I’m on a mission. Well, maybe something less than a full-blown, hill-to-die-on mission, but certainly a concerted effort. My goal is to strongly encourage Christian moms and dads to read an article at the website of a ministry called Theology of Work (theologyofwork.com).
Just read it. That’s all I’m asking. Doesn’t sound too difficult, does it?
I’m guessing it will take about 15-20 minutes to read the 8000-word article, but it could change the way you think about work…and life, really. More to my point, it could change how you guide your children into their vocation.
The article is not a forecast of which jobs will have the greatest earning potential in the next decade, or how to find the job that best fits your child’s gifts – not that those things aren’t important; they are. It’s not even about finding God’s will in selecting a particular vocation as if that task were searching for a needle in a haystack.
Rather, it’s about the call that lies at the root of every other call for a Christian: to follow and trust Christ. The article addresses doing that in the midst of the vocational journey. And that’s why it’s worth reading.
It’s also about floundering and failure, and the freedom not to regret either in your child’s life or your own.
I suppose I’m particularly sensitive to the challenge of making vocational decisions because I grew up in an era in which there seemed to be little guidance beyond gift assessment tests and the occasional advice to “do whatever makes you happy.” Suffice it to say, I did my share of floundering.
Full disclosure: even if I had received all the wise counsel in the world, I wouldn’t have listened. All I cared about in high school and college was 1) keeping my band together so we could hit the big time…like that was going to happen; and 2) keeping my grades up so I wouldn’t get drafted and end up in a rice paddy in Vietnam. Not the highest aspirations, I admit, but plenty of motivation to study and stay in school.
The article at Theology At Work may not be the last word on the subject, but it’s a great start for Christian parents and their kids.
How am I doing? Are you ready to invest a few minutes for the sake of your kids’ futures? Just in case you’re still on the fence about that, here’s one of my favorite paragraphs from the article:
In Christ, believers have perfect freedom: That means you have the freedom to take risks, to fail, and to make mistakes. God might lead you to a job you know nothing about, have no present knack for, and don’t think you’d like. Would you be willing to take that job? Conversely, you might discover late in life that you missed God’s professional calling for you. Take heart, in the end, you will not be judged on getting the right job or fulfilling your God-given potential. You will be judged on the merits of Jesus Christ, applied to you only by God’s grace in giving you faith. The calling to belong to Christ is God’s only indispensable calling.
Click here to read the Theology of Work article.
By the way, I also wrote an article in AFA Journal featuring the broader ministry of Theology of Work.
