Category: Work

Discover Your Why: Fulfillment in Work and Life

Discover Your Why: Fulfillment in Work and Life

Well the Labour Day weekend is upon us and for many, it marks the end of a season and shifts students back into the school year and those at work into a busy fall. Mark Twain helps me see

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Mark Twain

Finding your why is truly what makes your work significant. I have heard it said that your job is what an employer pays you to do; your work is what you were born to do. I’m convinced that when you discover your why, you truly live out your calling in life.

Ken Boa in his book, Conformed to His Image says:

“Our primary calling is to know and love God. Our secondary calling is to express this relationship in everything we do and with everyone we encounter.”

As a teenager, I felt a “call” on my life and the best way I could interpret it at the time was to become a pastor. However, the majority of my career has been in the financial services industry, providing insurance and investment advice. My perspective was that my work as a financial advisor was my job (secular) and I believed my “calling” to ministry was my true work (sacred). As the years passed, I questioned if I had “missed my calling” or did I choose the wrong profession?

My problem was that my secondary calling (my work as a financial advisor) was somehow disconnected from my primary calling (to know and love God). Ken Boa explains it this way:

“If the secondary is not related to the primary, we slip into the error of dichotomizing the “spiritual” and the “secular” when they should really be integrated. When this happens, our relationship with the Lord is disconnected from the everyday activities of our lives.”

I certainly felt I was serving the Lord in my business, but somehow the everyday activities of my work became disconnected from my calling. My focus as an advisor was on growing my business, developing relationships and serving clients. While that ethic was typical of this industry, my secondary calling lacked the perspective that only comes by incorporating my primary calling. My work as an advisor (secondary) needed to be an expression of my primary calling. Dr. Ken Boa explains it this way:

“Secular work becomes spiritual when done to the glory of God. Spiritual work becomes secular when done to please and impress men.”

My level of fulfillment through my work reached new heights when the secular and the sacred were merged. This seems so simple now as I reflect, but it required a shift in my perspective. Recognizing the opportunity to love and bring glory to God (primary calling) through my practice (secondary calling), transformed my work life and brought a fresh perspective. In essence, I was transformed into the person I was born to be and now Labour Day becomes important – not the day I was born, but a better understanding of “why” I was born. Dr. Ken Boa sums this up perfectly:

“When we keep our primary calling first and seek to express it in and through our secondary calling, we become more holistic in our thinking and practice.”

Our Relationships Don’t Belong to Us!

Our Relationships Don’t Belong to Us!

I read this statement in a devotional recently and was challenged with the thought. Paul David Tripp writes that:

Fellowship is God caring enough to put people in your life to encourage, rebuke and comfort you.

New Morning Mercies, Paul David Tripp (Aug. 19)

I’ve been in relationship with some people for many years now, which begs the question: “Why are these people (or this person) in my life?”

Tripp explains it this way:

“We cannot allow ourselves to have an owner’s view of our relationships, as if they exist for the sole purpose of our happiness. Our relationships don’t belong to us – They belong to God for his use, for his purpose.”

This changes our perspective – if we don’t own these relationships and they are not “about us” solely, there must be a reason, a deeper purpose. The unseen part of relationship is how they came to be and also why they came to exist.

If we take the “owner’s view” it means either we or the person we are in relationship with took the initiative to establish contact. This easily excludes God’s part in this relationship and means we can miss seeing his purpose.

My wife and I met while we were attending the same college. We take for granted our chance meeting at an airport in late April 1985 and then meeting again the following weekend in her hometown. This was the only weekend she was home because she was between semesters while attending university. That chance weekend meeting clinched my decision to attend the same university that summer where our relationship began to develop. The rest, as they say, is history.

Was this simply a series of coincidences, where each of us initiated our relationship to spend time together? Or was God more involved than we often give Him credit for?

I choose to believe that my relationships are an example of God caring enough to infuse people into my life for His use and His divine purpose.

One of the other life-changing experiences for me was joining the community of Christian financial professionals, known as Kingdom Advisors. It was a game-changer when it became clear that I didn’t have to separate my faith from my work as a financial advisor.

Here’s the advice from Kingdom Advisors:

“Don’t spend another day feeling divided between your faith and your career. Get certified by Kingdom Advisors and fully integrate your faith into your financial practice.”

