Latest / Prayer Before Work / S01E41 - AMBITION VS. CALLING
Transcript
- Sean Graver: So, what if what you want for your career and what you're actually made for aren't the same thing? What if the path you've been pursuing is good, but it's not yours? Well, that's a big question to start the day off with, but ⁓ let's do that. Let's bring it to God. So, Proverbs 1921 reads: Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. I don't think this verse is saying that your plans don't matter, but I think it's saying that they're not the final word. The Lord's purpose prevails, which means there's a purpose in play that's bigger than your five year plan and ⁓ probably a lot more durable than your ambition. And the invitation is to hold your plans loosely enough that you can actually find it. So ambition is not wrong. The desire to grow and to build and to achieve something meaningful, that drive is often God given. The question isn't whether you should be ambitious. It's whether your ambition is pointed at the right thing. So calling and ambition diverge when we start pursuing the destination other people told us was success. ⁓ it could be the title, the income level, the position, rather than the work we're actually wired to do. And you can get pretty far down that road before you realize the thing you achieved isn't the thing that fills you. So here's a question worth asking yourself. When you're doing the work that feels most like yourself, when time disappears and you're fully alive in what you're doing, what does that look like? Because that's usually a better sign of calling than any career ladder you've been handed. The Lord's purpose prevails. That's not a threat to your ambition. It's actually the best news because it means you're not alone in figuring this out. He has a purpose for you that's better than your best plan for yourself. Well, God, I want to hold my plans loosely enough today that I can actually hear what you're saying about them. I know that's a lot harder than it sounds. I'm attached to some of these plans, but I know your purpose is better than my best idea. Where my ambition is pointed ⁓ with the right things, please fuel it. And where it's pointed at the wrong things, ⁓ correct me, redirect it, and give me the discernment to know the difference. Help me to pursue the work I'm actually made for, not just the work that looks impressive from the outside. You know what that is better than I do. Your purpose, not just my plans. In Jesus' name, amen. Now go make today count.