Assignment Title: Making Career Decisions within God's Will for Your Life
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
2022
Professor: Dr. Mary Smith
Liberty University
Principle 1: Our first priority in life must always be to develop an increasingly intimate relationship
with Jesus Christ.
In our society, we are concerned with accomplishments: what we do, how we perform, what we
produce, how busy we are, etc. We may judge the fruitfulness of a pastor's ministry, for example, by the
size of his or her church, the number of books written, tapes produced, the presence of a television
ministry, etc.
Yet Jesus said that all of this doesn't matter unless the person is intimately connected to Him: "I am
the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from
me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and
withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned" (John 15:5-6).
Remember that Christ calls us to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Mt. 6:33)--
not to seek what we can do for the kingdom of God. Being rooted in Christ is a fundamental
"prerequisite" to finding God's will for your career. You will not be ready or able to find the career path
He has designed you for unless you are seeking Him first.
He calls you to love Him with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength--and to love others as you
love yourself. The more passionately you are pursuing these callings, the better equipped you will be to
hear His voice and to be the person you will need to be in order to do the things God has created you to
do.
Also, be aware of some of the warning signs that your career (or prospective career) may interfere
with your relationship with Christ. For example, does your job require you to act in unethical or immoral
ways such as not revealing certain information about a product or service to a prospective customer?
Does your work require you--or seduce you--to spend so much time at work that you have little time for
anything else including your friends and family, your quiet times with the Lord, church, etc.? Does it
tempt you to become prideful, greedy, manipulative, etc.?
In other words, is your work leading you away from Christ rather than leading you toward
becoming more Christ-like? If so, you would be right in questioning whether this is a career path the
Lord would have you to pursue. As Jesus says, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole
world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Mt. 16:26).
Principle 2: God has created you with the aptitude for particular skills and abilities, and with the
inclination toward particular interests.
Your design is the most important factor to consider in making career decisions.
John came from a family that was involved in full-time Christian service: his sister was a missionary,
his brother was a pastor and his parents were Christian educators. Although he had very strong artistic
talents and interests, John felt pursuing an art-related career wasn't an appropriate way to serve God, so
he became a computer programmer, working for a large Christian organization. Although he enjoyed
parts of his work, he longed to be using his creative talents. He felt a part of himself was dying.
You are God's handiwork. He created your inmost being, and knit you together in your mother's
womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:13-14). You have been given work-related gifts
that have been chosen specifically for you (Romans 12:6-8). God desires for you to use the gifts He has
given you. Working out of your design will bring you satisfaction, will bless and enable you to serve
others effectively, and will bring glory to your Designer.
To make good career decisions you must have a thorough knowledge of your personality, skills and
abilities, interests and values. Without this knowledge, you are not fully equipped to make good career
decisions.
Principle 3: Being a Christian does not exempt us from the responsibility to become wise decision
makers.
Therefore, it is your responsibility to use your God-given mind to learn how to make good career
decisions.
If you wanted to buy a computer, most likely you wouldn't pray about it and then just walk into a
computer super-store and see which computer you felt "led" to buy! Most people would agree that to
do so would be foolish.
Instead, most people would agree that it's best to research information about the different
computers on the market, identify their specific needs, investigate prices at different stores for the
computers of most interest, and then make a purchase. Certainly, prayer should be a part of the
process, but God expects us to do our part in making wise decisions, as well. Learning how to make
decisions is a part of developing wisdom and maturity, both of which God desires for us.
The book of Proverbs is full of admonitions about the importance of gaining wisdom to live a life
that is pleasing to God. The proverbs are given to us "for attaining wisdom and discipline; for
understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life..." (Prov. 1:1-3). God desires
for us to have not only spiritual maturity and wisdom but also wisdom that relates to making decisions
in this life.
Career decisions are often scary for people. There may be more than one good option, and
seemingly, much is at stake. Unfortunately, many Christians avoid their responsibility to make the best
possible decision in the situation. Instead, they let other people or outside circumstances "make a
decision" for them. Circumstances or "signs" may be interpreted as God's will for them.
For example,
Jackie was working as a file clerk. Bored and tired of earning minimum wage, she was asking God to lead
her into a new career. One day, when she left her job for the day, she noticed a real estate office right
across the street that had a sign up: Wanted: New Real Estate Agents. Excited at the thought of a better
paying job selling houses, she drove home and found a flyer on her door advertising a school to train real
estate agents. She concluded this was God's answer to her prayers. She became a real estate agent and
found that she hated selling. She left the field soon after entering it, feeling like God had led her astray.
While I don't deny that God can lead through circumstances, Scripture does not support that God
wants to bypass our wrestling with making difficult decisions in partnership with Him. (For example,
Scripture gives many references in which the Apostle Paul used logical thinking--combined with prayer--
to determine his direction. See Romans 15:18-24--especially verse 20--for one such instance.)
Just as you would use computer magazines, knowledgeable computer users and computer
professionals to decide which computer would be best for you to buy, there are resources available to
you to assist you in learning how to do good career planning and make good career decisions based on
the right information about your design and the world of work. God does guide us; He does, however,
expect us to take responsibility for using the minds He has given us to the best of our ability.
Principle 4: Living out God's will for your career and life will require that you take risks.
Stephanie's mother had always encouraged her to "play it safe" and not take any risks so that she
wouldn't get hurt in life. This mindset had resulted in Stephanie, a bright and creative young woman,
being tremendously underemployed as a receptionist. In one of her career counseling sessions, she stated
that she was sure that as soon as she "knew exactly" what God wanted her to do she would be able to
take the steps to change careers.
Stephanie's words, and those we have heard from other clients in similar conversations, reveal that
they are expecting God to give them a clear, specific vision of what He wants them to do and exactly
how they are to go about doing it. The underlying reason is that they believe a career change will then
be risk-free and failure-proof. The hope and belief--often unconscious--is that once they have their clear
vision it will somehow magically become reality without them having to face any of the fears that have
kept them stuck in the past.
The problem with this mindset is that God doesn't work this way. God doesn't call us to risk-free
living, because we wouldn't need to develop our "faith muscles." The typical way God works is to
impress upon our hearts and minds a need, a cause, an issue or an interest that we develop a desire to
do something about, and then to lead us one step at a time. Jesus' call to His disciples was for them to
follow Him, and become fishers of men. They had no idea what was in store for them! When Jesus called
Saul (Paul), He did not reveal to him all that his ministry would entail or require from him.
The same is true for us today! In our own ministry, and in the work and ministries of clients and
colleagues, we have seen how a sense of call or vision may not be very specific and it's certainly not
accompanied with detailed directions or guarantees on how to pursue the dream successfully. God's
guidance is given one step at a time, and often requires that we take some scary steps of faith.
In the Parable of the Talents (Mt. 25:14-30), the point is often missed that the first two servants
were not told what to do with the talents that were entrusted to them. The first servant "went at once
and put his money to work and gained five more [talents]." He used his own reasoning powers to decide
how best to work with the talents he had been given. He took some risks!
Learning to take risks is an essential part of following God and living out His will for our lives.
Without risks, a person's life becomes a process of digging an ever-deeper rut in which he or she
stagnates and cuts himself or herself off from all that God intends life to be. As Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now
faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." We know that, as God's sons
and daughters, we have already won in this life--we are victors! God calls us to live courageously--to
take risks in order to use our gifts and bring salt and light to this hurting world. We have nothing to lose,
and everything to gain!
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His
power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, forever and ever! Amen." (Eph. 3:20-21)
