Scott and I were having a conversation about work the other day. He's still hoping for another job opportunity as he doesn't feel like he's reaching the potential God has set for him at his current job. We discussed that while your job is certainly important, it's not the most important thing in our lives, and what really matters is serving God and bringing Him glory.
This got me thinking about work in general and how it really consumes our lives! I know it's important and we have to do it in order to have the money that it takes to survive. I know after the fall, God cursed Adam with having to work for his food, and we still carry that curse today. But I don't believe God means for it to consume us. The only thing that should ever consume us is love for God!
But just think about it. When you're little everyone asks you what you want to be when you grow up. Then as you get older, people start talking about college majors, which are intended to prepare you for a future career. We spend all this time and money on school so that we can get a job. Then we spend the rest of our lives in said job. When we meet someone, what is the first thing they generally ask you (aside from your name)? "What do you do?" And of course, they mean, what is your occupation, where do you work, what is your job description, etc... When you start a new class or join a group of some kind, there are usually round-table introductions. When it's your turn, what information to you give (assuming it's not a decided set of questions to answer)? Usually you say your name, where you live, where you work, major/degrees, if you're married with kids, etc...
What this tells me is the world largely identifies us with our jobs. It's what we do and who we are. But is our job what really defines us? Granted, some people have jobs that better define them than others. Certainly a counselor, minister, teacher, doctor, etc would be able to justify how their job illustrates their values and personalities better than someone working at Wal-Mart or McDonalds. And it's not just about the quality of the job. Someone could be a lawyer, have a great paying job and lots of money, but be completely miserable because either the job isn't fulfilling their potentials and/or because they are placing too much importance on their job. Jobs will never fulfill us, even jobs that we love, that are perfect fits for us. No job alone can provide constant joy and security. Only Jesus can do that.
So, whether or not you are currently in a job that is well suited for you and whether or not you are pleased with your career, should it be your defining attribute? Think about the questions. What do you want to be? Most kids answer with job. Firemen, police men, teachers, baseball players... And that's what the person asking the question is actually looking for. But if you think about what the question actually is, is your job all you want to be in life? Do I just want to be a student affairs personnel? No. I want to be a servant of God, a loving wife, a mom, a friend... And aren't those really more important than a job anyway? And then the question we all get asked, What do you do? What do I do? Taken very literally I would say, I hang out with my husband, I read, I worship God, I go to church, I do Bible Study, I go to school, I watch TV and movies, I sing (a LOT), I dance (badly), I laugh, I pray, and yes, I go to work. But looking at that list, which of these things is most important or most displays my personality and values? The things related to loving God and loving others. That's what is most important in life because those are the two specific things that Jesus calls us to do. Those are the things that most define what type of person we are and what we value in life. Yes, our jobs could and should reflect that because we should be loving God and others in every area of our lives. But are our jobs so important that we should let them completely define us? That we should let them get in the way of loving God and loving others? Certainly not.
And just a fun fact that I actually picked up from another blog title "Life in the Fast Lane," The average American works 122,400 hours of his/her life. Now I don't know if this is accurate and I really am not mathematically gifted enough to know the percentage of our lives this is, but I know that's a BIG number!
The world is often so backwards from the truth. The world places the majority of our purpose in life on our jobs. Yes we should work, yes we should strive for jobs that fulfill our potentials, that make us happy, and that illustrate our personalities, but jobs are NOT the majority of who we are or what we do. I hope I never lose sight of my real values and priorities in life. What am I? A Christian. What do I do? Love God and love others!
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