Billy, as we “acknowledge Him” in all that we do, and we do all things for Christ, we are in essence finding our identity in Him, b/c we are redeeming that which is ordinary, and “identifying” ourself in His mission. we will never do “all things” or acknowledge Him in all we do, which is why He had to die, but you get my point mate.

Soldier on.

matt winstead

As I think about it more I’m sure I’ll be more confused. But what’s crazy to me is that once I submit to the sovereignty of God, whatever I am doing is exactly what He wants me to be doing, and I must remind myself that is NOT a license to sin nor a license to apathy.

Rich Sturmfels
Diesel Does It

I was offering a friend some help on his career path and had emailed him this note this weekend. There may be something in here for you to review if you are struggling with your career or contentment in life.

There are no perfect jobs or careers although we should strive to become closer to “our calling” or passion.

There is however small things that we do each day that honor God and align us with how Jesus might have done in his work. I am not sure Jesus viewed being a carpenter the best career path but he did it as best he could, found contentment in the moment of the work which led him to his ultimate purpose in life.

So how does one go from being a “carpenter” or in my case a government aerospace worker in our world today to finding your passion and the ideal career? Ironically being a government aerospace worker is my calling for now and I find total enjoyment in the work. I know several people who can not stand working for the government in Huntsville. Isn’t that odd? One man’s passion is another man’s torment. I have the same frustrations they might have i.e. long and tedious meetings, sometimes poor governmental guidelines and a laid back management style but I love the overall work so much that the terrible details get smoothed over. Plus I’ve learned to make the best of a poor situation. I write reports while sitting in the meetings instead of sitting there and getting mad or frustrated. I can listen while I write or I can think of what I will write while I listen to the chatter going on. But that is not to say they should enjoy it as I do as we all have our own path to follow. They should clearly follow their heart and look for what they believe they will enjoy. Our parents probably told us to work hard, go to school and get a secure job and might have even said “work is not supposed to be fun so get a secure job and do it every day”. I disagree I believe you find your path by following the “fun” or excitement. This is where the gift from God is. Granted it is not fun all the time but overall you know it is your calling. Calling doesn’t have to mean you are a missionary in China either. Your calling can be working for the City of Huntsville in the sanitation department. Where else is a better place to serve….that is if you love trash.

There is no magical moment when you wake up and say “I have found the perfect gig” (those moments are fleeting and I have experienced them a few times in my life) however if you are looking to find your core inner purpose that God put each of us here to do then yes you do get closer to the “purpose driven gig” or the things that God wants us to do. Only Jesus had the perfect gig and we are all left to sin due to the egoic nature of our being.

So I would say go find an industry and career that best suits your goals and inner needs and ask God to help in that search but along the way enjoy the beauty and contentment in doing small things good even if they are not your calling or fun to do at the time. I spent 10 years of my life at least listening to my ego, looking for the future to provide some sort of happiness or contentment and missed those years of my life. They are now gone and I can’t get them back. What a waste on my part…wishing my life away. Only after you find the contentment of the “now” and doing a good job this moment for the people you serve can you connect with where you should be in the future. I am not sure why that is but I believe it to be true. Something about being grateful for even the bad stuff causes forward motion to begin. I didn’t do it that way for the most part and it was a rough road to say the least. I did my own thing without much prayer and forced my way which was painful and disruptive. I got to where I needed to be but only from the grace of God and I guess the fact that I enjoyed helping others with sever back pain. I think God uses people to help others even when we are off track.

I would say start Monday morning by trying as best you can to do the small things with a smile and do them well. Focus on the moment at hand and provide a good service that day even if no one cares or notices and even if you think you hate your job.

At night or in the quiet moments in the morning think about where you believe God wants you to be or rather pray that God will help you see it and be led there. I believe God answers prayers and brings opportunities to you if you are willing to listen and take action at some point. Just be still and turn off your brain chatter and let God work within you. Then when God brings you something make sure recognize it and act upon it. He brings us things each day but we don’t see or act on them.

