Jump directly to the Content
Jump directly to the Content

Sermon Illustrations

Home > Sermon Illustrations

Tim Keller on Work as Service vs. Idolatry

Speaking to a secular audience on MSNBC's Morning Joe show, Tim Keller offered the following advice on work, careers, and success:

When you make your work your identity … if you're successful it destroys you because it goes to your head. If you're not successful it destroys you because it goes to your heart—it destroys your self-worth. [Faith in Christ] gives you an identity that's not in work or accomplishment, and that gives you insulation against the weather changes. If you're successful, you stay humble. If you're not successful, you have some ballast …. Work is a great thing when it is a servant instead of a lord.

Related Sermon Illustrations

Six Ways People Find Meaning in Work

American essayist, historian, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote: "It is not enough to be industrious. So are the ants." The British science magazine New Scientist recently ...

[Read More]

Outpouring of Support for Actor in Retail-Shaming Photo

Geoffrey Owens was doing what many freelance workers do during a down season—working a regular retail shift—when someone took a photo that upended his incognito existence. ...

[Read More]