It's been said most people don't quit their jobs; they quit their bosses. How we relate to supervisors may make the biggest difference in how we show up -- or don't -- for a job.

It's the same with our faith.

Is Christianity a tyrannical boss? One that's good in emergencies but has little value in the day-to-day? Or one that has the desire and wisdom necessary for your success?

The first two are opposite types of the gospel of "sin management" so powerfully written about by Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy.

The last gave us The Beatitudes -- eight ways how the gospel shows up in everyday life with a perspective and power that changes everything.

Empower yourself and your family to engage fully in God’s grand story. Subscribe to Hi(Impact) at Stephanie Presents for insights, encouragement, and practical resources!

Book Stephanie to speak to your women, parents, Christian educators, and students.

#spirituallystrong

#emotionalhealth

#relationships

#bible

#faith

#truth

#biblestudy

#christianfaith

#christianwomen

#christianity

#lifeskey3

Beatitudes Introduction_mixdown:

It's been said that most people

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don't quit their jobs, they quit

their managers or their bosses.

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Have you ever had a job you liked,

but a boss you couldn't stand?

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And what does this possibly have to

do with the purpose of this podcast,

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which is to help people become

spiritually strong, relationally smart?

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There's a connection.

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Stay tuned.

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We're going to talk about that today.

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If your desire is to become

spiritually stronger, emotionally

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healthier, and relationally

smarter, you're at the right place.

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Speaker and writer Stephanie

Smith inspires and equips you

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to achieve these three key aims.

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If you're a parent, you'll also

learn how to raise empowered

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kids ready for adulthood.

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Let's get started.

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In 2020 and 2021, so many people

quit their jobs that it became

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known as the great resignation.

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And it had a huge impact, not just

economically here in the United States and

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in other places around the world, but it's

impacted entire industries significantly.

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You know, historically, we've considered

what's happened to towns and areas

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when factories closed, and, and we've

probably seen the photos of towns before

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and after in areas when there was a, a

thriving industry, and then the factory

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shuts down, and all of a sudden, it

looks kind of like a, a ghost town.

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Now we have major office buildings

and commercial real estate that are

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sitting vacant or nearly vacant and

whose value has dropped exponentially.

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The impact of all of that job changing

is still with us and we aren't

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really even fully experiencing all

of the significance of that yet.

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And what's become known

following the great resignation

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is the great reshuffling.

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And what's interesting, because studies

are still kind of mixed, and they're still

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a little bit early to, to indicate this

on, on a longitudinal way, but happiness

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levels for people who change jobs seems

to indicate that people were much happier.

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for a while, actually for about a year.

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And then it seems that

happiness levels dropped.

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Well, there can be a lot of factors for

why that's the case, but one of those is

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because the reality of the new job and

the new people that come with it sets in.

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That honeymoon kind of phase is over.

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And people begin to understand

and live with the reality.

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There are no perfect jobs because

there are no perfect colleagues

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and there are no perfect clients

and there are no perfect bosses.

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Now, maybe you're tuning in and

you're like, okay, wait a minute.

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This is starting to sound like

a business podcast and I didn't

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think that's what this was about.

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Well, you're right.

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It's not.

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But most of us can relate to this

example of how we view and the

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experiences that we've had with bosses.

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And this is something that I want

you to keep in mind as we talk

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about how we view the gospel.

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How do we really, truly

view the Christian faith?

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Because that same pattern that can happen

in the way that people views their bosses

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can happen also as it comes to our faith.

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Now, certainly this can happen on a

church level, but that's really not

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going to be what I focus on today.

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But what I mean by that is people can

move from one church to another to

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another in search of a better staff

or a congregation, or people have

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just decided to opt out of church

in person and let's just do virtual

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church because, you know, and I'm not

dissing that and saying that there,

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that that has no value or has no place.

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But it also depends on why

a person is doing that.

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And is it because, oh, well, then I

don't have to deal with real people.

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And sometimes people leave churches.

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It's not always for negative reasons,

you know, sometimes it's because, okay,

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I, I need to move either because I need

to grow personally and this, this is

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just no longer the right place for that.

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It doesn't always have to

be some big negative reason.

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Or it can be because I'm going to

go somewhere else and I'm going

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to help another church flourish.

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And that can also be a reason

why people change churches.

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But what I want to talk about today

is how we view the gospel and how it

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impacts how we show up in life, not

primarily how we show up in church.

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Well, that's the secondary part

of that, but we can tend to view

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the gospel, the Christian faith,

I think in, in one of three ways,

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similar to how we can view a boss.

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We either can see a boss that we can

never please, we are never going to be

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able to do enough to earn this, this

person's respect or their approval

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you know, temporarily we might, but

we know that they're always going

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to go back to this default negative,

tyrannical way of, of dealing with us.