I’m looking forward to connecting with advisors in a cohort this fall (meeting weekly starting Sept. 4th) to walk with advisors through 20 Modules of Core Training. This journey together will be a key to fully integrate your faith into your financial practice and continue to build God-ordained relationships.

When You Don’t Run Alone: 1924 & 2024

When You Don’t Run Alone: 1924 & 2024

I did have opportunity to watch some of the Olympics that just concluded and one of my highlights was Canada running in the men’s 4×100 Relay race. This was quite a surprise as the announcer shared: “They got the baton around the track faster than anybody else! With four men who didn’t have the individual clock speed here at these games. What a reversal of fortune for these men here tonight.” They did not medal in the individual races they ran, yet had the best time when they ran the relay.

You can watch the video here: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6476926

The key to their success is how they worked together as a team and were able to win the gold medal, which they were unable to accomplish when running alone.

This reminded me of the Olympics 100 years earlier – 1924, long before I was born, but I have read and previously written about Eric Liddell. He was a devout Christian and missionary to China, who felt it a priority to run in the Olympic games. His sister felt that his training for the 1924 Olympics deterred him from returning to China as a missionary. I’m confident she saw his calling and work in life was being a missionary, not running. However, Liddell said, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast! And when I run I feel His pleasure.”

But when the timetable for the Games was released, the 100m heats were on a Sunday and Eric Liddell dropped a stunning revelation. The Christian Sabbath was the Lord’s Day and there was nothing in this world that could persuade him to run.
Liddell’s decision meant he had to give up on his strongest event and switch his focus to the 400m. Instead of a straight dash to the finish line, this event required the stamina to maintain the pace around a full lap of the track, described at the time as the quarter-mile race.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240705-olympics-hero-eric-liddell-and-the-real-story-behind-chariots-of-fire

Fellow Scottish athlete Tom Riddell said this longer distance exposed Liddell’s idiosyncrasies, but he could still rely upon that electrifying pace. Riddell told the BBC he had asked Liddell about his tactical approach: “In his own words he said, ‘Well, when the gun goes, I go as fast as I can, and I trust to God that I’ll have the strength to do the second half.’ And I think he really did.”

The truth is Liddell was running an individual race but he was not running alone!

We usually would not class running or involvement in a sporting activity as spiritual, or for God, but simply a physical activity. For Liddell, running wasn’t just a fun activity but a God honouring one.

The mistake we often make is in categorizing our activities, whether it’s exercising or working as a non-spiritual activity. We view our walking, running, or cycling as a physical activity and our work as secular. In doing so, we separate it from what is sacred, rather than sensing the pleasure of God in that activity.

Here is a great piece of advice: Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord … (Col 3:23). The reality is that when we serve others (in our work), we are actually serving the Lord, not just men (Eph. 6:7). If we can say when we walk or work that “we feel His pleasure,” God is truly walking and working with us and through us. This adds a brand new energy to our efforts. When you work, you are not working alone.

It’s not original to me but here’s a great question and the best advice:

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!

The Apostle Paul – 1 Corinthians 9:24 NLT

The Secret to Growing Your Business

The Secret to Growing Your Business

In the past several weeks I have had multiple conversations with self-employed entrepreneurs who have expressed the urgency to focus on growing their business.

I completely understand the urgency and have been in the exact situation myself ​- fully focused on growing the business with little time for anything else. ​Based on my own experience, as long as my sole focus remained on growing the business, I was working hard and striving for success. I was doing all the right things like marketing myself, networking, asking for referrals and in general, working hard. None of these are really secrets to success, are they? They are simply the necessary elements we would immediately think about and without implementing, success would be extremely unlikely. All of these efforts gave me only a measure of success as a financial advisor.

However, it was only ​when I focused on ​incorporating God into my business that I truly came to reach a level of success that I desired and at a rate of growth that I had never thought possible. In the last 5 years that I was a practicing advisor, my business grew by more than 1200%.

As I look back, this business success happened only when I began to invest some of my time away from the typical business opportunities. I started a training course that gave me a different perspective, namely that God was more interested and involved in my business success than I realized. Somehow, I was convinced that my own efforts had brought me this success, but then again, I wasn’t the first to come to that conclusion. God reminded the Israelites how He fed them manna and cared for them in the wilderness because He knew they might want to take the credit for their prosperity.

