The Christian Working Woman

Presented by Lauren Stibgen During one of our recent Walking Worthy podcast conversations with a fellow ministry leader and friend, we talked about the sensitive feeling of being disposable. This word sums up being cast away or used up and can summon thoughts of some of our deepest hurts whether at work or in other aspects of our lives. But being disposable is not part of our God-given identity. As an adjective, the word disposable is defined as intended to be used once, or until no longer useful, and then thrown away; or to be able to be dispensed with or easily dismissed. As a noun, disposable is defined as readily available for use as required, or an article to be thrown away after use. When we focus our identity on what the world says of us, this definition can truly impact how we feel. I would argue this is one of the roots of imposter syndrome in our work culture today. Feeling like our talent is no longer useful or valued can play on repeat in our professional mind, leading us to feel like we’re no longer qualified for the work we set forth to accomplish. In fact, I see this repeatedly with executive level women. The worst part is women in leadership roles are contributing to this feeling in other women! Intentional or not, our actions and words and our inaction or lack of words can leave those around us feeling disposable. Let’s explore this worldly “disposable” identity through a biblical lens. There are truly remarkable heroes in the Bible the world disposed of, but God used for his glory! Perhaps in our reading of them, we may not have stopped to consider their feelings. I have learned throughout the years that we often focus on the glory without pausing to see ourselves in the feelings of those God has truly used for his purposes. Do you have a hidden or other disability which has caused you to feel disposed? Maybe you have a vision of greatness of which has been disposed. Have you ever felt less than or not good enough? Perhaps you were the perfect expert for a job but simply were rejected. All these situations exist in God’s Word! They play out in the lives of real people who had a greater identity to God than they did to their fellow man or woman! I will not stop reminding you of Ephesians 2:10, but today I want to phrase it for you simply. You are created perfectly as you are by God in Christ Jesus to do just what you are doing right now. God prepared your path before you were even born. All you need to do is walk forward. You are not disposable.

Presented by Lauren Stibgen This year marked my third reading of the Bible cover to cover in a year. It isn’t a literal page by page turn from cover to cover, but a reading plan that jumps between the Old and New Testaments and a Psalm each day. My experience with reading the Bible in its entirety has proved that the Word of God continues to have new revelation to me as a believer with every read—even when I have already seen the words countless times. Recently, I have been lingering with one single verse in Psalm. Psalm 84:10 reads: Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Numerous things about this verse jumped out to me but the one-word title I cannot ignore is doorkeeper—simply, the person on duty at the entrance of a building. My mind was flooded with doorkeepers. Do they still exist today? They do. The person who greets you at a nice hotel, someone taking a ticket at a movie theater, a guard at an office building. As I pondered the vocation of being a doorkeeper, I thought about describing my role to someone if they asked me about what I do for a living. I thought about what financial compensation a doorkeeper would receive. If this was my profession, would I have pride in my work or feel lowly? Simply, would I be content being a doorkeeper in the house my God? After so many years of exploring education and training in leadership and law, would I be OK just greeting people at the door? I thought about the spaces this verse described. God’s courts and the tents of wickedness. Courts feel grand, lovely, important, royal. Tents feel dirty, small, out in the wilderness, primitive. Where would I want to dwell? Often, we choose a tent. While it may not be intentional, we are easily caught up in the worldly aspects of what success looks like in the form of a title or our position on the corporate ladder. We settle for the tent of wickedness and forget to look at the glorious, beautiful royal courts in the house of God. When we are caught up in this world, we miss that the doorkeeper has a position of great importance. She is a doorkeeper in the house of God. If we stop and take a humble approach to our identity at work (leadership), we can see that we are doorkeepers to the house of God right where we are at work, and there is no better position we could every enjoy. Jesus is clear in his call to us as his followers. In Mathew 28:19-20 he exhorts, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them all I have commanded you. How do we show up with the posture of a humble doorkeeper? Whether we are truly a doorkeeper or if we hold positions of leadership, we should consider this royal appointment with humility. If we consider our identity with God, we can take comfort. Throughout the Bible, God appointed the lowly to do great things. Consider Moses. Moses was truly resistant to the calling God had for his life to the point that he even begged God to give the job to someone else! Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3). As we read about Moses’ leadership of the Israelites, we see how he constantly leaned on the greatness of God to help him lead the people. In Numbers 11 we see everyone complaining about food and water and wandering. Moses is displeased and “the anger of the Lord blazed hotly” (Numbers 11:10). So, Moses grows sick of the complaining, and God is just plain mad. Since they are in this leading together, Moses tells God he cannot carry the burden alone—the burden was too heavy for him. God answers and says, Bring me seventy men of the elders of Israel...

