By Eva Juliuson

Looking for a job can be confusing, scary, depressing, and often a long, drawn-out process! Sending out resumes, filling out applications, making phone calls, and trying to sell ourselves makes for a full-time, exhausting job. It can be a stressful time as we wait upon that perfect job we hope is out there—and deal with rejection and disappointment as we wait. 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we can pray to be led to the earthly job God has lined up for us. However, whatever position we end up in could never be as important as the work he’s already given us serving Jesus our Lord. Whether we are seeking employment, holding a temporary position, enjoying our dream job, or working in the same company for more than 40 years and now facing retirement, we each have a higher calling. It’s our real job.

Our Position, If We Accept It

Our most important job is the one we were born and designed to fulfill by God himself. The head of the company in our earthly job might possibly know our name and position. But our most high God, our heavenly Father, the Great i am knew us even before we were born. He knit us together in the secret places of our mothers’ wombs. He knows every hair on our heads and the exact number of days for each of his beloved children. He knows the plans he has to bless us and others as we work for his kingdom. 

God doesn’t demand we serve him; he gives us a choice of whether to accept the position only we can fill. No one else in all history has the unique combination of gifts and experiences that we each have—that can shine out God’s glory in the places we are in right now.

We don’t have to send him a resume, fill out an application, or prove ourselves to him. We have the job. In fact, God wants us so much that he sent his very own Son, Jesus, to recruit us to share an incredible insider relationship with him for all eternity. All we have to do to receive this too-good-to-be-true placement is to believe that Jesus is truly the only one worthy to have the title of Son of God. Jesus died so we could each become eternal sons and daughters of the most high, and his holy blood alone is what qualifies us for this eternal position. There is no way we could ever be holy enough to earn this position on our own. 

Jesus came to offer us the position of heirs to the kingdom of God. Should we accept, we have eternal access to our Father anytime. He offers all his love, power, and authority—along with all the riches and treasures of his storehouse—available for our particular job in his kingdom. It is more than we can imagine or hope for. We are never expected to accomplish on our own the work he gives us. He even gives us each personalized talents and gifts along with the Holy Spirit so we can do our job. But it is up to each of us to accept and fulfill the eternal position God offers us.

Our Job Description

Businesses write job descriptions so that there is no doubt what is expected for the position. Jesus knew we would get bogged down and overwhelmed by to-do lists, rules, and regulations, so he kept our job description simple when he reminded us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 23:37-40).

Perhaps we should check daily to see if we are still on target with our eternal job description. It’s easy to get sidetracked and off course in life. Can God tell that we really love him above all else? Do the people around us see that we serve and love God? 

Earthly workers wear badges that identify them as employees. Hopefully people should be able to tell that we belong to God’s kingdom by our love. Are we loving the neighbors God has put in our life today? We don’t get to choose our neighbors—God does! We need to ask him to help us love them, serve them, encourage them, and pray for them with the love of Christ! Can our families, friends, coworkers, church members, and the strangers we meet tell we love them and are investing our time, resources, hearts, and love in their eternal lives? 

It’s true that we all have the same job description—Jesus was speaking to each of us when he told us to love God and others. Yet no one else can fill our particular position like we can. No one else can ever love God or others the way you do, because there’s never been another you—never has been, isn’t now, and never will be. You are fearfully and wonderfully made by God to reflect his glory in a way no one else can. We each have unique personalities, talents, weaknesses, and experiences that give us a special place in God’s kingdom. Our Master knows how to take the good, the bad, and the ugly in each of us and cause it all to work together for his glorious kingdom when we love him.

That’s why he’s the boss, the Almighty God, the Great I Am, our Creator and Savior! We have one God above all, and he is worthy of our utmost love and devotion. When we follow Jesus Christ and the job description he gives us, we become a vital part of the kingdom of God! He chooses to use our history as well as our feet, hands, and voice to draw others to his kingdom. Oh, the eternal blessing we will be to our Lord and to others as we do his will.

Whatever We Do

Our real job affects everything—who we are and what we do. It’s not just a part-time job or even a way of life—it is our very reason for living and trumps all other possible work. Our number one purpose in this life is to love God with our whole being and to love others. It is an ever-growing process, not just a one-time decision. 

There are times when someone loses an earthly job and perhaps struggles to find their purpose and value in life. The world causes them to question their productiveness and who they are. We will never lose our call to serve in God’s kingdom. We may not have a ministry with large followings. Perhaps we are suffering from bad health, broken relationships, or financial hardship. We might go completely unnoticed if we measure with the world’s ideas of success. Perhaps we have what some might consider a lowly job or possibly no earthly job at all. Yet we have each been called by God himself to the highest calling in his kingdom—to shine out for him by loving him and loving others right where we are.

If we are seeking employment to fill our emptiness or a ladder to climb for success or notoriety, we will be disappointed in the long run. If we seek God and his kingdom first, then he will use whatever our position is on earth for heavenly purposes. No matter what earthly job we have—whether we get paid for it or not, whether it is a full-time or part-time job—if we do it with all our hearts for God, we will bless him and many others. We also get to share in the joy of our Master. Our real job of loving our Lord and others affects everything we do here on earth. And the work of love lasts for all eternity.

Eva Juliuson is a freelance writer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.