It's That Simple

I have to admit that I spend a large portion of my time obsessing about my job. Why do I do that? Sigh…well, I can give you a variety of seemingly “good” reasons, chief among all: I care about my students. Deep inside, though…what I care most about is other people’s opinions. I want to impress my co-workers and supervisors with my highly polished skills as an educator and a scholar. That’s it. My reasons are purely selfish. I’m killing myself at this job so I can have an impressive record. Recently, however, I was crushed. My ego was destroyed when, after spending years shaping up what I thought was an awe-inspiring portfolio to submit for promotion, I was denied. I was rejected for this promotion I thought was in the bag. And it was a most humiliating refusal…one that is causing me to reconsider everything I’ve done at my current institution for the last 17 years.

My pride was hurt…because it was my pride what was leading my efforts all along.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? (Mark 8:36)

A couple of days ago, while speaking to one of my colleagues who is going through some challenging, personal situations, made worse by the natural disasters currently going on around her country of birth, some words came out of my mouth that surprised me. As she was expressing her concern about her family issues and how she might have to fly back home at a moment’s notice, I said to her: “of all the things of this world, this job is the least important, yet…this is where we spend most of our time and energy. That’s not right.”

I don’t know where that came from. I don’t even think those words were truly for her alone. I think they were mostly for me. I needed to verbalize that thought aloud so I could really hear it myself. The choice of giving the best of me to a job risk drawing me away from what matters most: following Him. I’m still as confused as the people who followed Jesus around just because of His miracles. I still don’t get it. I need to be reminded over and over again, by Jesus Himself, what the work of God is…the good news is that He left it written for us to read today:

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” John 6: 28-29

That’s it. It is that simple. No amount of money, respect, possessions, worldly success and recognition will ever mean anything. In the end, the only thing that matters is whether or not we believed Jesus is Our Lord and Savior…Our Redeemer…Our Sustainer. That’s it. It’s that simple.

I am seriously re-thinking the way I want to spend my remaining years at this job. I don’t want to waste my time on things that might mean everything from the material point of view, but that are completely irrelevant from the eternal perspective. I pray the Holy Spirit guides me and guides all of us who are presently at crossroads of this nature. That we may be inspired to make the right choice in the path that leads us to Christ. In His Precious Name, I pray.  Amen!