Finding Fulfillment in Your Work

I believe that each person is motivated to make a difference in their lives and in the lives of the people they meet.

They want to impact those whom they share relationships with and the people they hold dear to their hearts like family and friends.

We always search for meaning and purpose in life.

Oftentimes, we think that when we become successful or wealthy and influential or famous that we have already found what we were meant to do with our lives.

But those qualities are not the basis to say whether one has fulfilled his or her life's purpose because only God knows what He has placed in this world to do and to be.

I met with my discipleship mentor, Kuya James, last week and that was the last day we will have fellowship together although I believe that God has plans for both of us and I am grateful for the opportunity that God has given me to learn from Kuya James and to grow in my spiritual walk through his help.

I hope we will meet again someday. He is actually returning to Malaysia, his home country, to continue in his ministry there to the youth and students in Malaysia.

I remember what Kuya James told me about the different perspectives of people on work and how their views reflect what their motivations and aspirations are. He told me that there are three connotations of 'work,' excluding the concept in physics, given by various sorts of people.

1. Work as a job. When one views his work as a job, his primary motivation in life is to earn money and acquire all the material possessions that he desires.He wants to become wealthy, settle down, have a nice house, own the most luxurious cars, and live a fancy and extravagant lifestyle.

If our mindset in life is to own all the riches that the world has to offer then we have to set our priorities straight. You have to ask yourself, "Will I ever have enough? Will I ever be content with what I have?"

You have to reflect upon what drives you to wake up each day and go to work because the truth is if your main aim in life is to be the wealthiest man alive and you might achieve that goal but you will not find contentment.

As I said in previous articles, if you find contentment in wealth and riches, then your contentment is ephemeral - it is only temporary and will not last.

When the economies of the world crash and everything that you once had is lost with it, what will you have left? Will you still be motivated to work when all your investments collapse?

Jesus said that it is much easier for a camel to go into the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Only God knows what can give us contentment and fulfillment in life because He knows the desires of our hearts and the Bible tells us that having too much attachment to the world can lead to our destruction along with it.

So we have to think carefully and humbly ask God to give us a sense of direction and wisdom to know what He has planned for our lives because without His guidance, we are like sheep without a shepherd who gets in a lot of trouble.

2. Work as a career. The second perspective of work is no better than the first for they usually accompany each other.Thinking of your work as a career means that you are simply striving for recognition, achievement, a sense of mastery or abundance of knowledge and skill, or position.

Men are attracted to the praise and commendation of other men so they think highly of themselves and become very puffed up. This makes them influential and powerful in many areas of their work.

There are people who want their names to be globally renowned so they work hard and strive to get to the top of the ladder or the pyramid.

However, getting praise from other men because of the myriad of achievements and awards that you have received from men means nothing at all for each of us has no glory or honor to give the other because only God deserves and is worthy of glory, honor, and praise.

He alone can give it to those whom He found favor with because of their earnest desire to please and glorify Him and no one else. None of the awards or recognition that we receive lasts. Trophies rust and generations pass and we forget.

We are forgetful creatures and there will come a time when nobody will ever recognize the so-called momentous milestones that people from the past have done because they are long forgotten, buried in history.

Again, fame is only momentary and once we have died, there is no more worth in that recognition. We will have no use for it anymore where we are going.

But what we should aim for is not to accept praise from men as Jesus said but to make effort in obtaining the praise that comes from the true and only living God.

What we should strive for is to hear God tell us at the moment when we see Him face to face, "My child, you have done good."

To have the approval of God for serving Him faithfully, standing firm in our faith, and fighting for the glory of His Name is the best reward that we could ever have in our entire lifetime.

3. Work as a calling. Viewing our work as a calling takes more than finishing a college degree or receiving any certificate of merit because before we know what our calling in life is, we must know what God wants for our lives and submit our will to His will so that we obey His commands.We need then to have a relationship with God and seek Him earnestly. We need to ask Him to reveal His will to us and show us the way to a life of purpose and meaning.

Only God can give meaning and purpose in our lives for He alone knows us intimately and He knows our hidden talents and special gifts that are uniquely given to us by Him.

He knows how those gifts and talents can be developed and where we can unleash the highest potential that God has in our lives. He knows where exactly to place us and at exactly what time in our lives.

God has perfect timing and everything that He has in store of us will be given at the right moment. Searching for our calling in life and living out the calling that God has given us takes perseverance and patience.

God will cause us to grow and experience His unlimited power, unconditional love, and undying faithfulness as we serve Him through our calling but that does not mean that we are exempt from struggles and problems.

We will encounter pain and suffering in this world but we must hold on to the promise that God will never leave us nor forsake us and that He is always in control of every situation.

We must learn to trust God especially since there are certain callings which require one to step out of his comfort zone and be brought to a foreign land to start a ministry for God.

Living for God would often cost us our jobs, our careers, and at times, our lives but we are living for God because we love Him and we want to give our all to Him because He gave us everything and made us everything that He wanted us to have and to be.

He filled the void that was in our hearts and gave us contentment, joy, and peace never-ending.

And when the day comes that we will face Him, His glory shall await us and we would spend eternity with Him. That is what we should all be striving for. Only when we understand all of this can we truly find fulfillment in our work.