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How Should I Choose a College Major? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Welcome back to the podcast. You send us the questions that are on your
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  mind, and longtime author and pastor John Piper opens his Bible and finds answers
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  for those questions. And speaking of the big questions in life, there's one
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  major question facing every college student, and that's the question of major, What
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  direction to go in life? What feel to pursue, what college, what
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  vocation? All of those things. Many high school and college students seek to
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  make that decision simply based on money, but for Christians, the money decision
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  is a secondary one, leading to today's question from a young woman named Carrie.
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  Pastor John and Tony, thank you for the Ask Pastor John podcast.
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  I have listened to every episode That's incredible, that is incredible, Oh my
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  goodness, and most of those episodes while walking my dog to the point that
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  my dog gets super excited every time she hears the introjings I've heard. My
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  question for you, doctor Piper, is this, when deciding on a college
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  major, how much should future income factor into the decision? What other general
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  guidelines and factors should be considered. By a young Christian wanting to not waste
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  his or her life in the vocation he or she chooses. I have a
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  very personal stake in this kind of question because I do serve as the chancellor
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  and professor at Besthem College and Seminary. Here in Minneapolis. We have a
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  college of a very particular kind, and I feel that sense of responsibility to
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  help parents that help young people decide if this school is possibly the kind that
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  they would benefit from in attending. What I'm going to say doesn't relate only
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  to our school, but to education and vocation in general, in the hope
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  of helping young people or even older people as we'll see, I think people
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  are making midlife changes about education and vocation all the time, both young people
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  and older people decide what kind of education and vocation to pursue. So let
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  me start with five observations that put this question in a certain context. Number
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  one, most of the world does not have access to the kind of education
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  assumed in the question about choosing a major. Most of the world moves from
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  family to a rudimentary basic education of reading and writing in math. If that,
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  and then if the some kind of apprenticeship or simply continues on in the
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  family occupation. Higher education as we know it in America is simply not an
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  option most places in the world. Second observation, even in the developed countries
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  like America, where higher education and exists, only about sixty two percent of
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  high school graduates go to college. That's a lot of millions who don't.
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  There are all kinds of paths into useful vocational life through trade schools, technical
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  schools, on the job learning. So I don't assume in answering this question
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  that everyone should go to college. Three. For those who do go to
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  college, the choices are very many. There are huge universities with hundreds of
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  majors, like the University of Minnesota a mile from where I'm standing right now.
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  There are one hundred and fifty majors in eleven colleges at the University of
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  Minnesota, many of them tailored precisely for specific kinds of vocations. And then
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  there are smaller like two or three thousand. There are smaller liberal arts colleges
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  which are for a blend of general education and vocational specialization. And there are
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  a handful of colleges like ours, very small with a focus on more classical
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  education with a view to building a kind of person whose maturity and character and
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  habits of mind and heart fit them for a life of wisdom and wonder,
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  we like to say, and fruitfulness for Christ in any vocation. Fourth observation,
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  We should always remember that a decision at age seventeen about college or major
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  or vocation does not mean you will have the same job for a lifetime.
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  The average American changes careers three to seven times in a lifetime. Many people
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  in midlife decide to go back to school. This is one reason we put
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  such an emphasis at Bethlehem College on the kind of habits of mind and heart
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  that will bear fruit in all vocations, because students may think they know what
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  they're going to do five years from now, but they don't know what they're
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  going to do twenty years from now. But they will be a kind of
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  person twenty years from now, and we would like to help that be the
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  right kind of person. Number five. Fifth observation. There is no sure
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  connection between choosing a major and earning a certain level of income over lifetime.
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  Some specialized majors do open doors to hire income professions. That's true, like
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  medicines say, but far far more influential in general in a person's success and
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  income are character traits, initiative, discipline, self control, ambition, creativity,
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  relational wisdom, vision, analytical skills, problem solving, insight, integrity,
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  faithfulness, steadfastness. Give me a person like that, they will do
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  something with their lives and they'll probably be well paid for it too. Some
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  of these come from our genes, right our parents' genes some of those traits,
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  but some are learned and refined with good teachers and life experience. Besides
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  thinking about income, Jesus says, seek the kingdom first, and all these
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  things will be added to you the practical necessities of life. So I would
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  say, don't think income. Don't make it ever a deciding factor in choosing
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  a major or a vocation. Make it way down the list of your priorities
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  when making those choices. So, with those five observations setting the stage,
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  here are my guidelines for those who are choosing a vocation or a college or
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  a major, who don't want to waste their lives but make them count for
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  the glory of God. Number one, let's start right there with the glory
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  of God. The Bible says, whatever you do choosing a school, choosing
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  a major, choosing a vocation, do alter the glory of God. One
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  Corinthians ten thirty one, or do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus
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  Colossians three seventeen. One way to turn this guideline into a question would be
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  when you consider a major or a possible vocation, do you get excited about
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  the ways you could glorify God or make much of Jesus in this major or
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  in this vocation? Or do you have to bracket that whole question because it
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  bothers you, It just gets in the way. That's not a good sign.