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

Deut. 8:17-18 NIV

Despite this verse being underlined in my Bible, it was far too easy for me to emphasize the part I played in this success, and in so doing, diminish the role that God played in it. Sure, my ability played a part, but who gave me the ability? While my training, education, sales skills had to be developed, ultimately it was God who had positioned me in this role to start with. He had opened the opportunity to be trained in this field and I certainly would not have chosen this path on my own.

The global financial crisis of 2008/2009 was a time of profound soul searching for me but was very pivotal in my journey. It led me to a deeper study to earn my CKA® (Certified Kingdom Advisor®) designation which helped me understand God’s activity in my business.

The result: first, surrendering the ownership of my business to Him, then second, my striving diminished as He grew the business. Maybe that’s exactly what John meant when he said, “He must increase but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

For the record, the S&P 500 did increase in value from 2010 – 2015 by 92%, so this does account for some of the growth in business. The remaining 1100% growth that occurred in less than 5 years is much more than I could have ever accomplished unless I decreased and He increased.
​

A Child is Born!

A Child is Born!

Christmas Day, December 25th has become a day focused on gift-giving and receiving. On Christmas Day 2019, our granddaughter, Eleanor was born which has changed Christmas Day for our family into her birthday celebration.

Queen Elizabeth said it well in her Christmas message:

In the birth of a child there is a new dawn with endless potential.

Queen Elizabeth, Dec. 25, 2021

When a child (or grandchild) is born, it brings about significant change in the family dynamic. You become more centred on someone new rather than on yourself. Before children (35 years ago), we were newly-weds and the focus was on each other as a young married couple. We were transformed into parents and the years since brought further transformation – We became grand-parents! Christmas Day 2021 was delayed until Boxing Day because our focus intentionally shifted.

Photo taken on Dec. 27, 2019

The process of transformation often involves painful experiences. Here is how the Apostle Paul described it:

I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.

Galatians 4:19 (NLT)

While we celebrate Christ being born on a specific day, we have continued the celebrations from a single day to a full season. Paul said he was experiencing labour pains which “will continue until Christ is fully developed.” It is not just the experience of Christ being made alive in our hearts but also that He continues to develop in our lives. Children grow and parents grow with them so each can be brought to maturity and that is the journey of life.

When I think about Christmas, it’s about a child being born but also about that child becoming “fully developed in our lives.” What this means is the focus of life and yes, even our business, is changed forever so that Christ becomes the centre.

There is much in our world that draws our attention away from what is truly important. Often the influences that impact our daily decisions are so subtle that we are completely unaware of them. Make no mistake the goal is to shift our focus away from what is essential. The context of Paul’s statement about labour pains is that there are competing voices that are “zealous to win you over” with the ultimate goal of distraction so that we “would pursue them” (Gal. 4:17).

There is always a competing voice – one that is louder than the whisper of truth! The truth is that we are on this earth to complete the work that was prepared for us and to bring glory to God. The louder voice calls us to focus on other things in our business like products and sales targets. While these are a necessary elements for our success in business, the focal point is to bring glory to God by completing the work given to us.

For every industry, there are “best practices” to follow to be successful. When Christ is fully developed in us, the “best practices” will naturally flow through us into our lives and businesses.

It’s quite interesting that “the glory of God” is something we have all fallen short of (Rom. 3:23) whether in life personally or in business. We have all missed opportunities but the object of our hope is the glory of God (Rom. 5:2).

So as we wrap up another Christmas and journey into another year,

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion!!

Philippians 1:6 ESV

Re-Thinking Retirement

Re-Thinking Retirement

When I consider the many people I know in their retirement years, I can see there are multiple views about retirement. Some who were fortunate enough to have a sufficient pension plan retired at the point of eligibility, while others, despite having enough to retire, have actually continued to work. Even some of those who retired with a pension went back to work, and in many cases, it wasn’t necessarily for the money.  There are many different perspectives about when a person should retire and it is important to consider what shapes that viewpoint.

I recall one conversation with a financial advisor a few years ago now and he spoke to me about how he was challenged in this area. His plan was to retire from work ASAP and after sharing this sentiment a friend asked a significant question, “So you don’t like your work then? (If you want to get away from it ASAP.)”  Let’s face it, our desire to retire is typically determined by our view of our work. If work is stressful, physically challenging or emotionally draining, then retirement obviously looks pretty attractive. However, if one has a sense of fulfillment and pleasure from their work and they have the health and mental capacity to continue, should they retire just because they reach retirement age?

