Category Archives: Work Ethic

Are You Faithful or Unreliable?

Are You Faithful or Unreliable title image

Are You Faithful or Unreliable?

Do you ever encounter people who are just unreliable? Many years ago I had a friend who would cancel our plans about 80% of the time. She was so unreliable that I could rely on her unreliability! My husband and I used to joke about it often, but it did truly wound me as a friend when I couldn’t count on her. She became untrustworthy. In fact, she and I are no longer in relationship BECAUSE she was not a faithful friend.

Faithfulness, reliability, loyalty, and commitment are very lacking among so many self-proclaimed Christians these days. David’s prayer in Psalm 12:1 seems to still ring true…

“Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.” Psalm 12:1 (NIV)

I recently read a daily devotional on this very topic. Consequently, this post is inspired by that devotion by Judy Jacobs, “7 Days of Preparing for Great Exploits—Day 5”.

“Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” 1 Corinthians 4:2 (ESV)

In her devotion, Judy Jacobs says that “Faithfulness was the mainstay of being a steward in Paul’s day; and—beyond a shadow of a doubt—it still is.”[1] Faithfulness, commitment, reliability, and loyalty should be one of many defining characteristics of followers of Christ. Faithfulness, in fact, is a fruit of the spirit that we should all operate in and display.

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

How about you? Can people count on you? Are you faithful?

A poor reflection of Jesus

There are many negative consequences to being unreliable. One especially unwanted outcome of Christians who aren’t faithful is that it can give Christians (and Christ) a bad name. Having a lack of integrity in work ethic and/or reliability does not represent Jesus well. I’ve seen this (and written about this before) in a collegiate setting where students professed to be Christians, but then consistently showed up to class late or even missed class regularly. These same students put little to no effort into assignments and often had apathetic and lazy attitudes that were apparent. These types of students were a very negative reflection to other students and professors who knew they were Christians.

I LOVE the way the Message translation of Colossians 3:22-25 reads:

“Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by.  Do your best.  Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance.  Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ.  The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.”

Other negative ramifications of being unreliable

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Anxiety and Stress in Younger Generations

Anxiety and Stress in Younger Generations

Anxiety and Stress in Younger Generations

Last week I shared about how I’m having to learn a balance of helping but not coddling my kids in order to help them build necessary life skills. Fortunately I’ve had some good teaching in this area from my pastors in addition to other helpful resources that I have either sought out or “stumbled upon” (i.e. led by the Holy Spirit). I often actively seek out resources in guiding and leading younger generations due to being a parent, educator, and church youth leader. I recognize my own limitations. Subsequently, I realize that my own perspective is definitely not unbiased and not shared by today’s younger generations and culture.

Some of the issues I have dealt with as an educator over the past 10+ years have also prompted me to seek out further counsel and guidance. One issue in particular is the rise of anxiety and stress levels in younger generations. Today, I’ll share some examples with you from what I’ve seen in my own classroom. Additionally, I’ll give you some resources to help in this area, along with other resources that I find extremely helpful when dealing with younger generations.

The rise of anxiety and stress

I’ve been pretty disheartened with the state of many of my college students lately. Although there are some AMAZING and desirable qualities in these younger generations, so many of them are so inadequately prepared for college and for life. I could get on a colossal soapbox about the sense of entitlement, apathy, poor work ethic, and lack of respect for authority that is so rampant among younger generations, but I’ll spare you that rant. My discouragement today centers around the rise of anxiety and stress (and really even poor mental health) among today’s youth and young adults.

Unfortunately, many parents, educators, and/or other influencers of youth and young adults have been a large part of the problem. I will include myself because I have personally been convicted about some of my previous parenting and teaching strategies that have enabled and even exacerbated this problem.

Recent examples of students crippled by anxiety

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The Benefits of Service Learning

The Benefits of Service Learning

In the class I teach at the local community college, the students are required to complete 4 hours of service learning. At the end of our course, these students are required to do a presentation of their service learning experience. This past week was our final week of class (it’s a short-term, 10-week class), and they conducted their presentations and presented their Vision Boards. It was by far my favorite week of class! Talk about feel-good, uplifting class sessions…this was a perfect way to end our course on a high note.

It didn’t start like that

At the beginning of the semester a large number of the students aren’t terribly excited about this “required volunteer” component (sounds like an oxymoron right?). In fact some of them are just downright mad!

I hear comments like…

“Why do I HAVE to volunteer?”

“You mean we can’t get paid for this work?!”

“I don’t have time to do service learning.”

“This seems like such a waste of time.”

By the end of our class I love seeing the turnaround in many of their attitudes and perspectives. They start to see why service learning is so beneficial, not only to those they serve, but to them as well.

What is Service Learning?

Service Learning incorporates learning with meaningful community service and promotes volunteerism toward meaningful social causes that interest people/students as an individuals. This type of activity allows individuals to develop real-world skills while contributing to their community at the same time.