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The second way that we can approach

this as, as a well meaning, but kind

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of inept boss that, you know, we like

personally that we wouldn't look to

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for professional guidance or growth.

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And sometimes those are the bosses

that really create quandaries for

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people, because it's like, you

know, I like this person personally.

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And I like my job, but after a while, just

recognizing they don't have the skill set.

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They don't have the mindset.

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They don't have the time, energy, the

resources, the desire, whatever, to

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really help provide what I need for

professional guidance or for growth.

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And those can be the bosses that

sometimes are the hardest to leave.

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Or third, we can have the boss who

wants us to succeed, somebody who

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we respect, we look at and we say,

wow, they're doing their job well.

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And rather than seeing us as a threat,

there's somebody that we're going

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to look to who has the wisdom that

we need to help us grow and succeed.

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You know, through much of our

cultural history in the U.

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S., it was the first example that

tended to characterize Christianity.

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Christianity could be seen as this

demanding, tyrannical belief that

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a person could never do enough, a

person was never going to measure up.

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We were always going to fall short

and be met with an angry response.

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And this would have been characterized

by a, a heavy emphasis on what

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historically would have been called

like fire and brimstone, you know,

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health centered kind of teaching.

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And there are still some remnants

of that thinking with us today

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especially in, in certain areas.

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Of the country or and in certain

age categories, but culturally,

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I think overall, the pendulum

swung to the other extreme.

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And, you know, many people today would

have no idea of what the the phrase

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fire and brimstone even even met,

but the pendulum has swung so that

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it's, it's more that Christianity.

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It's a nice idea.

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And a person had goes so far as to accept

Christ as Savior in the same way that if

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I'm working in a job and I think, okay,

yeah, I accept that person is my manager.

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They're they're my boss.

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I get that.

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I report to them.

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I understand that.

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I'm I'm I'm all good with that.

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But we don't really accept

Christianity as an authority.

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That's really relevant

to our everyday life.

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It's kind of like this boss who just

remains behind a closed office door,

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and we only knock on that door to

ask for help in extreme situations.

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When there's an emergencies, but,

you know, we're not looking to that,

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that boss for the routine every day,

day to day kind of stuff of life.

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And that's how we can also

approach Christianity.

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And in both cases, what we end

up with are 2 different forms

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of a gospel of sin management.

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And in the first, it's that

Christianity is this tyrannical

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demanding punitive boss.

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And then the second Christianity is this.

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Nice but irrelevant boss that's just

reserved for emergencies and, you know,

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okay, maybe like a weekly check in.

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I want you to really think about how you

perceive Christianity and, and the gospel.

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You know, Dallas Willard, who's, who's

writing has had a significant impact

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in my faith and I, I wish I would

have come to know his works years

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before I did, but he writes powerfully

and eloquently about this concept

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of the gospel of sin management and

in his book, the divine conspiracy,

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rediscovering our hidden life in God.

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Fantastic book.

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It's not like a, an, a book that you

just sit down and, and breeze through.

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At least I didn't.

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And many of the women that participated

in a book study with me didn't because

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his writing is it's very readable.

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It's not like, oh, I have to labor

through this archaic tome, but it's,

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The depth of his material just makes

you want to say, I need to soak this

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in slowly because there, this is some

really meaningful stuff that really

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challenges my, my beliefs and my thoughts.

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And yet at the same time.

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Profoundly relevant to everyday life.

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So I want to read some quotes that he had

in, in his book, the divine conspiracy

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on this whole issue of, you know, doing

the gospel is basically being like a

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sand management Kind of, kind of thing.

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Here we go.

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Can we seriously believe that God

would establish a plan for us that

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essentially bypasses the awesome

needs of present human life and

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leaves human character untouched?

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Would he leave us even

temporarily marooned with no

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help in our kind of world?

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Our kinds of problems?

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Psychological, emotional,

social, and global?

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Can we believe that the essence

of Christian faith and salvation

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covers nothing but death and after?

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Can we believe that being saved

really has nothing whatever to do

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with the kind of persons we are?

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Are we to suppose that God gives

us nothing that really influences

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character and spirituality?

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And are we to suppose that in

fact Jesus has no substantial

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impact on our Real lives.

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History has brought us to the point

where the Christian message is thought

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to be essentially concerned with only

how to deal with sin, with wrongdoing

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or wrong being and its effects.

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Life, our actual existence, is not

included in what is now presented as

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the heart of the Christian message.

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Or is included only marginally.

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The current gospel then becomes

a gospel of Zen management.

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Transformation of life and character

is no part of the redemptive message.

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End quote.

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Oh, that is relevant to us and it

requires us to really look at how

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do we approach our Christian faith?

