Devotions for a Busy Business Person

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 313 – S()R – A Sacred Space The demands never stop. A client sends an urgent email. A project runs behind schedule. A staff member needs guidance. A new opportunity appears on the horizon. “Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” — Ecclesiastes 4:6 In my workaholism, stimulus and response often collapsed into one...

The hard work of radical discipleship leads to great hope.  Isaiah does not describe a thin hope, or a hope built on sentiment. He describes a hope that rises when God’s people spend themselves on behalf of the hungry, satisfy the needs of the oppressed, and allow His light to break into dark places. “Your people will rebuild the ancient ruinsand will raise up the age-old foundations;you will be called Repairer of...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 311 – Being Radical Oswald Chambers is characteristically direct when he writes that surrender is not primarily about giving up the external things of life, but about surrendering the will. In My Utmost for His Highest, he says that once the will is surrendered, “all is done,” and the rest of life becomes living out that surrender. He also warns us not to mistake surrender for a religious...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 310 – Take the Towel  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;  so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 309 – Using the leavings Recently, I have been watching my wife Terri at work with what most people would consider scraps. Pieces of fabric. Buttons without a home. Zippers, ribbons, and bits of texture that would normally be set aside or thrown away. Notions, as they are called in sewing. Leavings. With care and creativity, she gathers them and begins to assemble something entirely new. A...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, No. 308 – Curiosity A couple of weekends ago at St. Philip’s in Houston, I had the privilege of speaking to two remarkable groups, one over dinner and one in the Sunday School class. What struck me most was not just their evident commitment to creation care, but their curiosity. They asked thoughtful, searching questions, the kind that lean in, that want to understand, that are willing to be...