Finding a Job That Fits

Are you struggling with the will of God for your life? We want to know whether he wants us to live in this city or that city, take this job or that job, and marry this person or that person. When it's enough to be busily engaged in the central concern that the Bible has. for living at the will of God. Have you ever been faced with tough decisions like those, a big move across the country, or like me 14 years ago, a big move to the other side of the world?

What about the prospect of a new job or the question of marriage? And in those moments, you might be frozen. You can't decide because you're just not sure if it's God's perfect plan for your life. The will of God is such a practical question, and again and again, R. C.

Sprohl would be asked by his students and by conference attendees if it's possible to know it. That's why he recorded this series.

So for the final time this week, I encourage you to request the entire series and the companion book, Can I Know God's Will, before this offer expires tonight at midnight. Give a donation at renewingyourmind.org today, and the series and the book will be yours as our way of saying thank you for showing your support of Renewing Your Mind.

Well, today on Renewing Your Mind, RC Sproll will remind us that the Bible has one central concern for us as followers of Christ, and it's clearly spelled out for us in Scripture. We often forget when we're in the middle of making tough decisions.

So take comfort. We can know the will of God for us. Here's Duck to Spiral. We're looking at the subject: how do I know the will of God? for my life.

I remember lecturing that on one occasion. I talked about the different ways in which the Bible speaks of the will of God. And in theology, we distinguish among several nuanced ideas of the will of God because, in the first place, there are two different Greek words in the New Testament, both of which can be translated by the English word will. And each of those words have several nuances of meaning.

So we know that the Bible speaks about the will of God in more than one way. And some of the distinctions that we make in theology, and remember that it is the prerogative of the woman to change her mind, it is the prerogative of the theologian to make fine distinctions. is that we would distinguish between For example, what we call, first of all, the sovereign efficacious will of God. And the preceptive will of God. And what is meant in that distinction is simply this: that the sovereign, efficacious will of God is that reference to the will of God by which God sovereignly brings to pass whatsoever he wants to bring to pass.

It can't possibly be resisted, it cannot be overthrown. When God creates the universe and says, Let there be light, there's no possibility that the light won't shine, because God is commanding it, he's willing it sovereignly and exercising his sovereign power and authority to make it come to pass. The preceptive will of God refers to God's commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me is a precept that comes from God. This is his will, that we not commit idolatry.

Now Is it possible for us to break that will? Yes, of course. But that's not what I want to be looking at immediately. I want to go back to this business of the sovereign will of God. And when people say to me, how do I know the will of God for my life?

I want to know this. What will they talk about? Usually, what they're asking me about is what is the sovereign, efficacious will of God for my life. What is God's eternal plan for my life?

Now, when we make further distinctions about this business of the sovereign, efficacious will of God, we make a distinction between the hidden will of God. and the revealed will of God. The hidden will of God and the revealed will of God.

Now Remember the Old Testament says The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But that which He has revealed belongs to us and to our children. Forever. And so the Bible itself makes a distinction. between what God has revealed and what he has left hidden.

And when we talk about the hidden will of God, the usual language we employ to describe that is the language that speaks of the secret counsel of God. or the hidden counsel of God.

Now, I think so often what people are asking when they say, How do I know the will of God for my life? What they're asking me to help them with is, how they can discern the secret counsel of the Almighty. And frankly, I get frustrated when people ask me that because There are things I want to say that I don't say, but I'll say them now because I'm speaking anonymously, as it were. I'm not any particular individual. The two things I would say, how in the world Can you expect me to know what is the secret counsel of God?

If I knew what the secret counsel of God is, it wouldn't be a secret anymore. It wouldn't be hidden anymore. But yet sometimes people think: well, if you're a theologian or if you're a minister or something like that, you can. Pry into things.

Now, I may have understanding of things that God has revealed that people who aren't students of theology lack, but I certainly cannot include in that understanding a personal knowledge of the hidden counsel of God. Again, I don't usually say that to people. You know, why do you ask me a question like that? But what I do say sometimes offends them. And leaves them in no small amount of consternation.

