HOW GOD IS AT WORK IN YOUR JOB THAT YOU HATE by Nick Davis for Core Christianity
“Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” That would be nice. There is only one problem with this often repeated counsel: it’s impossible for the vast majority of us. There are a couple of problematic assumptions with this concept.
First, it assumes a great deal of privilege and potential. Very few in society actually possess the means and ability to earn a living for something they are passionate about. Think of any number of cases where quality education, nutrition, or environmental instability stomps out raw talent and desire. Or in other cases, the raw talent is simply lacking, and the field is too competitive. Somewhere along the way I had to give up on the dream that I would one day play first base for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The second problematic assumption is that we’ll always love the same line of work for 30 or 40 years! Folks are especially set up for disappointment in our increasingly specialized world. Jobs require more and more advanced education (and therefore more student loan debt), credentialing, and licensure out the wazoo, and this for an income and lifestyle that is often a mockery of the requirements. Aspirants pursue their chosen field with fervor and zeal only to find out they can’t stand the commute, that one coworker, constant talk of budget cuts, and inefficiencies. And any hope of escape is haltered by the dreaded “hiring freeze.”
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
No matter how much we love to “work the land” in theory, “cursed is the ground” (Genesis 3:17) is our reality.
We need something more satisfying, more captivating, and hopeful than simply staring at the clock every day. We need God to meet us in the grind. The good news is that when we are at work, God is not just kicking back in the big bosses’ chair, but down on the floor of the factory with us. His work is not scouring over our performance but giving us his grace. How can this be? Because he has called us and sent us.
God has called us for a purpose.
First, what is this calling? Is it being called into his office for “the talk”? On the contrary, it is a calling into grace from God “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…” (2 Tim 1:9). While the world is interested in the best and brightest, God is looking for those whom we would think of as a constant PR nightmare:
