My worth is found in Jesus; this can never change or be changed. The work he did on the cross defines my soul forever. When God looks at me, he sees a woman wonderfully and fearfully made. When God looks at me, he sees me through the lens of Jesus’ sacrifice. I am holy and righteous. I am perfect, just as I am. I found in Christ. My identity is found in my worth.
My work, however, is a more fluid topic. As a parent who works outside of the home, it’s important to me that I enjoy what I do when away from my family. But as a human with a lot of layers, I do not want to be defined or even identified by my work. And yet, it’s the first thing we ask when we meet someone. What do you do? Anything short of dream job suddenly seems like a dull waste of time.
It is difficult to reconcile the focus on the dream job when the truth is, very rarely do avocation and vocation meet. In fact, only 30% of American adults report being fulfilled in their work. Once a salary hits $75,000, more money does not improve our emotional health. Additionally, most of us have an incomplete sense of work we’ll enjoy twenty years out from high school. This is completely natural and normal, as we lack a developed prefrontal cortex until our mid-twenties. And yet, students in the United States are pressured to consider and commit to a career path as early as middle school. Fast forward a few decades, though, and only 10% of American adults are working out their childhood dreams.
What about those of us who didn’t pick a dream job in childhood? I oscillated between backup dancer for a pop singer (this was during my Britney phase) and soccer mom with 2-3 kids and a Suburban (I grew up at private school and watched a lot of moms; my plan was oddly specific). I only decided on nursing after nearly failing out of fashion school and taking a semester off to travel. It felt like the most straightforward through through college and into a stable and well-paying job. I did not consider nursing as a career until I neared my thirties and decided to become a nurse practitioner.
Everyone wants to spend their time in a meaningful manner, but I think the hyper-focus on vocation is especially pervasive in Christian culture. Especially among young people, I’ve found many Christians to be rather obsessed with God’s will being revealed to them in the form of a singular choice or path. In addition, I think we get hung up on finding work that embodies a sense of purpose as the crucial, necessary piece to fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. What’s interesting, though, is that a career is not intrinsic to either the Great Commandment or the Great Commission. Our working is not central to identity in Christ. Our being is. We don’t work as sons and daughters of God. We are sons and daughters of God. We don’t work as followers of Jesus. We are followers of Jesus. We work out our identity by loving God, loving self, and loving neighbor. We can do that at home, or online, or in a cubicle, or in a coffeeshop. We can do that at jobs we like, but don’t love.
My identity remains the same, no matter where I am and what I do. I find value in my work, but I dot find my worth there. My worth is already locked up in the long-ago work of Jesus; this truth allows me to make vocational decisions with freedom and without worry.
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