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I mean, what do we really think

about its role in our life?

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Do we see it As this tyrannical force,

that's just always waiting to check every

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box for everything that we've done wrong.

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So they can lash out some sort of,

of punishment or, and I think this

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is probably more likely in our

culture here in the United States.

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It's more of the, okay,

that, that's a nice idea.

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I've checked the one big box of salvation,

and maybe there's a few boxes under that

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that I've checked, but most of the rest of

my life, the gospel is not really relevant

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to in terms of how I actually live.

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Now, it's not so much that I would

say that from a position of belief.

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It's more that I would practice

that from a position of how

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I show up every single day.

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It's not so much something that I would

say to someone in, in my words, but it

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is what I say by how I live my life.

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Well, in the upcoming weeks, we're

going to be looking at the how,

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how big and relevant is our gospel?

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Really?

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I mean, to us, how can we think that

anybody else really needs the gospel?

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Or anything more than just enough of

it to quote, get them saved so they can

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go to heaven and we're not going to be

terribly motivated necessarily to share

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the gospel if, if that's how we see it,

whether it's with the tyrannical boss

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or it's with the kind, but inept one.

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One of the specific ways that

we're going to be looking at

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that is through a familiar Bible

passage Called the Beatitudes.

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Now, if you just heard that and

went, oh, yeah, the Beatitudes.

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Yeah, I've read that.

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I know that blah blah blah You know,

sometimes when something is familiar

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to us, we risk thinking that we know

it, we get it, we understand it.

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And the Beatitudes are one of those things

that, Oh, they, they look beautiful,

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you know, calligraphy, some sort of

wall art and they, they sound great.

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And, and there are messages that

can like show up on bumper stickers

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and all that kind of thing.

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But when we really dig

into the Beatitudes.

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Wow, do they show the relevance of the

gospel and this life of faith to how we

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show up in every single part of our life.

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And it shows that the gospel

is not about sin management.

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It is so much more than that.

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So just get prepared.

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We're going to, we're going

to be walking through those.

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We're also going to have

some upcoming interviews.

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There are people that I want to introduce

you to and so that you get to meet

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and you get to hear their message.

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So you're going to have some of

that coming up in the weeks ahead.

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As well, I invite you then in preparation,

not only for these interviews, but

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in preparation for our dive into the

Beatitudes, I want you to really consider

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how do you view the gospel and don't

look at that as in terms of, oh, you

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have to come up with the right answer.

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Just be honest with yourself.

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About how do you really

see the Christian faith?

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Is it with that tyrannical boss?

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Is it with the kind, but inept one, or is

it that the Christian faith, this gospel,

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this good news, is it something that

you really see as that boss whose wisdom

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that you need, not just for emergencies.

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Not just for the big stuff, but

something that you need every single

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day in order to show up and to

live your one precious life well.

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Wise people and mature

people are curious people.

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You know, people who retain

their curiosity and their

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teachability are people who

continue to grow throughout life.

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Because you've heard me say this before.

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There is no neutral in life.

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You are either growing

or you are decaying.

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That's it.

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There's no just, oh, well,

I'm just kind of maintaining.

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Life is impossible.

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It's impossible to do that in our lives.

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We're either growing or we are decaying.

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And so just, you know, have curiosity

and, and have the willingness to.

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To really dig in and to examine,

you know, what's, what's your

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real mindset about this whole

Christian, you know, faith thing.

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Hey, I've got two things I'm going to

invite you to do as you are thinking

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about this topic over the coming days.

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Number 1 is to share this podcast, send

a text to a friend hit a share button

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on the podcast app that you're listening

to this to, you know, write a quick

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email to, you know, a group to friends

posted on your social media account.

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Let other people know that,

hey, this is something that's,

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that's worth listening to.

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And the other thing is, if you

haven't already, you need to go

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to the website, stephanieprisons.

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com and sign up for my weekly

newsletter there, High Impact.

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It's a totally free resource, and it's

going to give you links, not just to

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things that I create for the podcast

or, you know, Or other things, but

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it's also going to give you information

about other people and resources

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that can help you in this endeavor.

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That is to be spiritually

strong, emotionally healthy,

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and relationally smart.

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All right, my friend, remember this and

live like this is true because it is.

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You have an impact.

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That is.

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Immeasurable, eternal, and irreplaceable.

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I'll see you next time.

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Thank you for listening.

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Visit the website StephaniePresents.

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com and sign up for High Impact to join

the mission of building spiritually

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strong, healthy, Emotionally healthy and

relationally smart women and families.

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You can also book Stephanie

to speak at your event and

272

check out additional resources.

273

Together, we can invite and

equip generations to engage

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fully in God's grand story.