So, Which Career Path?
You know so often we ask ourselves, “Which path or career path I’m I supposed to follow as a Christian?” And it’s such a wonderful question because all of us want to do what is the will of God in our lives. And especially as we think about our careers, our future and the things that we’d like to do. And we don’t want to botch it, we don’t want to do what is wrong.
All of us want to do what is the will of God in our lives.
Different Careers in The Bible
It’s interesting when you take the Scriptures and start reading carefully – there are so many careers that you could come up. For an example being a shepherd was a career. Being a king was a career. David was, and David was both a king and also, he was a shepherd. Moses was a leader. Daniel was a prime minister. Joseph was a premier in Egypt.
So, then I think it is important then to take a little bit of time and ask yourself, “Which career path am I supposed to be following as a believer, and how do I go about it?”
1. Pray for Direction
I think first of all what is important is to pray. And I don’t want to minimise the power and the importance of praying. You know, asking God to guide you. But it’s not enough also just to say, “I’m going to pray” because It doesn’t mean that by the time you have prayed and you say, ‘“Amen'” and all of a sudden, voila, this is where I’m going to be going.
2. Discover Your Passions & Interests.
I think the second thing that needs to happen also is to look around. What are the opportunities and what are some of the interests that you have as a Christian? What is it that you’re passionate about? What is it that you really like to do? I don’t think that God leads us in our careers to career paths that we don’t like. I really don’t think that is the way.
I don’t think that God leads us to career paths that we don’t like.
The Psalmist says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). So in other words, God does honour our desires too. And as long as our desires, whether it’s the career path we want to follow, it is in line with his will and purpose for our lives. So I would say it is important then to take a bit of time, look around. What is it you are passionate about?
3. Just Do Something!
And I think the third thing also is, do something. You know? Sometimes you just don’t know whether this is the right way to go. But do something!
If for an example you are interested in being a mechanic, go around, you know, Christians who are mechanics or even people who are not necessarily Christians and learn about cars. Learn about some of the things that kind of interest you and begin to test. So, I often say do something. Test and see if this is probably the career. Align yourself with people. Ask many questions to people who are already in those careers and see if this is probably you in the future.
4. Seek Guidance
And I think also in the mix: ask people around you. You know you’ve got friends, you’ve got family members, you’ve got pastors who may be guiding you. You’ve got mentors and coaches. I mean we’ve got a plethora of opportunities for people to guide us and sharpen us in the right direction in terms of what we need to be doing. So, I would say spend a little bit of time, ask people to whether “Is it me in this?” And it’s amazing what you’ll get from people.
Reflect on what you are hearing.
Sometimes people tell us honestly and sometimes people tell us what we want to hear. But I think whether it’s by way of criticism when somebody says to you, “Well I don’t think it is you”, don’t take it to heart. Don’t feel like, “They are knocking me, they are discouraging me”. But I think reflect on what you are hearing.
In other words, you do need to get a little bit of feedback from people that may know you better.
5. Use The Tools Available To You
And I think also there’s nothing wrong to be using some of the tools and interventions that are available out there. For an example, if you are at school there are these career expositions and a time when people come and advise people about what career they need to be taking. Whether it’s from high school or even going to university.
6. Pray More
So for me then I would say, this very important. Some of those things you employ in your own career seeking. And then maybe lastly, pray. Pray more. And then ask God to guide you.