The basic understanding of retirement is ceasing to work. For many, this means retiring as soon as possible and enjoying a life of leisure. I read an article in The Financial Post earlier this month which published the results of a recent survey. Interestingly, the title was “Canadians finding retirement is not all it’s cracked up to be: survey.”

The 2019 Sun Life Barometer, based on an Ipsos online poll, found that many Canadians don’t seem to be financially prepared for retirement, with 23 per cent of retirees describing their lifestyle as a frugal one that involves “following a strict budget and refraining from spending money on non-essential items.”

If that doesn’t sound like much fun, consider the gloomier alternative: almost half of working Canadians (44 per cent) expect they’ll still be employed full-time at age 66. Among the “frugal” retirees still working after the traditional retirement age, 65 per cent say it’s because they need to work for the money rather than because they enjoy it.

The article quoted paints a gloomy picture if you are still working at age 66 but I would like to challenge that paradigm. This perspective assumes that work is burdensome and something you do not enjoy. In my experience, I know many people who are well past age 65 and still working, not because they have to (financially), but because it’s the life they’ve chosen.  If work brings you a significant level of fulfillment then why stop, even if you are past the normal retirement age?

Preparation for something as important as “the rest of your life” (that’s how long retirement typically lasts) must involve more than finances, don’t you think? I turn 55 in a month’s time and I can’t imagine retiring in 2020; I’m just not ready to stop working. To be honest, when I look at some of my peers who are 65+ and are not yet retired, it doesn’t seem to be a gloomy a prospect at all. Continuing to work appeals to me more than ceasing to work because it is an opportunity to fulfill what I see as God’s call on my life.

Culture tells us that retirement should occur at age 65 or earlier, if at all possible. As a follower of Christ, isn’t Scripture meant to be more of a guide than culture? Have we even considered what the Bible teaches about retirement?

The one reference to retirement in the Bible is an instruction from the Lord regarding the Levites who were to serve from age 25, “but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer” (NIV). The next verse clarifies that “After retirement they may assist … but they may not officiate in the service.” (NLT) 

It is difficult to build a case for retirement, especially as culture positions it, based on one verse alone, but you can easily build a case for rest. Strong’s Concordance has a full page of references for the word “rest.” Maybe the biblical approach of rest is a better way to view retirement. In the October 2019 issue of “The Investment Executive,” financial advisor, Sterling Rempel suggested working 24/7, meaning in retirement years, one can work 24 hours per week and 7 months of the year. That’s a neat rhythm of Sabbath rest, don’t you think? If you think about rest, it means resting from something, usually work. I believe incorporating more rest into our work lives may be a better alternative than a complete life of leisure.

This month’s Kingdom Advisors Study Group poses a few questions worth asking when approaching the retirement years of life:

– Do you have a vision for these years? (Without a vision … Prov. 29:18)

– How can your unique skills, talents, or networks be leveraged for greater purpose in these years?

– How can your life experiences benefit others?

Rather than being inherently good, work is often referred to as “a necessary evil” or something we have to do to make ends meet. Maybe we need to view work as an opportunity to fulfill our purpose in life, so that may mean working into what is typically the retirement years. I have been challenged this past month to see work as a means of reflecting the image that I was made in. We all know the creation account of God working and then resting. Maybe we should consider the different seasons of work and rest over a lifetime. Think about that: it means as you age, you will likely work less and rest more but you will continue to find pleasure in both work and leisure.

Are Your Financial Decisions Guided by the Bible?

Are Your Financial Decisions Guided by the Bible?

It seems pretty natural for Christians to desire to be guided by the wisdom found in the Bible. However, as I have worked in the financial services industry for close to 30 years, I have discovered that often what guides many Christians is not significantly different than non-Christians; culture is often a greater influence than scripture.

James 3:15-17 makes it very clear that there is a vast difference between wisdom that is earthly vs. wisdom from above. The basis of all financial decisions should be wisdom from above, but as Ron Blue, the founder of Kingdom Advisors states, “Traditional financial planning is based on earthly wisdom.” Earthly wisdom contains such things as jealousy, selfishness, and an unspiritual focus. The Contemporary English Version clarifies:

Whenever people are jealous or selfish, they cause trouble and do all sorts of cruel things.