At the local college where I teach we’ve adopted a definition of service learning as an experiential education that includes:

  1. Student participation in an organized service activity that reinforces specific course learning outcomes
  2. Student identification and response to community need(s)
  3. Structured time for student reflection and connection of the service experience to learning

At my church we might identify these activities as our Love Your Neighbor Outreaches (both locally and globally). At our church we believe that saved people, serve people. We do this by finding opportunities to use the gifts, talents, and resources that God has given us to serve others.

What are some of the benefits of Service Learning?

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Proverbs 31…It’s Not Just For Women

Men should possess the Proverbs 31 characteristics too. These same character traits this passage praises the Proverbs 31 woman for having are also desirable for men. They are not gender-specific. ALL people, men and women alike, should strive to have this type of character.

Proverbs 31…It’s Not Just For Women

Proverbs 31 is one of those chapters that I think a lot of women sometimes read and then feel deficient. It’s almost like we can never measure up to her. I mean, really, who can do and be proficient at ALL of the things that she does? Talk about a Renaissance Woman!

However, recently I had some different insights while reading Proverbs 31 in The Message translation. As I read through the verses about the Proverbs 31 woman, I jotted down her characteristics in my journal. It dawned on me that it’s not necessarily the activities that she does that matter, but the character and traits she possesses are what are truly important. That should be our primary takeaway from the reading. Thank goodness because I don’t think I’ll EVER be proficient at sewing!

In Proverbs 31, verses 10-31 form an alphabetic acrostic, used here as a type of Hebrew poem about a woman who exemplifies godly character and wisdom from A to Z. J.A. Motyer says, “In the common form of acrostic found in Old Testament Poetry, each line or stanza begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. This literary form may have been intended as an aid to memory, but more likely it was a poetic way of saying that a total coverage of the subject was being offered — as we would say, ‘from A to Z.‘”[1] So in this case, the Proverbs 31 woman exemplifies godly traits and wisdom throughout and completely. She’s the full package.

Proverbs 31 is not just for women

In part of my recent study of the Proverbs 31 passages, I came across a really good article by Rachel Held Evans. In her post, she mentions that the “target audience” of Proverbs 31 is actually men. I did not know this! Rachel mentioned that she learned from a Jewish friend of hers that in the Jewish culture, it’s the men who memorize the passage, not the women.

In fact, the men actually sing or recite it to the women as a way of praising and blessing them! This special “Eshet Chayil” song is typically done each Friday night before the Sabbath or Shabbat meal.

Here is a video of a traditional Eschet Chayil song with the Hebrew lyrics and English translation shown:

I LOVE this English rendition by Ari Lesser as he sings to his wife:

I also realized these are NOT just characteristics that a woman should possess. Men should possess the Proverbs 31 characteristics too. These same character traits this passage praises the Proverbs 31 woman for having are also desirable for men. They are not gender-specific. ALL people, men and women alike, should strive to have this type of character. 

Proverbs 31:10-31 in The Message Translation

Below is a look at my takeaways about character from the passages. I use the feminine pronouns “she” and “her” when describing her characteristics, but read through them keeping in mind that we should all endeavor to display this type of character in our lives. Continue reading

Is Your Work Ethic Turning People Away From Jesus?

Is Your Work Ethic Turning People Away From Jesus?  Or are you representing him well?

Is Your Work Ethic Turning People Away From Jesus?

Occasionally, I will get students in my classes that openly profess their faith and Christianity. I think that’s great. That’s not the problem I have with them. The problem I have is how they behave after that. Unfortunately a few of them have displayed a lack of integrity in their work ethic.

They profess to be Christians, but then consistently show up to class late or even miss class on a regular basis. There is little to no effort put into assignments. Apathetic and lazy attitudes are apparent in class and in work and effort put forth. Procrastination is a regular practice.  Occasionally there is a disregard for authority.  Sometimes they’ll even say that they don’t really care about college, our particular class, or even a specific lesson because they don’t see the benefit of it or don’t feel they are learning anything new. These types of comments are often accompanied with know-it-all attitudes (that’s for a whole separate post though!).

Part of me wants to shake them or smack them across the head and say “Stop telling people you are a Christian!!! You are doing more harm than good! What nonbeliever would ever want to be like you or have what you have to offer if that’s what it looks like? You’re bad marketing. You’re a bad image of Jesus. Your work ethic DOES NOT represent Jesus well.”

We might be the only ‘Jesus’ people see

I think that’s the thing that a lot of people don’t understand. We are a walking representation of Jesus Christ. Someone told me once, “You might be the only ‘Jesus’ people see.” This was a life lesson I had to personally learn many years ago. In my situation it was in a job that I hated with people I disliked. I had to learn to work with excellence and have outstanding work ethic. I had to learn to do my job as unto the Lord (as if He were my boss) and to be a Christ-like example to others who may not ever get the chance to see one.

Without even realizing it, Continue reading