Determining MY Career
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Thank God, It’s Monday: (Part II)
DETERMINING MY CAREER
Philippians 4:19
19) And my God will meet all your needs according to
his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
5) If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who
gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Starting with the series last Sunday, we have
established the fact that work is a part of God’s plan for us and it matters to
Him how we are working. Perhaps, one
significant theological concept we should always take to heart is the truth
that you can worship when you work. Now,
think about that for a second. I’m not
talking about singing the songs that we just did, or some of the stuff that we
are doing in church, but I’m talking about taking God to work with you. You see, that work can be a way for you to
live out your faith. That work can actually draw you to God. And the Bible says that work can be ministry.
Now, when I use the word ministry here,
the word can simply mean to serve.
Today, there are a lot of people who continually make
a distinction between the secular and sacred work which doesn’t have a basis in
the Bible. What they are saying is if
you work in the church, then you are in a sacred ministry; but, if your work is
not church-related, then yours is secular. However, when you examine the words
of the apostle Paul to the slaves in Colossians 3:23, the teaching is – all
Christians are full-time ministers:
Whatever
you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
This
makes our theme this morning very important – Determining My Career. It is
a common concern whether we are exactly in the job that God wants us to have.
There may be some of you who are thinking of leaving one career and doing
another. Perhaps, for our college students, you would like to determine the
direction of your career. I hope that studying the Bible together, we can
address this issue. James 1:5 is very comforting Notice how this is read in the
New Living Translation:
If
you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he
will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking.
There
are several things in this verse that are interesting. The first one says that God smiles or is
happy at the opportunity to give you His wisdom. God is not sitting up in Heaven saying—I’m
not going to tell these guys anything.
I’m not going to share anything with them. Let them go ahead and figure it out. Instead,
when we say—God, give me Your wisdom.
That makes God happy. He will
gladly tell you. And then it says—He
will not resent your asking. . If you
look at this phrase in the Greek, it could be translated—He will not resent asking and asking and asking. God doesn’t get
mad if you keep asking Him questions. So what we want to do today is look at
four questions that you can ask God to determine your life’s work. I understand
that these questions might not answer all your questions about the direction of
your career, but I hope they can at least provide some guidance based on God’s
word:
I WHAT
DOES GOD WANT?
Of course, we would start here because of my
assumption that you want to honor God with your life by doing what He wants for
you. Basically, life is not determined
by what we want. Life is about what God wants. So the issue is—what does God
want for my life?
One of the best selling corporate books today is
written by Jim Collins, Good to Great. In
this book, he basically hammered on the premise – Good is the enemy of great. Well,
that’s a profound statement about life. When you think about it, there are so
many people who have good ambitions, good dreams. But the real issue is not
good versus bad; it’s about good versus great. Am I going to do the greatest
thing with my life? Is my life going to
be a great life? So don’t settle for
good, settle for great. And if you want
a life that is going to be great, by definition, it has to be a life with God.
God’s will is simply the best for your life. We often quote this verse:
Jeremiah 29:11
11) For I know the plans I
have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to
harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Honestly, if you evaluate our life, our average
career life would last about 40 to 50 years. Compare this with the many
thousands of years of history, life is pretty short. Therefore, if we really want
this life to be significant or for us to be a significant person, our life
should be used to make the biggest difference possible. So if we are going to
have a best life, we have to have a life that is connected with God. It’s about what God wants.
James is giving us some interesting advice in James
4:13-15:
Now
listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city,
spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not
even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that
appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live
and do this or that."
Listening to these words of James, it is meaningless
to plan our lives apart from God’s will? The issue is—if it’s the Lord’s will,
then first of all, I’ll be alive, and then secondly, I’ll be able to do what He
wants. So, is it God’s will or not? What does God want?
To understand what God wants, we need to listen to
God. What is God saying to you? As we have studied before, we said God
communicates His will to us in four ways:
A. Through the
Bible (Psalm 119:105)
B. Through the
prompting of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13)
C. Through
God’s People (Prov. 12:15; Prov. 24:6)
D. Through
Circumstances (1 Corinthians 16:9)
If
you desire to study this further, you would have to go back to the message
dated February 11, 2007, “How Do I Know
God’s Will in My Life.”