The key is to find space around each moment in the day and focus on each task and do it well. If there is tension it is harder to get to the next step as you almost need to find peace in the task of work to find your more ideal career. The “enlightened” career flows from the point where you accept where you are and are content with the task at hand and can give thanks to God for allowing you to be there. Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. It merely means that you are allowing God to work within you and turning off your ego which is always looking for more this and more of that for the sake of feeling better about itself at the expense of someone else.

Finding your purpose/passion is one of life’s most difficult challenges but it gets a lot easier once you learn to enjoy the task at hand, ask for God’s help, being grateful for what you currently have and allowing some space and quiet time for God to do his work in you. The older I get the easier it has become for me to realize my purpose is whatever I am doing at this moment. For me right now it is sitting outside on the deck as the sun sets in a cool breeze writing this email to you hoping to help a friend who was where I was 18 years ago. In a few minutes it will be taking out the trash and mopping the floors which I hope to be able to take my own advice and enjoy the task.

For a good book to get you started on your career try 48 Days to the Work You Love. Dan Miller and Dave Ramsey were in Sunday School class many years ago. They both decided one day to help people with their careers and financial lives. Dave wanted a large business with national exposure and employees. Dan wanted to work from home and make the same impact without all the employees. They are still good friends and are in the same class both doing great things.

Focus on this moment. Pray and turn off your brain chatter which is mainly your ego running around in your brain yelling at you about your past or the illusion of the future. All God gave you is the present moment. Don’t waste your life as I did living in the future tense of what might happen and how if I could just get this or that I would be happy or the guilt and suffering of the past.

You can start right now by taking three deep breaths. Turn your brain off for two minutes and ask God to help you find your inner desires for your career. You are not your job or your title or your career by the way. Those are all external to who you are. What you are looking for is what God has in store for you for your internal core calling today. It will change but that is OK. What you are looking for is Now which if you think about it is the only place you can live your life.

I don’t know if this is exactly what you are referencing, but I consider it to be the act of seeking God’s will for your life. As far as finding your identity in other things, I think it’s important to not fall into the trap of considering everything you enjoy as a way to keep you from God. I think we should all be reflective on our activities, but if you ask yourself “Am I doing this to the glory of God” about every activity you undertake every day then your daily activities are reduced to one thing: Asking yourself that question. There has to be some happy medium of seeking his will and then running on a little bit of spiritual autopilot, else you would just pray every waking hour of your day.

Tim (not verified) - thanks very much for taking the time to write that. I enjoyed reading it very much and will print it out so keep it as a reference.

Jeff - I agree with the mistake a lot of us make of assuming if its ME that enjoys it, it must not be good because its not about ME. I would offer another thought also that is put forth in “Practicing His Presence”…

For those of you who haven’t read the book, the basic premise is how to take God into every moment of your day… the author points out how thinking is basically an inner dialogue with yourself, then talks about his own experiences in turning that inner dialogue with himself to an inner dialogue with God.