For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice. (Christian Standard Bible)

This passage is often not considered in relation to finances, but the truth is many Christians are financially motivated by selfish ambition and have thoughts of envy when comparing themselves to others. We cannot really escape the truth that what guides many Christians is “earthly wisdom,” and not “the wisdom from above.”

But the wisdom from above is pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle, and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy.  (James 3:17 Good News Translation)

Lives that are lived based on non-traditional financial planning, “wisdom from above,” or guided by the Bible will produce a harvest of good deeds which comes from being filled with compassion.

Consider your perspective on retirement and what shapes that view. Retirement is often seen as the opportunity to focus more on pleasure and leisure; therefore, the major purpose of financial planning is to get you to a place where you can afford to do exactly that. Our culture has positioned retirement as a time of ceasing from work for a life of leisure; however, this lifestyle will likely be a lot less fulfilling. No doubt, leisure is meant to be part of our lives, but I am not convinced it is to be all-consuming.

Please reflect on “the wisdom from above” around retirement. May I suggest that producing “a harvest of good deeds” should not be limited to our working years but  extend into our retirement years.

Mitch Anthony, in his book “The New Retirementality” shares this wisdom:

For the past 15 to 20 years the institution of retirement has been morphing into something other than what we are familiar with. The idea has been evolving slowly toward something other than a playground for senior citizens. The revolution taking place is that many are seeing this stage of life as just the opposite – the most fertile period of life for meaningful pursuit.

Consider this biblical wisdom: “There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand.” (Eccl. 2:24 CSB) This verse seems a perfect description for retirement, but one thing on the list doesn’t seem to fit … work. Is it possible that culture has developed a distorted view of work?

Culture today positions work as something that defines who we are. When we meet someone for the first time we usually ask, “What do you do?” It is as if our job or position defines us. Work is often referred to as “a necessary evil,” or drudgery and simply a means of earning income. The general thinking is: the harder I work, the greater my income because work is the source of income. If work provides no more meaning than this, it makes perfect sense to work toward retirement and leave our place of employment as soon as we can. Maybe we have allowed culture to shape our thinking around work and retirement more than discovering biblical wisdom on the topic.

It is of vital importance to live our lives intentionally seeking out wisdom (from above) to guide us. Look at Eph 2:10 (CSB):

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

From this verse we learn:

  1. We are a product of God working in our lives, so in essence, He defines us; it is not our work that defines us.
  2. We are created to work (work is normative and expected).
  3. Our work is to be good work (completed with excellence for the good of others having eternal impact).
  4. God has prepared us and equipped us with skills, intelligence experiences, etc. to complete the work He planned for us.
  5. The focus and motivation of our work should not be income. God is the source of our income and uses the work He gave us to do as a means of supply for our needs. Refer to Matt. 6:32-33 (NLT) where unbelievers’ thoughts are dominated by worry for future supply of needs, but those who seek the Kingdom above all else are given all they need (God is their supply). The personal income of believers is linked to trust in God and their focus is not earning that income, but simply doing the work that was prepared for them.

Simply seeing work as something that God has prepared for us to do should shift our thinking. If God has prepared us for this work, how can we retire from it?

Mitch Anthony often says,

“Don’t retire from something, retire to something.”

The point is that you may very well retire from your job or career, but retirement should become an opportunity to continue in your calling, maybe in a different form. You may or may not be paid for this “work” but it will be very meaningful. Anthony stresses the importance of “extracting the most meaning from the means you possess.”

As a Christian, what influences your financial decisions most –  earthly wisdom or wisdom from above?

 

 

 

It’s Labour Day Weekend!

It’s Labour Day Weekend!

Photo taken in my office in Corner Brook, NL in 2015

The long weekend is here and on Monday, we will celebrate Labour Day, a statutory holiday in Canada since 1894. What better time to write about work and our view of it.

For many, work is considered a necessary evil, a drudgery, something we are compelled to do in order to make a living.  We may have all felt that way at times, but surely, life was not meant to be that way.  Why not take some time this weekend to settle your reason to labour.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain

I have heard it said that your job is what an employer pays you to do; your work is what you were born to do. I first published this statement (defining the difference between a person’s job and work) in a blog post a few years ago. One reader wrote saying, “In a few weeks I will go to neither” meaning they would be retiring. The point I was making was that you certainly finish a job or change careers, but I question if you can really retire from your work, especially if it is what you were born to do. Maybe your work (or calling) is something that takes you an entire lifetime to complete.

