VACANCY: CAREER GUIDANCE CONSULTANT (Remuneration package negotiable) For more information, keep reading… I wonder: 1. How many adverts like the one above have you seen over the past 5 years? 2. How many of us would like to work as career guidance consultants? According to yesterdays THE STAR newspaper: only 15% of university students graduate in record time. It is further reported that an average student finds anything with a maths component difficult. The latter finding should not come as a surprise because last years’ Grade 9’s Annual National Assessments in Mathematics also revealed similar results (13% national average). We seriously need to ask ourselves: Are South Africans generally dumb? As part of my humble attempt to answer this question, allow me please to refer you to the most popular psalm in the Bible, Psalm 23:3: ‘He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.’ Short and sweet. God leads me. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. It is for his name’s sake that he does what he does. And so are South Africans dumb? I don’t think so. Then why do they find it so difficult to succeed? The article of THE STAR cites a number of possible reasons, all based on sound research done by Monash University (Johannesburg Campus). Reasons cited include lack of financial support, lack of academic preparedness and students not getting enough support from universities. LIMITED CAREER GUIDANCE at school level is also implied. It is against this backdrop that I find Psalm 23:3 relevant to us today, especially as we celebrate the youth month. I am writing this message to encourage believers with the hope that non-believers would also not mind reading. The issue at stake is not the ability of South Africans. Guidance is! The South African child, unlike most children in Africa, is faced with many distractions (Thanks to the western influence). Technology, relationships, illiterate but rich celebrities and politicians to mention a few. The influence of these ‘distractions’ is particularly felt at school level. It is not surprising that learners battle with the more demanding subjects. Part of the solution involves increasing contact time (by providing extra lessons), revision of work learnt before test and exams (because learners do not study at home), and exposing learners to past examination question papers (because examiners are not very creative!). I am assuming that the teachers report at school daily to teach. Teacher absenteeism also emphasizes my point: lack of subject-specific guidance. The activities suggested in the above paragraphs can turn losers into winners in any classroom situation. However, life is not that simple. Consider someone at the university who has no clue what she wants to become. Or even more interesting, someone in his final year of his qualification not knowing whether to go on and register for postgraduate studies or find a job. What about someone, who has been working for years, but is not too sure whether he should change his job or even his career. How do you choose your marriage partner? The car to drive? The community to live in? The pair of shoe to wear? These are all important life issues-all relating to guidance. How can we be sure what the will of God is for our lives? Let me suggest a few hints: Why did God create us in the first place? Answer: To glorify himself. What does it mean to glorify God? Answer: it means to be like Jesus. What is Jesus like? Answer: “Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…” Philippians 2:6-7 Jesus did not live for himself, but to honour the Father in heaven. Jesus lived to serve. What does that have to do with me deciding what outfit to wear in my friend’s wedding? Everything. You don’t wear what will attract people’s attention to you. You aim to be modest. You aim to be a blessing. You choose a career that will make you a servant not a star. Is that ALL I need to know? YES! David in Psalm 23:3 says that God is ever eager to lead, by his generous Spirit, to paths of righteousness (and therefore fulfillment/happiness) those who are eager to hold his Name is highest esteem. Be like Christ, sit back, and witness God unfold his plans for your life, one step at a time. In my thirty four years of existence, I have witnessed God close doors that I had hoped he will open them wide for me to enter. I have experienced the frustration that comes with shattered dreams. But I have also witnessed the grace of God leading me to righteousness (and sanity as far as my personal goals are concerned) as I learned to follow and imitate Jesus in my daily conduct. As long as you choose to live for yourself, the position of a Career Guidance Consultant in your life will always be vacant. God fills that vacancy when we learn to imitate Christ. A job he does so well and does not even need a market-related salary for doing it! He guides those who imitate Jesus because his name is at stake! He cannot support junk. He wants you, as his child, in heaven. He must therefore prone you, through delays, until you are willing to work for him and him alone. You have probably observed, as Asaph also did in Psalm 73, that non-believers seldomly go thorough the heartache that you have to go through to discover God’s will for their earthly life. They sail through life with ease. Money flows to them. Why? God’s COMMON GRACE allows them to enjoy this life because this is the ONLY enjoyment they will ever know! Since you would not mind being someone else’s Career Guidance Consultant, would you not also allow God to guide and kiss you into your true potential in Christ? May this message bring clarity and hope to you. Your servants, for His glory, Mondli and Nomzamo.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 21:45:23 +0000
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