And that's when I say to them, you know, in the final analysis You shouldn't be worried about. the hidden counsel of God. Because it's none of your business. We remember that Luther during the Reformation was famous for his comment: let God be God. And there is a kind of sinful inclination that we have, like the people in the Old Testament, to try to pry into things, particularly as they relate to the future, that are none of our business.

and that they reflect not so much an act of faith, but an act of unbelief. We are called to trust God for tomorrow. to walk by faith not in darkness, but in the light of His Word. That is, we are to live, as Jesus said, by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, and it takes more than a lifetime to learn that. Manifestation of the will of God without trying to pry into what He hasn't revealed.

And I think we can take comfort in that. That there are reasons why God hasn't revealed everything about the plans that He has for you and for me. Those things really aren't any of our business, and reading the horoscope in the morning is an act of unbelief. We are not to be doing that. Calvin made this observation.

He says, When God closes his holy mouth, I will desist from inquiry. That's a good motto. I think we're to work as hard as we can to understand as deeply as we can Everything that God has revealed. But beyond that? Having done all, we stand.

And we were to live according to Two. that which he has revealed.

Well, what else? I say, well, when the Bible speaks about the will of God for our lives, What is the chief concern that the Bible has for our living out the will of God? Again, we want to know whether he wants us to live in this city or that city, take this job or that job, and marry this person or that person. When it's enough to be busily engaged in the central concern that the Bible has. for living at the will of God.

And if somebody says to me, R.C., what is the will of God for my life? I said, let me just quote some scripture to you. This is the will of God. even your sanctification.

Well I do know. about God's will for you. is that God has called you to seek righteousness. And to be obedient. And as Jesus Himself said to people who were anxious about tomorrow and about the future, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

And so, if I leave you with any thought in this brief series on the will of God, it's that. Where if you want to know the sovereign will of God. Don't worry about it. Put your investment in the preceptive will of God. If you're studying what God has revealed, The unrevealed part will take care of itself.

It's in the best hands possible. It's in the hands of God Himself.

So, why worry about it? I'm not going to change the secret counsel of God. I'm not going to influence the secret counsel of God. God, in His own mind, knows what that is. And what He calls me to do, and my chief vocation, is to be obedient to the precepts that He has revealed.

Okay.

Now, I promised in our last session that I would continue a discussion on this business of fitting. Our own gifts and talents. With the job descriptions that we have open to us in terms of our career path or our employment and so on. And I said I'd speak very practically about that.

Now, to look at that. What we're doing is trying to obey the revealed will of God, where one of the precepts of God is that we. Make a sober analysis of our gifts and talents, and not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, and to try to see the function we have. in the economy of the kingdom of God.

Now I'm going to use my Blackboard here. And I know that most of you who are hearing my voice at this moment Can't see me. And so you're going to have to use a little bit of imagination, but this isn't rocket science, so this is pretty simple. I'm going to draw on this blackboard two circles.

Now you know all know what a circle looks like. And I'm going to put one circle on the left-hand side of the board. And to the right of it. I'm going to write a second circle that is completely apart from and distinct from the first circle. The two do not touch, they do not intermesh or intersect at any point.

They're completely different circles. I understand that.

Now the circle on the left, I'm going to label job description. I work at a department store and I'm responsible for the sale of certain garments or so. And so, my job description spells out what my role is, what my duties are, and what I'm expected to do in my performance on that thing. On the other side, in the second circle, I am going to write three letters that are followed by Periods because these are abbreviations. M period, A period.

P period. If you take away the periods, you have the word map, which we'll use as an acrostic. And those three words that are represented by these initials, M-A-P. Are the words motivated? Ability.

Pattern of Motivated ability pattern.

Now let's look at what are we talking about here.

Well, we know what patterns are. We know what abilities are. and we know what motives are, or motivation.

Now the theory here in this system Is that everybody has certain patterns in their life and certain abilities? Everybody has ability to do something if it's only tie your shoes. We also have abilities. that we are not motivated to use. That is, that we can do things well.

The problem is we hate doing them. even though we have the ability to do them. And so now we're talking about. Non-motivated. abilities.

