Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

career

Hats

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If you’re like me – and chances are, if you’re reading this, you are – then you wear a multitude of hats on any given day. For those unfamiliar with the analogy I simply refer to the various responsibilities we each have. I have my day J.O.B., run my own business, am trying to launch a new career as a writer (how am I doing?), I’m a financial counselor for my church, have family responsibilities, house and home duties, Bible study and prayer time. I somehow need to squeeze in friends and, perhaps maybe, just a little down time for myself. As I write this I am thinking of additional hats I wear, but for now I think you get the picture. The world has become a crazy busy place, and it is nearly impossible to not play along.

My dilemma, beyond the obvious, is how little time there is for God. I suspect most of us struggle with this. One fact we cannot escape from is the fact that the amount of time we make for God is totally up to us, a choice, plain and simple. I think it is a subtle and brilliant plan of Satan to continually add to the busyness of our lives. Is it merely coincidence that the busier we have gotten as a nation, the further we as a people have drifted from God? Satan’s best moves are indeed the subtle ones. He rarely uses blatant tactics, but rather takes something inherently neutral, perhaps even helpful, and twists it ever so slightly in a manner that takes our focus off of God.

Having a job, pursuing your passion and serving others are all worthy tasks. But when they start piling one on top of the other, what are the first things that get squeezed out? I think more often than not, God is the first to go in our busy schedule. After all He’ll love us regardless and He knows how we feel about Him anyway, right? As a side note, the next thing that tends to get removed from our schedules is exercise. Soon we become flabby and depressed and focused totally on our appearance rather than on God and the needs of others. Satan wins; he has removed our focus from God and that is all he wants to do. The easiest way to save money is to pay yourself first and pay your bills with what’s left. Might I propose the best way to serve God with your time is to spend the first hour of your day with Him? Take care of everything else with the time you have left. We need to guard our lives from becoming too busy. We need to recognize the subtle ploys of Satan. When it comes to spending our time, we need to pay God first.

Career Crisis for Christ?

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I’ve been pretty frustrated with my J.O.B. (it seems like such a dirty word that I feel the need for additional emphasis) for quite some time now. I have a great job that pays well, and hey, let’s face it, in this economy it’s wonderful to still be employed. But there is something vaguely immoral about giving the most productive ten hours of my day to a corporation that does absolutely nothing to further the message of Jesus Christ to our world. As Christians, we have one mission in life: to be the love of Christ to all those around us that they might come to know Him.

I have long heard the pat answers of “just serving God wherever you are” and “perhaps God put you in that J.O.B. for a specific purpose, to witness to those around you”. Well, okay, but isn’t that the exact purpose that God has given to the life of every Christian? No matter where we are we are to be demonstrating and reflecting the love of God to all those around us. It is a lifelong, continuous mission, one that is independent of where we live or where we work. It seems to me more likely that these pat answers come from our Western Christianity growing far too comfortable with the Western ideology for far too long. We now see a J.O.B. as our Christian responsibility, as a sign of how God is blessing us. This is an utterly foreign concept of what I read in the Bible. The followers of Christ worked as they needed to support themselves as they went about telling others about Christ and demonstrating His love. There was no concept of a comfortable career, a nice nest egg for retirement, no concentration on how nicely they could furnish their homes or if they were driving the latest eco-conscious chariot!

I do not mean to imply that Christians should shirk all responsibility and that all jobs are evil. I do intend to point out that most of us, self included, spend the vast majority of our time doing things that have little or no Kingdom value. Each of us was created with a unique combination of gifts and passions, but how many of us are fully utilizing those same gifts? How many of us are fully engaged in our passions? We have become a fat and lazy people, consumed with what society tells us we need to do and have. I for one am rethinking the whole deal; what impact might I have on the world for Christ if I was fully engaged in something I was passionate about, fully utilizing the gifts God has imparted to me and giving the most productive hours of each day to such an endeavor? How might my life be different? How might yours? More importantly, think of the Kingdom impact we would have on our neighborhoods and our world.

Father, I know the path you have placed before me. I thank you for the passions and gifts you have placed within me. May I set aside the things of this world and focus solely on Your kingdom and on loving those around me. Strengthen me for the road ahead. Thank You for Your love and for this life You have given me; may I use it all for Thee.