically?Let’s say someone on your team (an employee, vendor, etc.) did a terrible job on a project, costing you a lot of time, energy, money, and maybe even social capital. They did such a bad job that they were fired or taken off of your team. Loving this “enemy” could look like:Praying that God would bless them in their careersGiving them feedback to help them in their future career (instead of, as I’m tempted to do, write the person off and get back to work)Proactively writing a LinkedIn recommendation that focuses on the things the person did do wellOffer them forgiveness for how they wronged youRefusing to speak poorly about them with those who remain on the projectI’ve been in the situation above and have not loved my “enemy” well. But the doctrine of common grace reminds me that I’m called to do better next time. Because God is seeking to do good to the righteous and the unrighteous. With that in mind, love your enemies well at work today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Common Grace & Uncommon WorkDevotional: 1 of 5[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45)When the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 that “it is by grace you have been saved,” he was referring to God’s saving grace: the grace that, through Christ, saves human beings from their sins.Separate from saving grace is the doctrine of God’s common grace: the goodness God shows people regardless of their relationship with or faith in him.That’s what Jesus was referring to in today’s passage when he said that God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Matthew 5:45). Christ was saying that, while God is the source of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17), God chooses to give those gifts to “the righteous” and “to ungrateful and evil people” (Luke 6:35).So, while only Christians are recipients of God’s saving grace, every human being is a constant  recipient of God’s common grace.God does good to you and your atheist co-worker who claims God doesn’t exist, your competitor who lies and cheats, and your boss who slanders the name of Christ. God “sent rain” and food to Mother Teresa and to Hitler. How should you and I respond to the reality of God’s common grace?I don’t know about you, but if I’m honest, my first reaction to that truth is anger—a reaction the psalmists are very familiar with (see Psalm 73 and 94 as just two examples).But common grace also leads me to astonishing awe at the goodness of God. And a profound sense of gratefulness that God was good to me before I was hidden in Christ and that he continues to bless me today when I disobey the One who obediently went to the cross on my behalf.Throughout this series, I’ll share 5 responses to common grace that lead to uncommon work. Here’s the first: Common grace should leave us dumbstruck at the goodness of God.Take a moment right now to marvel at the goodness God has shown you and non-believers. And let that remembrance of his grace lead you to extend goodness and blessings to everyone you work with today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Thanks for Thorns and ThistlesDevotional: 5 of 5As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:9-11)In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry stumbles upon an enchanted mirror. Unlike normal mirrors, this one does not show the reflection of the person standing in front of it. Instead, it shows a reflection of “the deepest, most desperate desire” of that person’s heart.But the object inside the mirror is just a mirage—a tantalizing vision trapped on the other side of the glass. This, of course, drives the mirror’s visitors mad with frustration. But you and I both know this is a blessing in disguise. Because even if they were able to get their hands on the object of their affection, unless that object was Christ, it would inevitably disappoint.My temptation, and I think yours, is to look to our careers for the very thing Harry was searching for inside that mirror—complete and cosmic joy. But as Jesus makes clear in today’s passage, our joy will only be made complete through his love.Not through our families. Not through our health. Not through landing a promotion, selling your business, or being recognized in your field.And so, we can praise God for the days when our work feels like less than complete joy. Because our “painful toil” is reminding us that Christ alone can fully satisfy us. For this reason, John Mark Comer says this:“I think the curse is a blessing in camouflage. It’s God’s love in disguise. His mercy incognito. Because the curse drives us to God. If it weren’t for the curse…we would look to whatever it is we do for work or rest, and we would find it. And nothing could be more disastrous for the world than God’s image bearers finding identity and belonging and even satisfaction apart from him.”Should we lament over cursed work? Absolutely! Because God didn’t design our work to be painful (see Genesis 1-2 and Isaiah 65).But as we’ve seen in this series, we can also praise God for the blessings he brings us through cursed, frustrating, painfully difficult work. Because “thorns and thistles”:Force us to rely on GodHumble us and compel us to rely on othersLead us to long for eternity with Christ when work will be perfect once againCreate empathy that helps us to make work less painful for othersEnsure that nothing but Christ will ever fully satisfy usIn light of those truths, give thanks for the thorns and thistles you encounter in your work today!

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Thanks for Thorns and ThistlesDevotional: 4 of 5Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4)When I was researching my next book, I read tons of dense books with “paragraphs” that spanned entire pages—sometimes multiple pages. Every time I approached another mammoth passage, I felt exhausted before I even began reading. It felt like the cognitive equivalent of staring up at Mount Everest before an ascent.After complaining about my own pain long enough (first-world problems, I know), the Lord reminded me that I’ve written some long paragraphs myself. And if long paragraphs made my work feel arduous, my longwindedness probably makes your reading feel arduous too.So I went back through the manuscript I was writing and took a machete to the document, chopping every paragraph down to size.That’s a small example of one reason I think we can all give thanks for the “thorns and thistles” that make our work difficult: Painful work can create empathy that leads us to make work less painful for others. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, thorny work can lead you to, “look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).Let’s apply this principle to your own work today. Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the number of meetings you’re being asked to attend this week. Instead of sitting in your own frustration, what if you channeled that pain into love for your neighbor? What if you looked at the meetings you’ve invited others to and questioned whether or not those meetings would serve them well?Or let’s say you’re frustrated by emails that distract you at all hours of the day. Instead of focusing on “your own interests,” what if you looked “to the interests of others” who work for you? What if you sent them a message letting them off the hook for feeling like they have to respond immediately to your emails so that they can work with less distraction?If you took those actions, you could certainly give thanks for the thorns and thistles in your work, because they will have led you to better love your neighbor as yourself.Spend a couple of minutes in silence this morning naming which aspects of your work are most frustrating to you. Pray that God would allow that pain to lead to creative ideas for making work less painful for those you work with. And then give thanks that God can use even the broken things of this world for his glory and the good of others.

Sign-up for my free 20-day devotional, The Word Before Work Foundations, at http://TWBWFoundations.com--Series: Thanks for Thorns and ThistlesDevotional: 3 of 5Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. (John 19:1-3)God never intended for work to be painful and frustrating. According to Genesis 1 and 2, work was God’s first gift to humankind!But when sin entered the world, the curse broke every part of creation, including the world of work. God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you” (see Genesis 3:17-18).That backstory makes the Romans’ choice of a “crown of thorns” for Jesus all the more interesting. Knowingly or not, the Romans used a thorn—this symbol of the curse—to crown the One whose resurrection would overturn that curse. It is precisely because Christ allowed himself to be crowned with thorns that, three days later, we could sing:No more let sins and sorrows growNor thorns infest the ground;He comes to make His blessings flowFar as the curse is found.And Scripture makes clear that Christ’s blessings flow even to our cursed work. In Isaiah’s prophetic vision of the Eternal Heaven on Earth, he reports God as saying:“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth….[My people] will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit…my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain.” (Isaiah 65:17, 21-23)No more thorns and thistles. No more painful toil. No more leaving the office demoralized by how little “real work” you got done. This is work as it was always intended to be and always will be on the New Earth.Throughout this series, I’ve argued that we should lament and give thanks for the “thorns and thistles” that make our work difficult today. Everything we’ve just seen points to the next reason why: We should give thanks for thorns and thistles because they can lead us to long for eternity. And the more bitter our work in this life, the sweeter the hope of perfect work with Christ will be.When your work feels painful today, look to Jesus’s crown of thorns and remember that redemption does indeed flow far as the curse is found—even to the thorns that thwart your work. And thank God for the thorns and thistles that lead you to hope for the day when you will “long enjoy the work of your hands.”