What is God trying to teach you through your job? Recently a friend shared with me God is teaching her how to get along with all kinds of people, even those with whom she has some strong disagreements. These are coworkers who really needed to know Jesus, coming from different religious backgrounds and very different beliefs. She said through the years she was not—in her words—“very nice to my unbelieving coworkers.” Their discussions would often end with not so pleasant words of condemnation. She said, “I have not been quiet about it when I think they’re wrong.” When a new coworker joined their company who was very lovely, bright, and energetic, she liked her a lot, and then she discovered she was living an unbiblical lifestyle. She said, “I think the Lord has given me another chance here.” She is learning on her job how to love the “lost sheep”—people who don’t know Jesus. She’s learning how to communicate with them in loving ways, not in harsh, condemning ways. That’s a lesson we all need, isn’t it, but you can never learn that lesson if you never interact with unbelievers. In most situations your job puts you right in the middle of many people who do not share your faith, do not know Jesus, or even people who may think your commitment to Christ is fanatical. How do you build friends and share the love of Jesus with people like that? You can learn a Christ-like attitude right there on your job. Can you see how God is teaching you many valuable lessons through your job? You learn critical lessons about relationships—cooperation, fairness, flexibility, humility, patience—all fruits of God’s Spirit that help you to shine as a light in a dark place. You learn to forgive people who may never ask you to forgive them—who don’t even recognize or care that they have hurt you. You learn to persevere, to hang in there even when you think you can’t hang in any longer. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4). That is the path all Christ-followers are on—growing mature and complete. Perseverance helps us get there. Maybe your job is very frustrating right now and you’re thinking of leaving. Could it be that you don’t need a different job? You just need a different attitude toward the job you have. You can grow spiritually right there where you work. Sometimes we think our spiritual growth only comes through Bible studies, church attendance, prayer, and they are all important in our lives. But you can grow much faster and in so many diverse ways if you see your job not only as a mission field but also as a classroom. Don’t miss what God wants to teach you through your job.

What are some of the most valuable things God has taught you through your job? I think we can sometimes get so weighed down with the day-to-day busyness and difficulties of our jobs that we fail to see all the good things God is doing in us and through us through those jobs. One valuable lesson you often learn in a job is how to get along with people you may not like that much. Another thing you can learn through your job is how to cast all your care on Jesus because he cares for you. Instead of taking those problems home with you every day and dumping on your family or friends, you can learn to trust God to work all things out for your good and leave those cares and concerns in his hands, so you can spend a carefree evening with your loved ones. Do you realize how absolutely important it is to learn to draw boundaries in your thought life? To not allow yourself to think about things over which you have no control? To cast all your care on Jesus regularly—everyday—so the joy of the Lord can be your strength? That’s an eternally important thing you can learn through your job. Jesus said to his disciples: Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all (Mark 9:35). When you were young, did you ever tell anyone you wanted to be a servant when you grew up? I doubt it. Yet, Jesus made it clear his disciples must learn to be a servant to all. And what better place to learn that lesson than on your job each day! The way we serve God is by serving others, and developing a servant heart and attitude takes practice. You have to be intentional about it; you have to be humble and do it out of love for Jesus, not to get recognition. Think of ways you could serve your coworkers, your management, your employees. You could serve by choosing to go the extra mile and help someone get their job done (even though you think they could have done it themselves if they hadn’t wasted time talking on the phone!), help someone learn a new skill, stay late to give a helping hand to your boss, doing things for which you may get no credit or recognition. These are everyday things that can teach you the joy of being a servant, and that means you’re growing more like Jesus.

What does God want to teach you through your job? I think toward the top of that list would be learning to love people you may not like that much! Your coworkers may not necessarily people you would choose to be with five days a week, eight hours a day. No doubt you have discovered not everyone is “your type,” and so you are challenged to get along with people who are not that easy to get along with. In 1 Corinthians 13, the Bible teaches us the true definition of love. It is patient, it is kind, it looks for the good in people, not the bad, it doesn’t hold grudges, it hangs in with someone when others have given up, and it endures all things. God’s love is an action, not necessarily a feeling, and you can choose to love someone by showing them these kinds of actions, even if you don’t like the way they behave, the way they treat you, their work habits, or their lifestyle. Almost any job you have—and that includes working in a Christian environment—places you in the company of other people, and you have the privilege, the great opportunity, to learn to love people with God’s kind of love. That means you become more and more like Jesus, as you follow his commandment to “love one another.” Of course, you also have the option of refusing to learn this lesson, and instead just being continually irritated and negative about the people you work with or for. You can choose to gripe and complain and blame others for your bad attitude. But all that gets you are bitter roots growing in your heart, which will cause you great pain and affect those around you, as well. But if you can see what God wants to teach you through working with difficult people, you then can turn a desert into a garden and use that tough place as your training grounds to teach you this incredibly useful and critical ability to love and get along with people you don’t like that much. And just consider this—as you accept and learn what God wants to teach you through your job, your light for Jesus shines so much brighter. You have the great privilege of demonstrating through the way you work and the way you treat others the difference it makes when Jesus is the central focus of your life. I want to encourage you not to miss what God wants to teach you through your job. They are worthwhile lessons that will make a difference in your life and your testimony for Jesus.