The term “calling” has often been reserved for members of religious organizations, or people in public ministry, like a member of the clergy or an overseas missionary, for example. However, becoming a politician, lawyer, doctor, fire fighter, police officer, mechanic etc. has been considered more of a career choice and not typically connected to calling at all. It seems that calling, therefore, is “sacred” while the other careers listed are more “secular.”

Dr. Ken Boa in his book, Conformed to His Image says,

“Our primary calling is to know and love God. Our secondary calling is to express this relationship in everything we do and with everyone we encounter.”

As a teenager, I felt a “call” on my life and the best way I could interpret it at the time was to become a pastor. I attended Bible College to earn a theology degree and during my first year, my Bible was open on my desk to 2 Timothy 4 as a daily reminder to: “Preach the word; be ready in season …” but I felt for most of my life my calling was more “out of season.”

Most of my career was in the financial services industry providing insurance and investments. My perspective was that my work as a financial advisor was my job (secular) and I believed my “calling” to ministry was my true work (sacred). As the years passed, I questioned if I had “missed my calling” or was it possible that I could live out my calling by being a financial professional?

My problem was that my secondary calling (as a financial advisor) was somehow disconnected from my primary calling. Ken Boa explains that “If the secondary is not related to the primary, we slip into the error of dichotomizing the “spiritual” and the “secular” when they should really be integrated. When this happens, our relationship with the Lord is disconnected from the everyday activities of our lives.”

Wow! Looking back, I realize that I kept my primary calling separate from my secondary calling. I certainly felt I was serving the Lord but somehow allowed the everyday activities of my work to be completely separate from my relationship with the Lord.

For many years, my focus as an advisor was on building my business, which included developing relationships and serving clients. While my focus was good (and typical of this industry), my secondary calling lacked the perspective that only comes by incorporating my primary calling. My work as an advisor (secondary) needed to be an expression of my primary calling. Dr. Ken Boa explains it this way:

“Secular work becomes spiritual when done to the glory of God. Spiritual work becomes secular when done to please and impress men.”

When I recognized the opportunity to bring glory to God (primary) through my practice (secondary), my work was transformed and took on new meaning.

My level of fulfillment reached new heights because the secular and the sacred were merged after many years. Dr. Ken Boa sums this up perfectly: “When we keep our primary calling first and seek to express it in and through our secondary calling, we become more holistic in our thinking and practice.”

What about you? Are you living out your calling everyday through your work? Is your time at work fulfilling because it is a true expression of your calling?

My Work and Easter

My Work and Easter

For many, the greatest impact of Easter is a few extra days off from work. I have to be honest, until this year (2019), I have never drawn a connection between my work and the resurrection. However, this is absolutely exciting for us all to consider. We tend to limit our thinking around Easter to spiritual matters only because it is a religious event on our calendars. I believe that Easter is meant to impact every part of our lives!

As I started my Good Friday, I read an article entitled: How Easter Changes Everything About Your Work and it was an eye-opener for me. I gained a new perspective and this fresh focus allowed me to see something I had previously missed. Let me explain.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul explains that Christ’s resurrection at Easter is the very cornerstone of the gospel. Without it, nothing else matters.

How Easter Changes Everything About Your Work

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

1 Cor. 15:14

You may have heard some of 1 Corinthians 15 read at a funeral, but what does it have to do with our lives today, particularly our work? The gospel is meant to impact every area of our lives, not just the spiritual. The resurrection power is to be effective in our lives now, not just at death. We make a grave (pardon the pun) mistake if we read these verses and limit the application only to the dead being transformed with resurrected bodies to live on the new earth.

At the end of this incredible chapter on the resurrection, what does Paul say? “Since there is a resurrection, look forward to this glorious future?” No. He says something quite different:Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58).

When we read “the work of the Lord” we tend to immediately think of something spiritual, in the church, but our labour refers to all our work. It could represent our volunteer work or our vocations. Here’s the part in the article that grabbed me. Paul’s encouragement is to remember that what we do in this life is directly connected to our life in eternity. The resurrection is the key! Easter gives new meaning to our work! NT Wright in his book, How Then Shall We Work says,

“Everything you do in the present life, in the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, everything that flows out of love and hope and grace and goodness somehow will be part of God’s eventual kingdom.”

