In his book The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis made the case that friendship may just be the most significant of all human loves. So how do I develop close friendships, especially with my work colleagues who don't follow Jesus? A practical and personal reflection on "how to hang out with your mates".
"If you are in Christ, your worth and value does not come from your work. Your worth and value does not come from what you achieve or accomplish. If you are in Christ then you are being remade in the glorious image of God, a God who loved you to the point of death on a bloody Roman cross. That’s what makes you valuable". How the Gospel brings hope to a person immersed in a culture of “I am what I do”?
"If work is the chief means by which we achieve our value and worth, it becomes everything. And that is a crushing burden to place yourself under, a burden which tragically crushes many people today". How the Gospel provides hope to those trapped in finding their value and worth in their work.
"God could have provided us with ready-made chairs, or already harvested crops, or excavated gold. He could have given us orange juice in a bottle. But in His great wisdom God instead says to humanity you take the oranges and just see what you might create with them...The task God has given us as His co-workers is to see and connect what has not been connected and made before".
"Who can truly understand our hearts? Only the One who made them. And who can heal them. The solution to solving your pressure is not within you, but outside of you. It lies with the healer of your hearts".
"Envy rots the bones" says the writer in Proverbs. And perhaps the one area of life where many of us feel it most acutely is in the workplace. How does the Gospel help us overcome this rot, and release us to live free from the grip of envy?
"Education changes lives. It doesn’t change our eternal destination, but I believe it’s a powerful social force for good that God has given us. My program helps many students each semester stay at university, and I hope that this translates to productive, useful lifelong service of others".
Australia is gearing up to follow the lead of other countries and have a plebiscite on same-sex marriage. How should Christians who hold to marriage being between a man and a woman respond when the conversation comes up with our colleagues, family and friends? Here are five simple suggestions.
The surprising way in which the wisdom of one atheist helps us in our workplace witness as Christians.
"What on earth was God thinking in designing us so that one-third of the time we are inefficient and useless? He was thinking this: 'Sleep will be a daily reminder that they're not in control. I am.'"