Great question Billy. I don’t have any new or enlightened answers as to what it means to find your identity in God but I can try to relate what it says to me. The question has several levels to it and it is interesting to read here what it means to different people. My view is similar to Rich’s except with a bit of a “California” feel to it. Rich suggests that “whatever I am doing is exactly what He wants me to be doing…” Identity in God to me means how close I am to what he has me doing on this earth and as Rich states it is what I am doing right now. How I try to get closer to that path is the following: This will sound really “tree hugger” stuff but it works for me. I go outside and pray for a quiet mind with no ego chatter. Ego chatter consists of future thoughts wanting more and doing this or that and it also includes past thoughts which can be good memories or old tapes both of which have little to do with my life right now. I try to find a quiet forest with lots of trees and connect with all the material things God has created. I get away from the crackberry and ipod and brain chatter. Then I start to focus in on the beauty of nature and God’s creation. After 30 minutes I start to focus my thoughts on details of leaves, trees or whatever the purpose of which is to bring me in to the current moment in my life leaving out the egoic chatter who is still crying out for more more more. Better car, nicer house, better job, better wife, the ego always wants more! I worked for a billioanare for five years and on his private plane leaving a meeting with Donald Trump he told me “Taylor that guy has real jack. I feel so inferior right now. I wish I had that much money.” You say he is crazy and greedy and I will tell you he is very normal and you would say the same thing if you were in his shoes unless you had learned how to “time out” your ego and send it to his room. So nature can get you away from the ego who lives his world in the future and the past always wanting more and trying to make you feel better about yourself at the expense of others. OK so now you have most of the brain chatter off and your ego buddy is in his time out room. I start to notice the beauty of how I live in this great world all thanks to God letting all issues go away for a few minutes. If you then say I am in search of my identity with God you have let mr ego out of his room. Remember…he lives in the future. God is with me NOW and there is no “I am in search of” anything. It is here NOW and at that point something special happens and it clears my mind and really creates a feeling of love and contentment within my mind and heart. I notice that I am smiling and feeling realy good about my life and thankful for even the bad job I might have or the bills that are not paid or whatever is bugging me that day. At that moment if I can hold it long enough (it last longer every time I do this) I experience my identity with God. The great thing about this is experience is that it last and it changes your view of life and those around you. For me I need my God Identity several times a week to stay where I like to be so we bought a house with a large park setting in the back yard. I know the enlightened people can go there in their mind at any time but my brain has way too much chatter and ego going on so I need the big trees and flowers to get my head on straight. That is where God can show me where NOW is the easiest.

So ask yourself how can I live my life in the future (the future is out there) and other than learning some good lessons from your past (moslty guilt at work at some point) how in the world do I have anything other than what I have right now? As you read this and I type this word….well that is where God is and that is how I find my Identity in him. He is not in a better job, a nicer car, a better wife or my fun college days several years ago. He is not just in church and he is not - just a little further away if I just sin less or love more. He is now so learn to live NOW and you will see your life in a totally different way. That is not to say I don’t care about the calendar and my long To Do list. By the contrary. The more I am with God NOW the easier he makes it for me to figure out what to do. I have seen it time and time again - when I let go and trust God and live NOW - my life really becomes meaningful without all the background discontent and anxiousness. He allows me to be content. When you feel content that is when you know you have found your Identity with God.

Great advice, Tim. And neat tidbit about Dave and Dan.

Thanks for posting.

This is a great discussion point Billy… Identity in God. I jumped in with the career discussion with my previous submission but will give you my thoughts on your point for what my views are worth. I actually wrote a page or two and somehow messed up the entry so I will do it again. Maybe this time it will be more thought out and clear to the reader.

Tim, I sent you an email. Your comment is now live on the website.

Our problem is that we are self absorbed and too focused on our desires. This is what is described as the flesh. Therefore the answer is not found there. Be careful. Trust the Creator, not the creation. Find your strength in Him and Him alone. If you find your strength in you or meditation or nature or achievement then you have fallen into idolatry. Our default rut continually takes us there.

We should not go before God and ask Him to show us what we desire. Instead, we should bow before him and ask Him to make His desires our desires. We need to come to grips that when we trust our thoughts over His, it is sin. And when we wonder if God really wants what best for us we (including me) need to repent of our arrogance.

It all begins with the heart. Ask God to turn your heart to His. Ask Him to help you trust Him more and self less. Ask Him to place His desires within you. Then begin to rethink how to live all parts of your life to His glory. Seek Him where you are now, doing what you do now. Assume that you are to bloom where you are planted. Then be open for Him to move you however he wishes.

Man up: Confess. Repent. Stop living in the flesh. Walk in the Spirit.

David Thew
Sojourn Pastor
Thewblog