The resurrection is the key to all of this. Just as our bodies are changed and we are given new bodies, so too, is our work for the Lord. Everything about us will be changed. It’s part of the mystery but the truth of Paul’s message is that “… your toil is not in vain.” If we read this on its own, we get the message that everything we do for the Lord is important in this present age, so we must do our best. Reading it in context makes this verse so much more powerful. Our work “is not in vain in the Lord” because our labours on earth somehow matter in eternity. Everything about us will be redeemed – not just our bodies, but the work we did through those bodies.

NT Wright ends with this statement:

The resurrection is your new body in which you will be gloriously, truly wonderfully you. The resurrection means everything you’ve done in the present through your body – works of justice and mercy and love and hope – somehow in ways we don’t understand will be part of God’s new creation.

When I think of my life, I truly want to see it as a masterpiece of God (although, on most days I don’t feel anything like that), where I am doing good works. If you read Ephesians 2:10, you will find that these works are what God prepared beforehand, or in advance, for us to do.

Think about it for a moment; God prepared works for us to do before we were born and because we are His workmanship, we walk in them. When that happens, our work is “not in vain, in the Lord,” but becomes part of our future through the resurrection. We live in the present, that is what we know and understand. Paul, however, describes a mystery concerning our future beyond our life on earth. I honestly think we should spend more time meditating on that mystery. God prepared work in advance of our present and the resurrection transforms that work so it can be part of our eternal future. This explains clearly why Paul exhorted us to:

… be stedfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Psalm 90:17b says, “…confirm (give permanence to) the work of our hands.” Have you considered that the work you do every day is having eternal significance? Will you allow this perspective to bring a new meaning to your work life?

Photo by Terry Grimes (Divine Design)

Money & Motorcycles: My Financial Advice Journey

Money & Motorcycles: My Financial Advice Journey

I often joke about the first piece of financial advice I gave to my wife after only 6 months of marriage. During her first year of teaching and before we were married, she had been counselled by her Credit Union to start saving in a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). Just starting out, we didn’t have many other resources and we, (actually, more like I), desired to have a motorcycle. We did not want to borrow to purchase, so unknowingly, we did live by one Biblical financial principle which is to “avoid the use of debt.”

My financial advice as a brand new husband was to cash in the RRSP so we could enjoy some time together on our motorcycle. I had no idea that there would even be a tax consequence to this redemption, so this was not part of my thinking. The other thing I failed to consider was the time value of money. That original investment (more than 30 years ago), would now be worth 15 to 20 times more than the value at that time. I did not know or understand the biblical financial principles shared in my last blog. As a young couple, building liquidity or setting long term goals were not on our list of priorities.

While this financial decision may not have been the best, it did bring us much enjoyment, which is one of the things money can accomplish. In 1 Timothy 6:17b, we are instructed not to trust in money, but have confidence in God “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.”

The irony is amazing because this same Credit Union that gave good advice to my wife (to invest in an RRSP) later became my employer. As one of their financial planners, naturally, my advice was based on industry standards. As a Christian, I acted with integrity and provided good counsel to clients, but the focus of my advice did not intentionally incorporate biblical financial principles.

A condensed version of my financial advice journey.

If you watch my story that I briefly shared last week at the 2019 Kingdom Advisors Conference, you will learn that I became an advisor out of necessity, not purpose. You will also begin to understand that the level of fulfillment as a financial planner increased tremendously once I realized my work was not just a job but a calling. My role was to educate people in financial wisdom, which in reality, is a means of fulfilling the Great Commission by teaching them.

Once I realized my unique position where I was able to use my competency as a Certified Financial Planner® and incorporate the wisdom gained as a Certified Kingdom Advisor®, my career became my calling. I was finally in the sweet spot and was able to build deeper relationships with clients than ever before.

In my current role, I connect with many advisors across Canada who are very much like I was, enjoying their career and client relationships, yet sensing there is another level of fulfillment that can be reached. My experience is that you can flourish in your work when you realize God has called you to do that work. When you apply wisdom that is timeless (James 3:17) to the advice you share, the results are heavenly and you can enjoy the ride!