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  Number two. Since the Bible is clear in First Thessalonians four to three
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  that this is the will of God for you, your sanctification, your holiness,
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  your godliness, your moral rectitude, do you have hesitations that this major
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  or this vocation might compromise or hinder your sanctification? Or do you get excited
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  about how this path might advance your own holiness your pursuit of godliness. Number
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  three, do your intellectual, emotional, and physical abilities, call them God's
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  gifts that define much of who we are? Do they fit this major or
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  vocation? The Biblical analogy here is the body right with many members or parts.
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  One person is a hand, an others an ear, and others a
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  nose, we are all so different by God's design, and we should not
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  try to be what we aren't, and we should try to know the unique
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  way that God has made us to be, and then ask does that fit
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  with this major or this vocation. I don't think God made round holes for
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  square bolts. He wants there to be a fitness. Number four. Very
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  closely connected with those gifts is the question of your recurrent desires. Now,
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  I don't mean flashing a pan desires right ever a conference or something, but
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  ever returning desires. They just crop up over the years. They seem to
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  be circling back because there's something in need that makes me this way. I
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  am assuming that these desires are growing in the heart that has a passion for
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  holiness and for the glory of God. Now I know not all desires are
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  good guidance, but many of them are. The Psalmist praise that God would
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  incline our hearts for guidance Some one nineteen thirty six, Some one forty one,
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  verse four. In other words, give me desires, God, incline
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  my heart for the discovery of your ways. So as you submit your entire
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  life to the glory of God. What desires keep growing up in that soil.
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  What kind of activity do you feel at home in my mind, my
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  emotions, my body have come home. Number five, Let the needs of
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  the world have their proper effect on shaping your education and vocation. Of course,
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  the needs of the world are spiritually and materially immeasurable. You can't be
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  led by all of them. So here are two ways to put the question
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  to make it livable. I think Number one, what needs of the world
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  are you moved by over and over again? How has God wired you to
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  respond to the needs of the world. What kind of good do you repeatedly
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  feel drawn to do for others? That's one question. Here's another one.
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  What connections do you see between your gifts you're at homeness and the needs of
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  the world. So those are my five guidelines for choosing a major, choosing
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  a vocation, thinking about the future of your life and how to spend your
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  time so as not to waste it, And as you ponder them, do
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  it in this way. Be saturated continually with the Bible, Be embedded in
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  a healthy church that counsels you, surrounds you, helps you recognize who you
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  are and know what your gifts are. And finally be continually in prayer.
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  God won't let you waste your life if you seek him like this. Oh
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  that's so good. I'm going to be texting my kids a link to this
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  episode and this quote. Quote. Some specialized majors do open doors to hire
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  income professions, but far far more influential in a person's success and income are
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  character traits. Initiative, discipline, self control, ambition, creativity, relational
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  wisdom, vision, analytical skills, problem solving insights, integrity, faithfulness,
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  steadfastness. Give me a person like that, they will do something with their
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  lives and they'll probably be well paid for it too. Quote. Wow,
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  that is super helpful. I'm gonna print that out actually and put that on
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  my wall. Thank you, Pastor John. And speaking of changing majors,
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  in that fourth observation, the Pastor John made he changed his major in nineteen
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  sixty six from literature to medicine and then back to literature in order to pursue
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  ministry. And he told us that story of how he jumped from major to
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  major in APJA fourteen oh five. So if you want to hear more about
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  his story, check that out in the archive in APJA fourteen oh five.
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  Thank you for joining us today and listening. Hello, do you Carrie as
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  you walk your dog? Thanks for joining us and yes. Pastor John now
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  records this podcast from a standing desk. Did you catch that? That's new?
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  I'm your host, Tony Rink in the seated position. See you Thursday,