II WHAT
AM I GOOD AT?
Another important question we need to ask ourselves
with is – what are my skills or abilities? The difficulty of this question lies
on our tendency to convince ourselves that we are better on certain things even
if we are not. Many times it would help to get the opinions of other people to
tell us what we are good at. So what do people say to you that you are good
at? In that, you have your opportunity.
The reality is God has wired us to do some things
really well. Not everything, nobody can do that, but you can do some things
really well. Here is a perfect example:
Exodus 31:1-5
1) Then the Lord said to
Moses,
2) "See, I have
chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of
3) and I have filled him
with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of
crafts—
4) to make artistic
designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,
5) to cut and set stones,
to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.
When God’s people were deciding to build a
tabernacle, God has helped in identifying the skills of Bezalel who can work
effectively in bringing the artistic designs to make the place more beautiful. Notice
verse 3, “I have filled him with the
Spirit of God, with skill.” In the same way, God has wired you for
something. That’s what you have to discern.
And you know when you learn what you are good at and you do it, that’s
the way of honoring God.
III WHAT
IS IN FRONT OF ME?
The third question allows us to be conscious of our open
doors, our opportunities. Some people keep waiting on their ship to come in,
and it never does. You have to do what
is in front of you today. I realize that
this may appear contradictory with the idea of God’s will. How can these two
work together? I believe that God can use the open doors in front of us as
stepping stones in order to arrive in His perfect plan for us.
We talk about this corporate ladder all the time. For
a corporate job, they don’t put you at the top of the ladder right away. You have to work your way up. And you can work your way up faster, or you
can work your way up slower, depending on how well you do with what is in front
of you. Sometimes, you have to start as
an apprentice, or an understudy to someone else. Many times, we get so busy
waiting on the perfect opportunity that we miss the opportunity to build
ourselves and to grow ourselves. The wise Solomon has a perfect advice in this
area:
Ecclesiastes 9:10
10) Whatever your hand
finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going,
there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
The words, “do
it with all your might,” can simply mean do it well. So what’s in front of you? What can you do well right
now?
Now, if you keep doing your best not just for the
paycheck, but most especially because you are seeking the approval of God. You
in return will receive the best from God. Jesus taught this principle of sowing
and reaping: Remember how the Master dealt with the faithful servants in the
parable of the talents:
Matthew 25:21
21) "His master
replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a
few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your
master's happiness!'
Obviously the principle here is clear - if you are
faithful with a few things, you will be given more. Therefore, if you are faithful with what is in front of you, you
will be given more.
Earlier I said that ministry is to serve. So the last
question we need to ask is—God, how can I serve the most number of people with
my life? The truth of the matter is - If you want a significant life, it’s
about serving others. With that being
said, for Christians, the last question of career is not—how much will I make,
but it’s how many can I serve?
When Jesus was asked to elevate and explain what life
is all about, He said—life is really about two things – love God and love
people:
Matthew 22:37-39
37) Jesus replied: "
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind.'
38) This is the first and
greatest commandment.
39) And the second is like
it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
Clearly, we should not just love God and love people
in here on Sunday. You also need to carry this with you in your workplace. Let
me go further. Jesus also reminded us in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:13-14
13) "You are the salt of the earth. But if
the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer
good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14) "You are the
light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
To be the salt of the earth means that we are to be
the people that bring out the good in the world, we are to point society in
directions that are positive and directions that honor and esteem people. While
to be the light of the world means we are to be representatives of Christ who
honors God and loves people in our workplaces.
For the Christian, this is what life is all about. I believe if you can answer the first three
questions – What does God want? What am I good at? and What’s in front of me?
You will have some guidance in what profession you can have. But by asking this
fourth question – what is my life’s ministry? You would understand the purpose
of you being there. May you always be in
the place where God wants you to be!
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