Nov 2, 2023
An overused phrase is to give 110% effort.
What does that mean when we think of living out our faith
through our work
Well, I can't spell that out in a cookie cutter fashion that
applies to everyone in all circumstances, but I know it when I see
it
This morning I saw it.
I’ll use a different name, Bob. Bob took my biometrics, all
good except high blood pressure . I told him I had a lot of stress.
He went on for about 10 minutes sharing with me his philosophy.
Like extending your arm holding glass of water. Water is like
stress. Talk to yourself, love yourself, if you hold
Onto feelings and tell yourself you’re feeling something like
sadness it helps no one.
It certainly doesn’t help you and it also doesn’t affect the
person who you’re thinking about.
I thanked him and gave him a hug when I left. On my way back
to my desk I was light in my feet. When I grabbed my coffee I saw
someone who asked me how
My morning was. I said I had gotten the biometrics and he
asked what they did . I told him that the worker had given me some
great tips on managing stress. My friend asked me what they were so
I shared and he then told me a story about a 90
Yr old woman who was his neighbor across the street. She used
to say to him if something isn’t going to matter in 100 years
Then don’t worry about it.
I share this story with you for two reasons. One is I hope you
benefit front the advice related to worry and stress because at
some level I know we all need that advice. Specifically I
want to talk about the advice to love yourself. There was a time
when I would have embraced that advice without a faith or biblical
context, ie I was all about myself and my goals and was not humbly
seeking Gods will. There was also a time in my life when I would
reacted
To that advice in knee jerk, holier than though fashion, ie I
would have said “that’s wrong I should not love myself, I should be
humble and repentant”.
I believe I’m at a place now where I’m closer to the truth
than either of those previous versions of myself.
Loving yourself is a command found in both the Old Testament
and New Testament, the Torah and the Apostolic Scriptures.
You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the
children of your people, but you
shall love your neighbor as yourself:
I am the Lord" -
Lev 19:18
Jesus quoted this in 3 of the 4 Gospels, saying this was the
2nd greatest commandment.
Paul quoted this in the book of Galatians and Romans, and
James quoted it as well.;
In fact, I don't know this for sure, but this could be the
most quoted command in the Bible.
This command shows that God wants us to love our neighbor, but
it also shows He wants us to love ourselves, and you can argue, it
shows that we cannot love our neighbor if we don't first love
ourselves.
My second reason for sharing this story is to provide an
example of what giving 110% might look like in your work, though at
the same time I think it would be better to think of this as 110%
relative to what is the norm, but should be the normal behavior for
those of us who are believers
My third reason is to encourage you to pass along something
good that you year, as I did with my friend when I was getting
coffee, and be ready to shut up and let the person share their
thoughts once you've brought up something of moral
significance.