God has been teaching me a lot lately about what it means to pursue things for His glory. These are some if the things He has taught me.
1. God has given me talents and abilities and interests. I am responsible for working hard to develop these (as taught in the parable of the talents). The way that I make sure that I am doing this in a way that pleases the Lord is to ensure that I am using my talents to honor and serve Him. I must seek to further the Kingdom of God through these talents and interests.
God wants me to be excellent. Whether it be golf or work, God calls me to strive to be excellent at it. I should work my hardest to honor Him and part of this is by working to become the absolute very best that I can be.
With this said, it is important to remember the fact that I must keep my priorities straight. While God is honored by me working hard to develop my talents for a His glory, He is not honored if I do this at the expense if more important things (i.e. my relationship with Him and my family). Therefore, in working hard to pursue excellence in all that I do, I must remember that part if this excellence is keeping my priorities straight.
I have often wondered if God has willed me to be a teacher , and at the same time if it was not in His will for me to be a pro golfer. Through what He has been teaching me, I am starring to think that it is God's will for me to simply serve Him and He will use whatever choices I make. This goes along the lines of the teaching which I have heard in the past which says that God's will is not about Him dictating every single move of your life. This would mean that you would need to know exactly what the next move is or else you will not be in His will. Rather, what God expects from us is for us to obey His Word, for that is what ensures that we stay in His will. Therefore, I believe that God has blessed my efforts in becoming a teacher, but I don't think that it was His will that I would be a teacher and nothing else. I believe God takes the choices that we make and then uses them to further His Kingdom. I believe that if I am truly putting Him first in my life and trying to honor Him with my work, then no matter career I am in, God will use me in it to further His Kingdom and purposes.
I may be wrong with this, and if I am I believe that God will reveal it to me, but I feel God has been revealing this to me as truth. Especially when I think about how I became a teacher. In high school I did not know what I wanted to do as a career. I decided that I wanted to be a high school gym teacher. I made this decision because I thought it would be cool to teach sports all day and then have the summers off to golf. I mention this because it shows that this was a decision I was making. I did not feel called to it by any means. However , I do know that God used that decision and guided me to a place that He wanted me. He led me out of high school gym and into elementary school. He also opened many doors for me to have a full time job as a teacher in Ontario. He also has blessed me with success while teaching - especially on the area of feeling like I have been able to show the love of Christ to students and their families. When I have looked at these blessings in the past I have wondered if this means that I am called to teach. I am starting on think that I may not be called to it, but God is certainly using me and blessing me in it as I strive to keep him first and look for ways to honor Him. He has taken that decision I made to be a high school teacher and led me to a place of blessing and success. He has used that decision to further his Kingdom. Due to the fact that I never felt called to teaching, I have reason to believe that God would have blessed another career path had I chose it.
With all this said I know that God is sovereign. If I had been trying to make a bad career choice I don't think that He would have allowed it to happen. I am also not saying that it would be okay for me to pursue any careers or interests. It is extremely important to follow Proverbs 3:5,6 and seek God in all of life's decisions. However, when I examine what I know about God, and look at my personal life experiences with Him, I think it does confirm that God is not as concerned about what we pursue, as long as our focus is to keep Him first and honor Him in it.
To summarize these last thoughts, what I feel God has taught me is to seek Him in all decisions for what path to take. If He does not give clear direction, then choose the path you believe to be most wise, and then as you journey on this path, put God first and honor Him in it at all times. I think this puts us in the best position to be used by God to the greatest extent possible in whatever circumstances we are in.
If God does give clear calling and direction then I "pity the fool" who chooses a different path. I mean this quite literally.
I originally wanted to be a pro golfer. God blessed me in providing a respectable career that would allow me to very comfortably provide for my family while at the same time glorify Him. God has me teaching and I am very content in that and thankful for it. God blessed me in providing this job because I was not at a point where I was ready to be a golfer for money. I do believe though that if I get better some day that God could use me in that arena as well as long as I am putting Him first, seeking to honor Him and being surrendered to Him and His leading.
In anything you pursue, it is imperative to be honest with yourself in regards to why you are pursuing it. It is then important to ensure that the reasons why are in order to serve God and further His Kingdom in meaningful ways. It must always be for His glory, not my own.
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