You have learned skills and gained experience on your jobs that have proven very beneficial to your career, and those skills and abilities have been an important part of your growth. Just stop and think about how your jobs have taught you many skills and made you more productive and confident. I think in the midst of hectic schedules and deadlines and difficulties, it’s easy to overlook the many good things you’re learning and ways you’re growing simply by doing your job each day. In addition, think about the many life and relationship skills you are learning, even while you’re in it. It may seem more like baptism by fire rather than a training experience. Here are some examples of the practical and important things you should be learning in a job, if indeed you’re doing a good job. You learn: The importance of being on time. The importance of meeting deadlines. How to work with a team to accomplish a task. How critical it is to fulfill your promises and commitments. That it’s very important to do everything with excellence and avoid do-overs! That procrastination is deadly. That you can’t afford to let things fall between the cracks. Those are just some of the practical things you learn when you accept the responsibility of a job. For sure a job well-done will require these kinds of skills. And if you are not willing to learn these things and grow in these areas, it will affect your progress, your promotions, and your paycheck; it will hold you back. I would ask you to survey your work habits. Are you learning these things, or are you resisting them? Have you established a reputation within your organization of being truly committed to doing your job with excellence, to improving and learning and growing? I’ve often said a Christ-follower may not be the smartest or the most educated or the most experienced person on their job, but they can be the most dependable, the hardest worker, and have the highest level of integrity. No matter what you do or where God takes you, these characteristics will always be important to your success and to pleasing God.

Have you ever thought of your workplace as God’s classroom for you? This may be a totally new thought for you—that God can use your job, the people you work with and for, and the atmosphere where you work as a training course. I must confess I didn’t always see my job that way. But God never wastes anything in our lives. He uses every experience, every person, every struggle, even our failures and sinful choices to teach us something we need to learn, so we can move forward—becoming more like Jesus. Having this attitude about your job—looking at it as a training course, so to speak—could make it a bit easier to get up and go to work every day. It gives new meaning to your workdays, even if those days aren’t always pleasant. When you start to see the lessons God wants to teach you through your job, it’s a paradigm shift; a new perspective that gives meaning even to mundane and tedious work, even to irritating relationships, even to a demanding boss or heavy workload. Think about this: No matter what you do on your job each day, you have developed skills and abilities through that job that are valuable. I have a friend who is teaching communication skills in a very different and difficult cross-cultural environment. As she was telling me what she does and how she has learned to communicate in this challenging setting, I told her what she is learning through her experience in this job, though difficult at times, is giving her skills and abilities that are rare and very valuable. She’s learning “on the job” as we say, and that knowledge and skill is giving her very important and marketable skills you could not learn in a classroom. Certainly, that’s been true in my life, as well, as I spent many years conducting training seminars in my company and for many other companies across the country. That experience of putting together and making an effective presentation is a skill God was teaching me through my job—and one he now uses for ministry purposes. Think about what you’ve learned through your jobs and how God is—or maybe how God wants to use that in his service.

