Our work is very important to God. Unfortunately, there are a lot of teenagers who don’t even think seriously about work until they get out of high school or even college, but now is the time to develop good work habits in your life.
A strong work ethic will virtually ensure success in any career you choose.
Here are five critical things God’s Word has to say about work:
- If you don’t work, you won’t eat (2 Thess. 3:10). Work is the exchange God has created for all of us to gain finances to provide for our daily needs. God didn’t say to pray, hope, or beg—He said to work.
- We are to work as if our bosses were Jesus—not human beings (Eph. 6:5). Even when the boss isn’t looking, the Lord sees all that you do.
- Our work should produce good fruit and results (Col. 1:10). Don’t just put in the time, but learn how to get results.
- If we’re faithful and consistent in the small things in our jobs, we’ll be promoted to bigger tasks and responsibilities (Matt. 25:23).
- A worker is worthy of his or her pay (Matt. 10:10). You should be paid fairly for your work; and once you’ve agreed on a wage, you have no right to complain about your pay. Be cheerful!
Four Types Of People Who Constantly Get Fired
I have been in the workforce for more than 20 years and have never been fired from a job. Unfortunately, along the way, I have seen many others who worked alongside me suffer this difficult experience. Most of the time, they had no one but themselves to blame. Many of these people fall into one of the following four categories:
- Those who cannot receive instruction or correction. Instead of acknowledging their shortcomings and making the appropriate changes, they overflow with pride and refuse to listen.
- Those who cause strife in the team. They may be talented and diligent workers, but they allow jealousy, competitiveness, and hunger for power to sabotage their abilities.
- Those who refuse to continue to grow and improve. These people accept mediocrity and will not pay the price to increase their knowledge and ability to perform at their highest level.
- Those who are untruthful. No matter how talented a person is, the individual cannot help an organization if he or she cannot be trusted.
by Blaine Bartel.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Blaine and Lori Bartel didn’t set out to build a place like this. They became it.
Blaine once lived at the top of the ministry world—national TV, a booming youth movement at Church on the Move, and a growing church in Dallas. But while the stage lights were bright, the darkness underneath was darker. A secret 23-year sexual addiction buried everything he valued—his marriage, ministry, finances, reputation, and identity.
Crushed and barely holding on to life, he spent over a year in deep therapy, wrestling with shame and fighting for healing. Then, somewhere on a windswept highway between Kansas City and Tulsa, he heard the voice that lifted him out of the soil:
“I am not going to give you a recovery. I am calling you into resurrection.”
Everything changed.
Blaine found complete freedom and began decoding a Jesus-centered path that leads men out of the grave and into new life. For more than a decade, he’s been guiding other men through that same resurrection.
Lori was walking her own road—rebuilding after 17 years married to a chronic alcoholic, carrying both the wounds and the courage of a woman who refused to stay broken. She was searching for purpose, for peace, for somewhere her heart could breathe again.
Then God crossed their paths.
They met over pasta at Ti Amo (“I love you”—God’s little wink).
A year later, in a simple wedding wrapped in hope, they said yes to each other and to a calling bigger than themselves.
Today—13 years in—they share one mission:
To pull men out of addiction and to rebuild the marriages addiction has shattered.
House of Resurrection is the fruit of the very ground that once tried to bury them—a sacred space for honesty, healing, and brand-new beginnings.
They are joyful parents of four grown kids, proud grandparents of two, and happiest anywhere with lakes, beaches, sunshine, and reminders that darkness never gets to write the final chapter.