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 - June 19, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - The Golden Rule

Jesus always has the Pharisees, or religious lawyers, in mind as he teaches. Pharisees were essentially seeking a checklist of laws they can work through. Jesus says that wasn’t the point of the law. Look back to the beatitudes, the content that we started this series with. Jesus was always expanding the law to look at our motivations, not just outward actions we can check off our do/don't do list. It's a good thing, because we know life isn’t like that. Life throws stituations at all of us that we never anticipated, and could never have listed in advance. Jesus describes keeping God’s law with this line: So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. He goes on to recognize, this is no checklist, this is very difficult: narrow gate to pass through. Baggage doesn’t fit. All your religious background, credentials, money, power, etc. all get left behind if you want to go through this gate. Every human can go through this door if we are willing to let go of all the sin baggage that keeps us from God. The narrow path – or the cramped path – does not allow us to take with us the things we can carry on the broad path. What are those things? Our failure to live this way, to go through Jesus’ narrow door, is due to our self-centeredness. We are instinctively self-centered, self-loving. Fall. 40% of millenials say that "being self-promoting, narcissistic, overconfident, and attention-seeking is helpful for succeeding in a competitive world." Almost 80% say that their friends use social media for those reasons. So Jesus uses that against us. Uses our self-love to love others. He redeems our self-love. Self-love is powerful. Usually our guide – now Jesus says it’s for others, too. Jesus calls us to an awareness of others as God’s beloved children, too. We’re not the only ones. Prevents need for endless rules for every situation. Put self in other’s shoes. Question: Describe the most self-centered person you know. What do you have in common with them? What characteristics do you share? Why is this so hard to admit?

Related Topics: Law, Love | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

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