Having been to Israel many times, leading tours, I have a much clearer vision of what a crucifixion was really like and how horrendous it must have been to have watched anyone dying on a cross. We have tended to romanticize the cross a bit, with our jewelry and pictures of a cross on a hill far away, but actually the place of crucifixion was the most horrible place in Jerusalem. It would have been by a busy road so everyone could see and mock and be terrified by a crucifixion. It was meant to be a deterrent to crime and rebellion, to cause anyone who thought they might challenge the rule of Rome to think twice, because they would have to endure this horrible death. Knowing how awful a crucifixion was, it is amazing to read in Matthew 27:55 that: Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Moses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. In Mark 15:40 we read: Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. Luke tells us that: A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him (Luke 23:27). And John tells us: Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25). By my count, there are seven women who are identified in the four Gospels, but we know there were many others as well. It’s interesting that the women are named, and yet there are no named men at the cross. Certainly, there were men there, but how many were the friends and disciples of Jesus Christ? We only know for sure that John was there, because Jesus refers to him in John 19:26-27, as he instructs him to care for his mother. Where were the other disciples? And why were all these women there at this ugly scene? It was not a place for a woman; unless it was your close relative, no woman would have intentionally gone to such a horrible place. Yet, there were all these women at the cross of Jesus. These women had gathered there to mourn and to wail the crucifixion of their Savior, Jesus Christ. They were there because they loved Jesus. They had been delivered from their sins and their pasts by Jesus, and they were determined to stay with him until the end, as ugly as it was. Can you even imagine what it meant for these women to stay there throughout the whole crucifixion? Mary Magdalene was there. We know Jesus had delivered her from seven demons. There have been some scurrilous writings and suggestions that Jesus had a romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene. That is a lie and totally unsubstantiated by Scripture or history. But for sure, this woman had deep feelings for Jesus because he had delivered her from her past. And it was an awful past. Can you even imagine being possessed by seven demons? What could be worse than to be indwelled by seven demons from hell? No doubt she had been abused and suffered great harm from these demons for many years. No doubt she was full of guilt and gloom and despair, fearing she would live all her days possessed by them. And then she met Jesus. In Mark 16:9 we read that Jesus had driven out those demons. However he did that, it had to be dramatic—perhaps painful—but no doubt the best day of her life. She was set free from her past, her guilt, her shame. And because Jesus has risen from the dead, he is able to do the same for you today. It may not be demons you are dealing with, but whatever haunts you from your past, Jesus is a qualified Savior because he is risen from the dead. He can deliver you, too. We are told that Mary, his mother,

I wonder why we call it Good Friday? For those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, celebrating his resurrection is of utmost importance to us. Our salvation rests on the fact that Christ is risen indeed. Yet, why we would call this Friday a “good” day? That day is a good day if you have an eternal perspective. The day Jesus died is the Day of Atonement, when once and for all, Jesus became our sacrifice, shedding his blood, paying the debt we owe, so we could be forgiven of our sins and made righteous in Jesus. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). That is what took place as Jesus was crucified. Therefore, he had to die in order to become a perfect sacrifice that would pay for our sins. As a result, we have the opportunity to become the righteousness of God, so that God sees us in Christ, redeemed and righteous before him. It's a Good Friday for us because Jesus gave his all on that day. However, without Resurrection Sunday, this Friday would not be good. It is because of the resurrection we can call this Good Friday—the day Jesus paid it all for us. The price he paid—bearing all our sin and being separated from his Father—was far greater than the agony of the crucifixion, as terrible as that was. And he endured it for you, declaring as he died, It is finished. He did it all so you and I could be assured of eternity with him.

There is no other religion that claims to have a risen savior; Jesus is the only qualified Savior because he conquered death. We worship a risen Savior who gives us victory over death. I wonder if you could articulate why you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Josh McDowell’s book, Evidence for the Resurrection[1], goes into this in great detail. Here are some of the facts that prove the resurrection: #1: The broken Roman seal Because the religious leaders were afraid the disciples would steal the body and claim Jesus was risen, they asked Pilate to put the seal of the Roman Empire on the tomb. The consequences of breaking that seal would give pause to anyone who might try to steal the body, because that would have been a crime punishable by death. The disciples were not a courageous body of men at this time. They were hiding from authorities after fleeing from the Garden of Gethsemane. There’s no way they would have tried to steal Jesus’ body, and they certainly would have been too frightened to break the Roman seal. #2: The large stone was moved All the Gospel writers mention the huge stone in front of the tomb had been moved. John said it was removed from the entrance. Luke and Mark say it was rolled away from the tomb; Matthew records an angel from heaven came down and rolled back the stone. This stone weighed one and a half to two tons, so it would take several very strong men to roll it even a few inches. McDowell writes, “Now, I ask you, if the disciples had wanted to come in, tiptoe around the sleeping guards, and then roll the stone over and steal Jesus’ body, how could they have done that without the guards’ awareness?” #3: The behavior of the disciples Consider once the disciples knew Jesus was raised from the dead, and they were empowered by the Holy Spirit, they didn’t go to some faraway place to preach the gospel. They went right back to Jerusalem, where, if what they were teaching was false, it would be most evident. That would be the last place they’d want to go if they had not seen the risen Christ and knew the tomb was empty. They preached the gospel of the resurrected Christ in Jerusalem, and there was no doubt Jesus had risen. I encourage you to meditate on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, see that empty tomb, and celebrate the risen Savior. --- [1] Mcdowell, J., & Mcdowell, S. (2008). Evidence for the Resurrection: What it means for Your Relationship with God. Baker Publishing Group.