What looks like bad work to you? It can be a very personal thing – I was surprised when I told people about leading Redeem the Commute, and they said, “I’m glad someone is doing it, but especially glad it’s not me.”

I watched a TV show lately about a tow truck driver – it showed him going about his work in the middle of the night, doing a job many wouldn’t want. But he said he’d tried multiple jobs, hated them all – and then found the towing business and it just fit. He’d found his passion for work, even though other people would hate it working those late nights, alone, at risk and dealing with mechanical work.

There are definitely bad jobs out there – some are really awful, which became apparent with media coverage, for example, of the textile industry in Bangladesh.

Some jobs aren’t terrible themselves, they are just a bad fit.

And there are some good jobs that we see in the wrong light – something about us means they are less than they should be. We might think they’ll be much more than they are, or we might think too highly of ourselves to do certain kinds of work, even though they are good.

Question: What’s the worst job you ever had? What made it so bad? Was it bad for everyone, or just you?

Acknowledgements: Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour and Work & Rest

Ryan Sim - May 14, 2013

Tuesday - Study It - Forgiveness

Today’s passage follows right after the Lord’s Prayer – a prayer Jesus prayed that asked his Father to, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It’s so important, he wants to say it again in the verses that follow: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15 ESV) What motivates you? Encouragements and rewards? Or fear and necessity? Jesus’ statement here is so important, he says it both ways for both kinds of people, in addition to including it in his prayer. Forgiveness is at the core of what Jesus is about. He came to a world of broken sinful people, and died for us. Here’s what he said he was going to bleed for: Matthew 26:28 - This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And later, one of his followers, Paul, said in Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace We’ve been studying the Sermon on the Mount for some time now, and keep warning you away from seeing it as a list of formulaic rules. Jesus wants his followers’ hearts to be changed so they don’t even need external rules, but are instead in tune with his character, living as God created them to live, in relationship with him. But this is the most direct and formulaic he’s been so far – if this, then that, and if not this, then not that. Forgiveness is such a part of God’s character, that if we claim to be followers of his son, we show it with this characteristic more than any other. All the others flow from it. We can only control our anger if we forgive those who hurt us. We can only avoid adultery if we forgive our spouse when they let us down. Question: What was your first reaction to these words? Were they encouraging, or challenging? What does this say about you?

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