Stuck in Your Job? …What About God’s Plan?预览

A Modern-Day Problem?

Last time, we met some people from Bible times who were just going along in their day-to-day jobs – and then found & followed God’s plan for their lives.

Today, the jobs held by those 5 people might be classed as “dead-end” careers: shepherd, prostitute, farmer, fisherman, and slave.

But let’s stop and take stock for a moment….

Wasn’t pretty much everyone in Bible times – and even just 100 years ago – “stuck” in jobs that they inherited one way or another? After all, it’s only recently that we have the freedom to choose education, career, company, and work location, isn’t it?

With that as background, let’s turn back to your situation today…

Let’s assume you’re in a dead-end job, and really are stuck there too. You might be too old or tired to do anything different. Or, maybe you also don’t have the opportunity to go back to school, to pick up the skills or whatever else you need to move on. Or, your day-to-day responsibilities might be too great to allow time or investment in a re-start. So now what?

The right thing to do is to turn to God and take stock of what skills, talents, and opportunities He has already given you.

But first things first.

God did not place you on earth to build your career, to store up wealth for yourself, or chase after your own pleasures & goals. Instead, God created you in His image:

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them… – Genesis 1:27

A wise man in the Bible studied the purpose of our lives and came back with the following:

… the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. – Ecclesiastes 12:13

Jesus clarified God’s commandments as follows:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ – Matthew 22:37-39

And the Apostle Paul chimes in on God’s purpose for us:

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." – Ephesians 2:10

Then, to make it all clear and easy to understand, Jesus Himself clarifies what these good works might be:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ – Matthew 25:35-36

Putting our modern-day problem of a “dead-end” job into context and reflecting on the above Bible teachings, what does that say about your problem of being “stuck” at work?

Take time to meditate on that today, and next time, we will look at how to put God’s plan into action, starting right where you are.