Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. -Romans 12:1-2

     Divide and conquer.

     That strategy works in very nearly every area of life.  Warriors use it to overcome a larger enemy force.  Parents use it to help children swamped with homework.  Workers use it to make mammoth assignments more manageable. 

     Our work/faith journey is no different.  Sitting in a pew on Sunday morning, we may hear the pastor challenging us to "surrender completely to God."  Or you may have heard us in this weekly writing call ourselves and others to surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord of the workplace. 

     But how? Where do we start?  Some would argue that we simply need to "let go and let God" have His way with us.  That seems simple enough, except it doesn't work that way for most people.  Those to whom God gives the gift of faith can indeed simply yield and find the Holy Spirit takes command.  If you're one of those granted this gift, you are surely blessed.  Be warned, though, that each gift also carries with it responsibility.  If you're granted the gift of faith, God expects you to hit the ground with your feet already moving. 

     For the rest of us, faith is a constant struggle, a radio wave that comes in and out based on the stuff life tosses into the mix.  Some days we feel good about our relationship with God, others not so good.  We need spiritual mile markers we can point to in our journey that remind us of our progress.  Consider these mile markers to consider in the work/faith journey:

1. Clearing the decks:  Overcoming the clutter in our life that prevents us from hearing God.  This stage requires that we shift our lives from ones of driven ambition and achieve a healthy work ethic.  Incumbent in reaching this first mile marker is our ability to define success God's way, discover balance, understand how much money, authority, etc. is enough, and when and how to rest.  It is remembering that we were created to be in relationship with God, and that work is merely one facet of that relationship.  Our identity is in Christ, not what we do.
   
2. Changing our moral compass:  The next stage in the spiritual journey is discovering that right and wrong are not subject to circumstance or culture, but are established by God.  Doing what is right in our own eyes is not sufficient, we must understand what God defines as holy and correct, and must work to line our lives up with His standards.  (Not line others up, line ourselves up!  Too many of us work on the "speck in our neighbors' eyes while ignoring the log in our own.")  In this stage, we must learn to deal with difficult people, resolve conflict, develop our commitment to honesty and character and develop our compassionate codes of conduct, all in ways that are gracious and consistent with His commands.
   
3. Talking about God at work:  This is often the most difficult stage in the journey because it involves risk.  Up to this point, we've been focused on changing us; now God calls us to care about those who don't yet know Him.  In this stage, we must discover ways to talk about Him to people who are preoccupied with success (or survival).  We must find ways to describe our relationship with Christ that use language our coworkers understand, and we must do so without disrupting the flow of work, ours or anyone else's.  This requires intentional action on our part; it does not always come by inspiration or divine appointment. 

     Our work need not be a series of disconnected trips to nowhere, doing little more than serving our physical needs and our competitive juices.  While God asks for only a portion of our material blessings (tithes and offerings), He wants all of us, all of our time and attention.  Turning our working selves into co-laborers with Christ requires that we mark out our paths.  In the days when our faith is challenged, we may look upon the markers for encouraging signs that the journey is not for naught.

     Next week we'll explore three more mile markers in the path from self-absorbed, naïve believers to mature followers surrendered to God's economy.

--Randy Kilgore

rkilgore@marketplacenetwork.com

www.marketplacenetwork.com

For a closer and more detailed look at this journey, we invite you to visit our Work-As-Ministry framework here:  http://www.marketplacenetwork.com/images/65578/Framework_Intro.pdf