I started a new job, however there is still a core part of my business left that I pray will someday come back into life. My new job comes with a 3 hour commute which can be daunting but I cherish the income. As the “bread winner” in the family, I felt I had been letting my family down by not providing for them. As I re-enter my old line of work as a printer, I am reminded of how much we men (and some women) define who we are by our careers.
What is a career? We men almost always start a conversation with someone we just met with, “What kind of work do you do?”. We define who we are by what we do. We may take a pride in our careers and/or we give careers prestigious and glamorous names such as a “maintenance technician”. or “landscape contractor”. We may spend endless hours perusing a promotion or advancement in our careers and tell our spouse and children, we are doing this for them.
But who are we if we take away our careers. I have mulled this over a lot over the last few months. I have always taken a lot of pride in my career and would not miss an opportunity to tell you all about it. But when I leave this earthen vessel how important is this “career” of mine.
My priorities in life should be 1: God 2: My wife 3: My children 4: My ministry. We cloud this by telling ourselves without our careers we cannot tithe to God and we cannot support our wife and/or children. Then we tell ourselves, when we get where we to supposed to be in our careers, then we will help others with a ministry.
I am guilty of this, I tend to put the cart before the horse. I forget that without any personal time spent with God’s Word I cannot have a good relationship with my wife. Without a personal relationship with HIm, I cannot show my children the love that God has for them. Without prayer, I cannot know what God wants me do with my life. I am challenged by this as I re-enter my old trade. God has me there for a reason. To be a witness of God’s love. I’m not there to show others in my trade how great I am or even put my identity in this trade but to do my job in a way that brings glory to God by following his Word.
written by Dave McCormick