CAREER DEVELOPMENT: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE Paul Minear, a Bible scholar, once remarked that the Bible is an album of casual photographs of laborers….. a book by workers, about workers, and for workers. The opening chapter of the Bible portrays God at work. Some of the specific images of God in the Bible include that of a composer and performer, metalworker, potter, garment maker, gardener, farmer, shepherd, tentmaker, and builder. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was a man of work. He was a skilled artisan, a craftsman who knew how to produce a quality product. He took great pride in His work. He said, “My yoke is easy.” As a skilled carpenter, He knew the difference between a yoke that was made well and one that was poorly built, for a well-made yoke was easy on a beast of burden. Of the 132 public appearances of Jesus, 122 were in work settings, and He used them effectively to teach great spiritual truths to His disciples. Apostle Paul worked with his hands and supported himself while preaching the gospel in Thessalonica. For Paul, work was an arena to express his faith in Christ. He wrote, “If any will not work, neither let him eat” (2 Thes 3:10). Thus, Scriptures teach us that we are all called to do a work. The word “career” simply refers to pursuing an activity as a lifework. It’s a vocation or a calling. You may be called to work as an engineer, a medical doctor, an attorney, a homemaker, a farmer, or even a minister of the gospel. The term, “career development,” is often understood to mean the work we do for a living or the career we pursue in our place of employment. Regardless of the nature of work we do, if we are going to advance in our careers, we must pursue a strategy of appropriate preparation, strategic positioning, acceptable performance, and proper perspective. They are, what I call, the four “P”s of career building. Preparation Preparation is the first step to reaching a career goal. When Apostle Paul met the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and was called to take the gospel to the Gentiles, he waited for three years in Arabia before going to Jerusalem. There in that Nabateaen Kingdom, he spent time in contemplation and preparation before launching his evangelistic ministry in full stream. Proper preparation is the first essential step for a successful career. Abraham Lincoln said, “I want to live in such a way that when I am called, I am ready.” If you want to be a doctor, you will have to undergo many years of study in a medical school. If you want to be a lawyer, you will have to go to a law school. If you want to be a skilled electrician, you will have to go to a trade school. Every career path requires a certain level of appropriate preparation. Of course, before you can prepare for a career, you must decide on what you want to do. Career selection is not an event, but a process. And that process begins by first getting to know who you are. You need to know your abilities, interests, and values. You can engage in this self-discovery process by seeking feed back from your school counselors, advisors, pastor, family, and others trusted friends. Ask them what they perceive to be your strengths and weaknesses. There are aptitude tests you can take that will give you some clue about careers in which you are likely to succeed. Second, ask what careers relate to your interests, abilities, and values? What professions interest you the most, or for which you have a passion? A great place to get information on career options is your local library or a nearby university placement office. For some, their career path may require them to go to a trade or a vocational school. Careers such as law, medicine, engineering, or business generally require undergraduate and graduate studies. A word about college admission is in order here. College admission is based on a complex formula that takes into account your high school grades, record of extra-curricular activities, SAT cores, and recommendations from your teachers. Admission counselors want to see how you have performed in high school over a period of four years rather than base their decision just on one test score. Randy McDow, President’s scholarship program director at Georgia Tech in Atlanta said: Long gone are the days when a high SAT score would suffice to win a scholarship from Georgia Tech. . . Georgia Tech’s presidential scholarship, strictly merit-based, will be awarded this year to students with SATs ranging from between 1200 to the 1600 maximum. High-test scores are nice, but they are no substitute for persistence, creativity, and communication skills when trying to master college course work and life beyond ivy-covered walls. It seems extremely shortsighted to so highly valued the results of a test taken in isolation when effective learning, living, and leading require interaction.[1] It is important to keep in mind that it is not unusual for a person to have more than one career in his/her lifetime. If you discover that you are not fulfilled in your present career, you can always make an effort to change, provided you are willing to pay the price of time, energy, and money involved in that career move. Positioning Career positioning simply means putting yourself at a place where you are at a competitive advantage for your next career move. Each position you take must prepare you for your next assignment in your career path. I recognize that it is not always possible to plan your career with such precision. Sometimes, the Lord may put you in a position where you wonder how in the world it is going to help you in your career? But be patient with God, with yourself, and with others. God is at work in your life. Hold your ground and learn what you can in your current position. It just may be the right experience you need for your next career move. If you are working in a corporation, every year you have a performance review or a time when you discuss your career with your supervisor. That is a good time to talk about what you want to do next and solicit input from your supervisor how best you can prepare for that assignment. Sometimes you may have to serve in one or more antecedent assignments before you can be considered for the position that you really want. In Acts chapter eleven we read that the Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to Antioch to investigate and verify reports about a revival that was sweeping across that region. He went there and saw what the Lord was doing. People were getting saved in large numbers. Barnabas knew that Paul was called to take the gospel to the gentiles, and he was the right man for the job. Paul was prepared and positioned to assume this challenge. It was the next move for Paul in his career path as an evangelist. Performance No matter what job you hold or what profession you pursue, you need to demonstrate your competencies if you are going to advance in your career. Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “to give attention to public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching. He exhorted Timothy not to neglect the spiritual gift God gave him. Then he said, “Let everyone see the progress you are making in Christian service.” The Bible says, if you are faithful in little things, God will entrust greater things to you. Nehemiah and his friends were able to build the wall because they had a mind to work. In other words, they performed. Talk is cheap. Walk the talk! Generally, four levels of performances are recognized in most professional work settings. Stage 1 performer: This person is a learner, a helper, performing sub-tasks under direct supervision. The person is very much dependant. Stage 2 performer: This person is known for a distinctive competence. He/she is a technical specialist, an individual contributor. This person works independently. Stage 3 performer: This person is a coach, a guide, mentor. This person has reached a level where he/she assumes responsibility for others. This person is Interdependent. Stage 4 performer: This person sets the course of an organization or the company. He/she is a pathfinder and assumes responsibility for the larger organization. This person is Interdependent Ask yourself at what stage are you performing currently? What is required to move you forward from your current position? You may get your first job based on the school you attended or your technical competence, but from then on, what determines who gets to stay, who is promoted, who is passed up, is the level of your emotional intelligence. Many people who are book smart, but lack the necessary emotional intelligence will end up working with people who have lower IQs than they who excel in emotional intelligence. What is emotional intelligence? It is our capacity to work with people, negotiate disagreements, and engage in teamwork. Daniel Goleman, a Harvard trained expert, notes: The new rules predict who is most likely to become a star performer, and who is most prone to derailing. And, no matter what field we work in currently, they measure the traits that are crucial to our marketability for future jobs. These rules have little to do with what we were told was important in school; academic abilities are largely irrelevant to this standard. The new measure takes for granted having enough intellectual ability and technical know-how to do our jobs; it focuses instead on personal qualities, such as initiative and empathy, adaptability and persuasiveness.[2] A study of what corporations are looking for from their MBA recruits shows that the three top competencies are: communication skills, interpersonal skills, and initiative. Jill Fadule, Managing Director of admissions at Harvard Business Schools said, “empathy, perspective taking, rapport, and cooperation” are among the competencies the school is looking for in those who apply. Perspective No matter what career we pursue, if we are going to find genuine fulfillment in what we do, we must keep our work in proper perspective. Our work is ordained of God. It was not a result of man’s rebellion. Adam, in his state of innocence, was given a task to do, to fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature. God intended man to work and find it fulfilling. But because of sin our work has come under its curse. As a result, we can no longer find our fulfillment in our work, no matter what it is. Because of sin, our work has become a drudgery and toil. The Bible teaches that Solomon had built houses, planted vineyards, and had male and female servants, And yet when he surveyed all that he achieved in life, he realized that everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind (Eccl. 2:4-11). But God in Christ has redeemed our work from the curse of sin. We can now glorify the Lord through the work of our hands and find it rewarding. The Bible says: Whatever you do, work it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Jesus Christ you are serving (Col. 3: 22-24 The ancient Greeks thought that manual labor was an inferior activity. Aristotle said that the most perfect man would not soil himself with the labor of his hands. Reformers like Luther and Calvin regarded work to be noble and the arena in which we express our faith. They taught that God calls people not just to faith, but also to express that faith in all walks of our life. For example, Luther trumpeted the religious virtues of household chores saying, it has no obvious appearance of holiness, yet these very household chores are more to be valued than all the works of monks and nuns. Finally, no matter what work we do, we must recognize that our careers are not an end unto themselves. They are only a means to serve the Lord and our fellow men. If we loose sight of this fact, we can fall into what Nathan Hatch of the University of Notre Dame calls the “the perils of professionalism.” His poignant words aptly put the whole matter into perspective: Those called to the professions should bring to them a full measure of energy, diligence, and creativity. Yet our pursuit of the excellent should spring from a different motivation—our calling as Christians. The church of Christ does not need smug professionals, preoccupied with managing their own careers. The church does not need success-oriented members who reach out only to other winners. The church does not need those who expect the good life because of how hard they work. Instead, Christians are to live out the original ideal of the professions: to serve rather than to be served. Courtesy Rev Dr. Abraham Philip
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 20:09:37 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015