January Public Square <\/a>about our outlook on the New Year and the ways our spirituality can shape that vision.<\/em><\/p>\nMy chief interest is the intersection of faith and work. So my question is \u201cDoes my experience of my faith tradition [Christian] give me a spirit of confidence for my work in 2016, or does it lead me to expect the worst?\u201d<\/p>\n
I bring to this question a long string of disappointments at work. I helped launch a start-up biotech company in 1991. It failed. My wife and planted a church with a group of friends in 2004. It closed in 2008. I got a great academic job in the 1990s. I got laid off from it in the 2000s. I\u2019m on the board of directors of another biotech company now. Our first two major clinical trials were halted. I\u2019ve been trying to learn the viola for 12 years. I still can\u2019t play in tune. If I\u2019m pessimistic, I have good reason as far as I\u2019m concerned.<\/p>\n
But my faith in Jesus leads me otherwise. \u201cWe shall be like him,\u201d we\u2019re told\u201d (1 John 3:2), and Jesus failed worse than me, at least as it seemed at the time of his death. So I\u2019m on the right track! But I\u2019m optimistic that my work will amount to something even before I die, and even in 2016. Because when I look at the Bible I see three ways that God keeps leading people to do good work, and I think they apply to me this year.<\/p>\n
One, God gives people skills, talents and abilities, i.e., \u201cgifts.\u201d I\u2019ve got some skills, talents and abilities. Is God going to turn them into \u201cgifts\u201d this year\u2014make them successful instead of disappointing? Yes, if only I can pay attention to the second way God leads people to do good work\u2013paying attention to what the world needs. God gives people skills, talents, and abilities not just so we can feel good about our accomplishments, but so that working together with others we can create more of what the world needs (see Eph. 4:11-16).<\/p>\n
That\u2019s good because my many failures have made me a lot better at working with others, if only to make up for my weaknesses, and a lot better at noticing what other people need me to do, instead of what I think will make me look good. The things I didn\u2019t accomplish before give me a much clearer picture of what\u2019s truly worth accomplishing now. And this year, above all, what I want to accomplish is investing in the people I work with, helping them to be successful in their tasks, so we can be more productive together. My team has bigger challenges to success this year than ever before. But I\u2019m optimistic we\u2019ll be successful because I believe in them more than I believe in myself.<\/p>\n
This brings us to the third way God guides people in our work\u2014our deepest\/truest desires. I think part of my disappointments in work before came because my desire was to be better than the people I worked with. The biotech executive with better ideas than the competition. The pastor so brilliant his new church would succeed against all odds. That didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
My desire is different now. I\u2019d rather see the people around me fulfill their dreams, see our team reach our shared goals, than see myself excel above everyone else. From what I can see, that\u2019s how God likes to work. It\u2019s how Jesus worked\u2014his church was a success after<\/em> his people took over the work. The difference: he cared more about his people than himself from the very beginning. Sure, I could have saved myself a lot of disappointment if I\u2019d figured out years ago how Jesus did things. But \u201csee, I make all things new,\u201d God says (Rev. 21:5), maybe even for an old dog like me.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57738800518cb46b4e6a18fb468323fa?s=70&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D70&r=G\")
William G. Messenger is the Executive Editor of the Theology of Work Project, Inc., (www.theologyofwork.org<\/a>), an international organization dedicated to researching, writing, and circulating materials about how the Christian faith can contribute to non-church workplaces. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member of Laidlaw-Carey Graduate School (Auckland, New Zealand), as a guest lecturer at Holy Cross College (Worcester, MA), and formerly as an adjunct professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY). Will is also a member of the Board of Directors of ArQule, Inc., a biotechnology company near Boston. He is an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church, currently serving the TOW Project rather than a parish. He was previously a marketing and strategy executive in the biotechnology industry. Will lives in the Boston area.<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Editors\u2019 Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Engaging the New Year. Read other perspectives here. By Will Messenger This post is a contribution to the Patheos January Public Square about our outlook on the New Year and the ways our spirituality can shape that vision. My chief interest is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1784,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,1219],"tags":[231,81,403,734,1235,445],"class_list":["post-3264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-calling","category-discipleship-2","tag-common-good-2","tag-failure","tag-faith","tag-gifts","tag-skills","tag-talents"],"yoast_head":"\n
Even old dogs can make all things new<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Editors' Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Engaging the New Year. Read other perspectives here. By Will Messenger This post is a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Even old dogs can make all things new\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Editors' Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Engaging the New Year. Read other perspectives here. By Will Messenger This post is a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MISSION:WORK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-13T13:02:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-13T23:40:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/files\/2016\/01\/stairs-918735_960_720.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Theology of Work Project\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Theology of Work Project\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/\",\"name\":\"Even old dogs can make all things new\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-13T13:02:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-13T23:40:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/254edb2a91474d7bd201a4e4ec089dcf\"},\"description\":\"Editors' Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Engaging the New Year. Read other perspectives here. By Will Messenger This post is a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Even old dogs can make all things new\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/\",\"name\":\"MISSION:WORK\",\"description\":\"Promoting conversations about faith and work\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/254edb2a91474d7bd201a4e4ec089dcf\",\"name\":\"Theology of Work Project\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d5f0909b8f7284da96268cd50da87fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d5f0909b8f7284da96268cd50da87fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Theology of Work Project\"},\"description\":\"The Theology of Work Project helps pastors, ministry leaders and Christians in the workplace explore what the Bible says about everyday work. The TOW Project recently completed a first-of-its-kind resource, the Theology of Work Bible Commentary. A team of 138 respected scholars, pastors and workplace Christians from 16 countries contributed to the commentary, which is available for free online at www.theologyofwork.org or in print at theologyofwork.christianbook.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/author\/theologyofworkproject\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Even old dogs can make all things new","description":"Editors' Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Engaging the New Year. Read other perspectives here. By Will Messenger This post is a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Even old dogs can make all things new","og_description":"Editors' Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Engaging the New Year. Read other perspectives here. By Will Messenger This post is a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/","og_site_name":"MISSION:WORK","article_published_time":"2016-01-13T13:02:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-13T23:40:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/files\/2016\/01\/stairs-918735_960_720.jpg"}],"author":"Theology of Work Project","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Theology of Work Project","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/","name":"Even old dogs can make all things new","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-13T13:02:44+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-13T23:40:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/254edb2a91474d7bd201a4e4ec089dcf"},"description":"Editors' Note: This article is part of the Patheos Public Square on Engaging the New Year. Read other perspectives here. By Will Messenger This post is a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2016\/01\/even-old-dogs-can-make-all-things-new\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Even old dogs can make all things new"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/","name":"MISSION:WORK","description":"Promoting conversations about faith and work","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/254edb2a91474d7bd201a4e4ec089dcf","name":"Theology of Work Project","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d5f0909b8f7284da96268cd50da87fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d5f0909b8f7284da96268cd50da87fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Theology of Work Project"},"description":"The Theology of Work Project helps pastors, ministry leaders and Christians in the workplace explore what the Bible says about everyday work. The TOW Project recently completed a first-of-its-kind resource, the Theology of Work Bible Commentary. A team of 138 respected scholars, pastors and workplace Christians from 16 countries contributed to the commentary, which is available for free online at www.theologyofwork.org or in print at theologyofwork.christianbook.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/author\/theologyofworkproject\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"stairs-918735_960_720\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/436\/2016\/01\/stairs-918735_960_720.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n