True Nature of Happiness | How Not to Hate Your Job - Dr. Dave McDonald

How Not To Hate Your Job

Rev. Dr. David McDonald

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Radiant Church, Jackson 

NOTE: please only display the materials I have highlighted. Please only display one item at a time (i.e. if there’s a scripture verse followed by a sentence I’ve written, please make those 2 separate slides instead of 1 longer slide). The rest is just to help you follow the flow of the sermon so you don’t get lost. Additionally, I have supplied 5 slides to be displayed at various points throughout the sermon. Those slides are marked in this document and the corresponding files have been labelled accordingly. Thank you!

INTRODUCTION

Statistically, you’re more likely to have a heart attack on Monday morning than any other time?

• Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health literature review, 2005: 28 studies in 16 countries covering 1.6 million coronary events…13% more likely to heart attack on Monday morning

Why? Maybe alcohol…maybe circadian rhythms…maybe we would rather die than go to work.

I’m Dave McDonald and I spent 8 years researching this book, the Adventure of Happiness, synthesizing the best material on the biblical, psychological, and sociological underpinnings of happiness and human flourishing.

In 2002, in Authentic Happiness, Dr. Martin Seliman published his Happiness formula

I want to focus today on the V of Happiness at work: what can YOU DO to thrive in your job, regardless of what that job is 

There’s really no correlation between the work itself and the worker’s perception of its value. Instead, it’s all about the worker. It’s all about you and how you see your job.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 

• Gen 2.15 ESV

***

Work is an expression of the Spirit at work in the world through us. 

WHAT HAPPENS AROUND YOU

You cannot always change your circumstances, but you can change your mindset

Gratitude can make you feel better: when people took five to ten minutes at the end of their workday to record three personal or work-related things that went well and why, stress levels and physical health complaints — such as neck and back pain, headaches, and fatigue — decreased by 15%.

• JD Thornton, “Surprising Benefits of Gratitude in the Workplace.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 ESV

WHAT HAPPENS BECAUSE OF YOU

We must believe our competence can grow. The difference between happiness and misery is the difference between saying “I don’t know how” or “I’ll learn.”

A growth mindset has resulted in better academic performance, higher income, optimized mental health, weight loss, diminished intensity of COVID-19 symptoms and diagnosis.

• The Influence of Growth Mindset on the Mental Health and Life Events of College Students; joint project, department of psychology McMaster University and Huzhou University, 2022

Do you see any truly competent workers? They will serve kings rather than working for ordinary people.

• Proverbs 22.29, NLT

Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.

• Ecclesiastes 10.10, NLT

WHAT HAPPENS WITHIN YOU

Your work is an expression of your calling. You are the light of the world.

REGARDLESS OF HOW WE ACTUALLY MAKE A LIVING, OUR PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT WE ARE DOING AND WHY IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN EITHER LOVING OUR WORK OR HATING IT.

…[researchers] looked at doctors and lawyers, teachers and librarians, engineers and analysts, managers and secretaries. Across each of these, roughly 1/3 of people viewed their work as a calling. And people who did so were not just happier, but reported being healthier as 

well…

• Lazlo Bock, Senior VP Google, in “Work Rules”

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

• Matthew 5.14-16 ESV

ILLUSTRATION: candle v. cigar

Talk about Christians being a light ask are you a candle or a cigar, both are warm both glow both smoke, but one is fragrant, and the other is offensive one comforts and welcomes while the other divides one is beautiful the other is brash 

CONCLUSION

“To acquire wisdom is to love yourself; people who cherish understanding will 

prosper.”

• Proverbs 19.8, NLT