The Creation of the Sabbath
In yesterday’s Life for Leaders devotion, we focused on Jesus’ statement in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for humans; humans weren’t created for the Sabbath” (CEB). Today, I want to look back at the creation of the Sabbath, focusing on a short passage from Genesis 2.
Read ArticleLabor Day Reflections for Memorial Day
As I was thinking about Memorial Day, it occurred to me that this holiday actually relates to the issue of work. Thus, I thought I’d offer some brief “Labor Day” reflections for Memorial Day.
Read ArticleThe End, But Stay Tuned
Today we finish our devotional study of Genesis. Ironically, this is also the final day of the first year of the Life for Leaders devotions. The De Pree Center began publishing Life for Leaders on April 1, 2015. After a few devotions related to Easter, we dove into Genesis on April 6 with “First Impressions.” Since then, we’ve seen over and over again how God’s speaks to us through Genesis, not just about our personal lives, but also about our work, our leadership, and our participation in the world.
Read ArticleGod’s Amazing Plans
Every time I come upon Genesis 50:20, I am amazed. It captures in a nutshell the superior sovereignty and generous grace of God. It offers encouragement for us in our work and in every part of life. And it calls us to worship the God whose intentions are truly marvelous.
Read ArticleUse the Power of Your Words to Bless Others, Part 2
In yesterday’s Life for Leaders devotion, we began to consider a passage from Genesis 49 in which Jacob testified to the power of his verbal blessings to affect the life of his son Joseph. “The blessings of your father,” Jacob said, “are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains” (49:26). From this starting point, we reflected on the power of our words to bless others or to hurt them. This power is expressed, not just within family systems, but also in the workplace. With words, we can build each other up or tear each other down.
Read ArticleUse the Power of Your Words to Bless Others, Part 1
Words have power. With your words you can wound and weaken the people who matter most in your life, such as your colleagues and subordinates, your family members and friends, your neighbors near and far. Or you can use your words to bless those who are close to you, to build them up, encourage, and energize them.
Read ArticleWho Is God To You? Part 3
[Jacob] blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to…
Read ArticleWho Is God To You? Part 2
Jacob’s experience of God was not simply a hand-me-down. The second way he identified God was as “the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.” Notice that God was not just a shepherd or the shepherd of all of his people, but rather “my shepherd.”
Read ArticleWho Is God To You? Part 1
Who is God to you? If you were to summarize your personal knowledge of God, what would you say? I’m not asking at this moment about your doctrine of God, your articulated theology. I’m wondering more about your relationship with God, your experienced theology. (Of course, in the end, what we believe about God and what we experience should converge. But, on the way to meeting God face to face, they are often distinct.)
Read ArticleDid Joseph Ultimately Fail? Part 5
For several days we have been working together on the question: Did Joseph ultimately fail? We know that his plan and execution of this plan kept thousands of people alive through years of famine. But, his plan also led to the enslavement of these thousands to Pharaoh.
Read ArticleDid Joseph Ultimately Fail? Part 4
Last week, we began to consider whether Joseph ultimately failed in the most important work of his life. In Friday’s devotion I made the case for Joseph’s success. Today I want to present the other side of this argument.
Read ArticleDid Joseph Ultimately Fail? Part 3
In yesterday’s devotion, we began to wrestle with the question of whether or not Joseph failed in his main mission in life. On the one hand, his foresight and leadership saved thousands if not millions of lives from starvation. On the other hand, in the process of saving the Egyptians and his own family, Joseph made all of these people slaves of Pharaoh. Because of Joseph’s actions, Pharaoh ended up owning all the animals, land, and people of Egypt. Hundreds of years later, the Israelites would be oppressed as slaves in Egypt as a distant result of the outworking of Joseph’s plan. So, did he succeed? Or did he fail?
Read ArticleDid Joseph Ultimately Fail? Part 2
In yesterday’s Life for Leaders devotion, I asked the question: Did Joseph ultimately fail? To be more accurate, I borrowed that question from Al Erisman in his book The Accidental Executive: Lessons on Business, Faith, and Calling from the Life of Joseph (chapter 25). Yesterday, I considered whether Christians ought to ask such questions of biblical heroes, answering in the affirmative. Today, I want to begin to reflect on the question itself.
Read ArticleDid Joseph Ultimately Fail? Part 1
“Did Joseph ultimately fail?” Al Erisman poses this question in his book The Accidental Executive: Lessons on Business, Faith, and Calling from the Life of Joseph (chapter 25). If, like me, you grew up in the church, faithfully attending Sunday School throughout your young life and believing that the Bible is God’s Word, then Al’s question can seem like heresy. How dare Al ask such a thing! Joseph is one of the great heroes of the Bible. Of course he didn’t fail! Or . . . did he?
Read ArticleGod’s Mysterious, Marvelous Ways, Part 3
Sometimes God’s “mysterious, marvelous ways” exceed all of our expectations in their obvious goodness. Sometimes, however, God’s ways are mysterious in the opposite direction. It can be hard to catch the marvelous quality.
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