Now we also can talk about motivated non-abilities. Where people may have a great desire. to perform a certain task and have no ability for it. You know, when I was a kid, I played just about every sport there was. I played football, I played baseball, I played basketball, I played hockey, I boxed, I played tournament ping-pong, I played tennis, you know, did all that stuff.

Now, somebody asked me, R.C., what was your favorite sport when you were. Growing up as a kid.

So that's easy. The sport I love more than any other sport was ice hockey. I mean, I used to get up every morning and go out and look at the thermometer outside our door to see how cold it was, praying that it would stay cold as long as possible so that the rink would be frozen after school and I could go play hockey. I mean, I love to play hockey. It's my favorite sport.

Now if you asked me the second question, R C, Of all the sports that you played, which one would you judge to be the one in which you were least proficient? That's a no-brainer. Hockey. I was not a very good hockey player. I could skate and I could pass, but every time I shoot, I'd fall down face first.

And more than once, I went into the net on my belly, you know, messing up the net and everything. I was not a good hockey player. But I had a motivation to play hockey. I could have gone to one of the professional teams and said, I want to be on your hockey team. And they say, Oh, you motivate.

Oh, yeah, I love it. You know, I have a great work ethic. I'll work as hard as this as anybody. I'm great. We're looking for guys like you.

What are your credentials as a player? Oh, I said I can't play. They're not going to ask me to be part of their team. And I would be. hurting them and hurting myself if I try to make my living Doing What I was motivated to do but had no ability to do.

A lot of people get into that. And then the other side of the coin. where you have those abilities. Without any motivation. Yes, I can do that.

In fact, I've acquired an ability to do it because somebody beat it into me and forced me to learn how to die. I once was playing golf and came up to the T-box in the eighteenth hole of this golf course, and there was this girl there who wasn't even five feet tall. And it was a par five hole, and she was playing by herself, and I was playing by myself. She s invited me to play through. I said, Well, it's the last hole, we'll play in together.

So I teed off down the fairway, and she steps up on the men's tee. And I said, No, that's okay, honey, you can go down there. Tee off my lady's tee, says no, I've been playing the men's teas today. This little girl, she's fifteen years old and not even five feet tall, and I said.

Okay, so She knocks the ball 30 yards past my drive, down the middle of the drive. I said, What is this? Superwoman?

Well, I'm happy to tell you I made a birdie. on that hole. And I made that birdie. With one putt on Miss Porphy. The little girl birded the hole.

with two putts. She was on the green and two on the par five. And of course I asked her, Who are you? And she told me her name, and she was the current reigning junior women's champion in America. Her coach was Deacon Palmer, Arnold Palmer's father.

And so, having had that serendipitous experience with this little girl, I was just completely amazed at her ability and talent. I followed her career. And if I gave you her name right now, you wouldn't recognize it. Because as soon as she was twenty-one, she put her golf clubs away and never picked them up again. She hated to play golf.

Because her father pushed her and pushed her and pushed her and pushed her. And she was so serious about it, took all the fun out of it. I mean, she hated doing it. In spite of her uncanny ability, she gave it up. That's an example of somebody who had a non-motivated ability.

Now remember the two circles. In the first circle is the job description where you work, the second one is the motivated ability pattern.

Now the ideal match. In anybody's life or in any corporation's life, is that if we could take The profile of your motivated ability pattern. Find out what you're really gifted at and what you're really motivated to do. and describe that with precision. and then find a job.

That fits your motivatability pattern. perfectly. And let's say then that the second circle could just be superimposed directly on top of the first circle.

So, that your job description and your motivated ability pattern fit precisely. Wouldn't that be wonderful? That's the ideal. And it's an ideal that is rarely, if ever, Ever. found in the real world.

For most of us Our job description. And our motivated ability pattern looks something like this. Remember, the first circle is a job description.

Now I'm going to draw the second circle and have it intersect the first circle and sort of take up about half. of the circle of the job description. And you see that there's a little segment where these two circles are now overlapping that I'm going to shade in in the middle. Yeah. The size of that circle Will usually determine the degree of your fulfillment.

