Employment, or lack thereof, has long been a hot-button topic among the body politic. One side of the aisle views gainful employment as close to being an unalienable right endowed by the Creator as it gets without being specifically mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. Whether the ability to pay bills and buy things both necessary and complementary to life falls under the pursuit of happiness is up for debate, but you get the idea.

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The other side views employment as a necessary evil, a harsh mistress consisting of cruel penny-pinching taskmasters lording themselves over the less fortunate who, despite their enforced impoverished state when compared to business owners and leaders, must shell out via taxation all they can and then some to a benign government for redistribution to the maddening throng that willingly sacrificies self-respect for a welfare check and a promised vote for those dedicated to maintaining the middle-class squeezing status quo. Oh, they talk a great game about taxing the rich. Yet, strangely enough, it never happens. And please pay no attention to how those who preach the loudest about wealth’s inherent evils all somehow make Scrooge McDuck look like Bob Cratchit. On a government salary, no less.

The latest episode of Cephas Hour briefly addresses this matter from a personal standpoint. That said, as always, it points to Jesus first and foremost. He said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Words well worth heeding.

You can listen to the podcast on demand at its website (https://cephashour.com/2026/07/07/cephas-hour-episode-150-release-date-july-7-2026/), or wherever you get your podcasts other than Spotify. They still don’t get it. Hope it helps. Thanks for listening.

I’ve been looking for a new job lately. The search is thankfully lacking in desperation as I am presently employed, but as the saying goes, things ain’t working out down on the farm. Suffice it to say that Maggie and her family are getting on my nerves.

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Something I’ve noticed in the process — and this is far from my first rodeo — is that more often than not, the primary failure point in the rigeramole that is job hunting comes not from applicants, but rather the gatekeepers at different businesses who apparently believe their role is leaving the gate locked with a “do not disturb” sign hanging on the front. It’s not the companies sending out Dear John letters despite your being perfect for the job in question that are the problem. At least they eventually get back to you. Rather, it’s the ones answering with a chorus of crickets, never responding yea or nay. Another way of putting it is the people who a company hires to fulfill the responsibility of doing their job, namely hiring people to do the jobs the company requires, fail the company and potentially valuable additions to the company via their inability or unwillingness to do their own job. It’s not always the case, but far too often it is the case that there’s a bit too much H in HR, as the personnel in said role are the embodiment of humanity’s shortcomings, in the form of not doing that for which they are responsible.

Taking this to the spiritual realm, we are, in a very real sense, Jesus’ HR department, called to be a witness for Him to the world not only by how adept we may be at quoting Scripture, but also by how we live our lives. The apostle Paul wrote:

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Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

It’s not that we need to be running around all day yelling “JOHN 3:16!” What we do need to do is love and care, always remembering that Jesus died for the other person as well. We are not called to be walking doormats, and we are called to confront sin regardless of from whom it originates. But we must do it in love and truth. We need to do the work. Jesus finished His work on the cross. We have no excuse not to do the same.

In the Gospel of Luke we find:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

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I suspect most of us careen between Pharisee and tax collector. Sometimes we do think far more highly of ourselves than we ought to, while at other times we’re so busy beating ourselves up over our sins that we forget we can be, and for that matter are, forgiven. My goal is to be neither; instead, to embody the words “walk humbly with my God” on a path that neither veers into misplaced pride nor into self-flagellation over my misdeeds. The best way to avoid the latter is not doing the misdeed in the first place. Far easier said than done. Nevertheless, it remains the goal.