God Planned Your Career Before You Were Born

In John 3:27, John the Baptist in speaking about his role in reference to the Messiah says in the New Living Translation, “God in heaven appoints each person’s work.”

How exciting is that! The God of the Universe has predetermined what your career is supposed to be before you were born. But you might be thinking, “doesn’t God call people only into professions like pastor, worship leader, etc.” In other words calling is just for those in full time ministry, right? This is a totally false and misunderstood belief by many Christians.

The Bible is full of examples of people being “called by God” to do what many of us would describe as secular work. For example in Exodus 31:1-6 and 35:30-36:1 God called Bezalel and Oholiab for the work of constructing the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Listen to how this calling is reported in Exodus 31:1-5 from the Message translation: “God spoke to Moses, ‘see what I’ve done; I’ve personally chosen Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. I’ve filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him skill and know-how and expertise in every kind of craft to create designs and work in gold, silver, and bronze; to cut and set gemstones; to carve wood – he’s an all out craftsman.”

Similarly in 1 Kings 7:13-14, we see a man called Huram from Tyre who King Solomon sent to come work on projects in Israel. The Scripture states, “Huram was highly skilled and experience in all kinds of bronze work.”

The New Testament adds the giftings of the Holy Spirit to a believer’s calling, so we have additional expertise from God in how to do the work he has assigned to us. We find one example in Romans 12:6, “God has given to each of us the ability to do certain things well.” Notice that God has given each of us! That means that everyone has been given abilities; no one is left out.

At this point you might be saying, “Well I have lived life for a long time and I still don’t know what I am supposed to be doing for God.” The problem is that you haven’t discovered your purpose yet, not that you don’t have a calling. I hope in these Scriptures I have listed and many others I could have shared, that it is abundantly clear that God calls everyone to a particular type of work. You have not been left out!

So that being true, how does one discover what their career, work, or as I like to call it, “function of life” is? There are many assessments that have been created both secular and Christian to help you find your life purpose. Some examples are numerous spiritual gift tests that you can find on the Internet. Some good secular assessments are the DISC test, Myers-Briggs personality inventory, etc. Starting there can put you on the journey of discovery for your function of life.

Many years ago, for a short time, I worked for a ministry called Maximum Potential. (Later the name was changed to Life Purpose Ministries). While at Maximum Potential I was educated on how God created us with a specific work or calling. This ministry did a two and a half day seminar, had participants take several assessments, and then culminated with one on one interviews with each person.

It was fascinating to me how even after this extensive process, people were still in some denial as to how God created them. They knew they were miserable doing the job they were in, but made all kind of excuses as to how their design could actually be a career.

Why is it crucial to know your function of life? The main reason is that it produces the best results in the Kingdom of God. When you are in your “divine” career, you are more productive, and I believe God uses that expertise to influence unbelievers to know about the Lord. Why is that?, because when you see someone do an excellent job, along with a good work ethic and integrity, it becomes a witness for just how good our God is. Plus with everyone doing their role, it makes society function better.

So my final exhortation is don’t give up on finding your calling. God desires that you discover it, more than you do. Don’t let well meaning people rain on your parade by saying such things as “that career won’t make any money”; “that profession is for losers”; “that passion is just immaturity”.

Your future, God’s future, is wrapped up in your function of life. Remember our first priority is the Kingdom of God, and when you seek the Kingdom first, things always turn out for the best.