One of the biggest misconceptions today is that we need to work for grace. The Bible teaches us that because of Jesus Christ, grace works for us, and we can rely on God's grace 100 percent of the time in every area of our lives—including our careers.
Popular corporate culture makes us believe that in order to get something, we need to work for it. And in some dimension that's true. You can't expect your boss to give you a salary without you working for it, and you can't expect clients to stay loyal to your brand if you don't serve them well with it.
But at the bottom of this culture lies a prevalent ideology that makes us believe that our success is completely up to us.
While we must work hard and strive, we must also understand that there comes a point that we must stop operating on performance and start operating in the Spirit of God.
I believe no one will turn down an offer to have greater success, promotion and gain in their profession, and God is offering us to receive just that. In Proverbs 3:5-6, we are told, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths."
Competency, training, education and skills are wonderful things. But truth be told, we aren't the best people to handle our own competencies. We probably just might mess things up every now and then.
But we will surely do a better job when we acknowledge the Holy Spirit and let Him move into our lives to enhance our competency, training, education and skills.
The world wants you to think that your success is all about you. But to think this way can only assure you of dissatisfaction in the end.
We will fail and fall, and if we ever do make it to the top, our success will feel empty without God on our side. God asks that we involve Him in our careers because He wants to get involved in our affairs and help us reach our maximum potential.
We see this in the life of Joseph. Joseph must have had great plans for himself. He had a dream that his family would bow down to Him. He might have thought that he would rule the clan, the village or maybe even the town. But God had all intentions and purposes to make him rule a nation. What brought Joseph to the top was not his competency, but his trust in the Lord.
Do you trust Jesus with your career? Is He the ultimate Boss you serve? Or do you still have that high place reserved for yourself alone?
