Making Career Decisions within

God's Will for Your Life

Are you wrestling with a career decision, not sure which

path to take? Are you wondering which direction the Lord
desires you to go? If so, you are not alone! Many
Christians struggle with making career decisions at
various points in their lives. For example, when Kay Marie
was a sophomore in college, and a fairly new Christian,
she desired with her whole heart to do what God wanted
her to do with her life. As a communication major, she was
considering getting a master's degree and teaching at the
college level. She was concerned, however, that she
needed to be in "full-time Christian ministry" in order to
serve God most fully. She was haunted by a vision of
standing before God some day and instead of hearing Him
say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," He would say
to her, "Well, you did...OK." Perhaps you can relate to
fearing at some level that you are missing God's will for
your career and life.
As Christians, we desire to live our lives in a way that is
pleasing to the Lord. We want to do His will in all aspects
of our lives--in the daily choices we make that govern our
actions and in the large life decisions we have to make.
Scripture does give us clear guidance regarding the moral
choices we are to make as God's sons and daughters,
such as in the Ten Commandments and Jesus' Sermon
on the Mount. The Bible gives us instruction as to how we
are to live our lives so as to be salt and light in this world,
glorifying God with our lives.
The Bible does not, however, give specific guidance about
many types of life decisions, including making career
choices. No where in Scripture will you find a verse that
will specify whether you should become an accountant or
an engineer. Nor will you find detailed instructions on how
to choose a career when confronted with multiple
possibilities. Why doesn't the Bible address career
choice? One likely reason is because in biblical times,
career choice was not an issue. Men usually went into the
family business--whether fishing or sheep herding or
carpentry or being a merchant-- and women usually got
married and had babies. "What should I do with my
career?" was not a burning issue of the times.
Today, however, career decisions can seem
overwhelming because of the sheer number of options
that are available--more than at any other time in history.
We long to make the "right" decision--the choice that
proves to be good for us and that is the one we believe
God would have us make. So what can we do to make
wise career decisions that are within the will of God for our
lives? Although the Bible is not a manual on career
planning and decision making, it does teach some
important principles that can assist you in becoming a
wise decision maker. These principles have guided our
own career planning as well as our career counseling as
we seek to help others through the career decision making
process.
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 mind set
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 mind set 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 the
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, for ever and ever!
Amen." (Eph. 3:20-21)