In your draw. And it will also determine the satisfaction of your employer. in your performance. That's why companies are always revising job descriptions, sometimes changing your job description to make a better fit with your abilities, or dividing tasks because they don't have one person that has the particular strength for the one thing. This is what Don Shula did with the Miami Dolphins back in the glory years.

He designed his team around Jim Kick and Larry Zonka because it was a running team, great talent. And then when they left and Dan Marino came, they had the best passer in America.

So he changed his whole pattern. He changed his whole game plan to fit the personnel he had. And companies do this all the time, change jobs. They're going to die if they don't. but were always trying to increase the size of agreement between.

Our abilities, and our responsibilities. And The idea is to try to get a job where you have that match. There are organizations, there's a Christian ministry out there that does an analysis. Yeah. motivated ability patterns.

Many of our employees have gone through that system. I went through it myself. And it's helped me enormously. Because everybody else has a wonderful plan for my life. and they think that I should be doing this or that or this.

And I say, wait a minute, that doesn't fit my profile.

Now God does not always call us to do what we want to do.

Sometimes there's a war on. And you may not want to be a foot soldier, but foot soldiers are needed, and the need constitutes the call. And I don't want in any way to diminish. the importance of doing things sometimes just out of duty. But in terms of our life's work, I have a hunch.

It's a feeling. It's just an educated guess. That when God gives a person a call, a life's calling, He also gives him the gifts. necessary. and he also does something with their motivation.

I mean, we cannot assume that God has called us to do work that we hate to do. Because God's not stupid. He knows that people tend to perform poorly when they're placed in an arena of non-motivated abilities. And so whether you use the MAP system or what system you do, there are all kinds of testing agencies out there. Try to discern as soberly and as objectively as you can the profile that fits you.

That discerns what your abilities are and what your inclinations and motivations are, and as much as you possibly can, try to match those with your job. What practical and biblical counsel that was from R. C. Sprawl on today's edition of Renewing Your Mind. Dr.

Sproll titled this message, Finding a Job That Fits. But as we just heard, finding that perfect career needs to be secondary. Pursuing a Christ-like character is God's primary will for our lives. He'll be back in just a moment with a final thought for the day, so don't go anywhere. This message is part of Dr.

Sproll's series, Knowing God's Will. And while many of the examples are aimed at young adults entering the workforce, the biblical principles apply to all believers. will give you lifetime digital access to the entire series when you make a donation before midnight tonight. renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343. You'll receive the series, plus, we'll send you a copy of the companion book, Can I Know God's Will?

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Well, before we go today, doctor Sproll has one final thought for us. Do you like your job? There are some people they say that work in order to live. and other people who live in order to work. There's some people who say thank God it's Friday.

'Cause I can go home from my job. and other people who say, thank God it's Monday. Because I can get back in my vocation again. There are actually people who Can't wait to get to work. And this is the way God originally ordained work to be.

Work is not the curse of the fall. Labor was given to Adam and Eve in the garden before sin ever entered the world. Engaging in meaningful labor and toil and industry and work is part of what we were designed to do. as creatures. Work is not a curse, it's a blessing.

And if your work is a curse to you, you ought to be asking yourself the question: Am I in the right position. Do I really have a vocation here? Or am I swimming against the stream? And I'm engaged in something just because it pays well, or because it gives me security, or somebody else thinks I ought to be there. Because life is more than security, life is more than a paycheck.

And work is such an important part of who we are. That is, what we do so deeply affects what we are. that we ought to make every effort possible. to match what we do. with who we are.

That's wonderful counsel from R. C. Sprawl. I've so appreciated this series. And you know, he realized his vocation early on.

Soon after his conversion, he knew that he wanted to go into the ministry. His desire was to make the deep truths of God clear and understandable to students of all ages. I'm not sure if you heard the announcement last month that we just named two additional teaching fellows to join us here at Ligonier Ministries, the teaching fellowship that RC Sproul started all the way back in 1971.

So tomorrow, you'll hear a message from Michael Reeves and Friday from Joel Kim.

So be sure to join us then here on Renewing Your Mind.