Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name…
Philippians 2:5-9 (NIV)
Have you met people who get very upset when you do not introduce them by their titles? Do you know anyone around you who occupies an “enviable” position or has a job that others only dream about and yet is grumpy and generally unhappy in a way that betrays an inner sense of frustration? Do you love what you do and see it as what you were born to do rather than what you think life and the expectations of men have foisted on you? Or does everyone around you admire you and practically worship the ground on which you walk and yet you are falling apart on the inside, cursing every Monday morning and seeing Friday as deliverance?
Unfortunately most people try to find their life’s definition in what they have attained and the attendant material possessions rather than in their Maker. This is the fundamental reason for the insatiable drive and appetite for the illusory ‘more’ with the attendant frenetic, relentless, sometimes ephemerally gratifying but hardly satisfying drive that makes a lot of people become casualties of their own unbridled ambition. The result is a dog-eat-dog savagely competitive zest that has no qualms crushing anyone that appears to stand in its way. What most people routinely forget is that in a rat race, even the rat that wins remains a rat! If you are constantly getting ahead on the back of others, even the very ground that you walk on will soon become endangered. This is the tragedy of a Maslow-driven desire to climb higher on the social hierarchy ladder. The story of Julian in Robin Sharma’s classic, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” lends ample credence to what the Bible teaches through the mouth of Jesus himself that the value of a man’s life is never denominated in the abundance of his possessions. Julian started his career as a young, aggressive lawyer. He rose to the pinnacle of the profession in no time and attained a reputation as the go-to lawyer. But as his profile grew, so did his frustration with his life. The thought “Is this all there is to it?” gnawed at his heart daily. Until one defining moment when he simply withdrew from his prestigious and ‘highly rewarding’ legal practice and sold off all his possessions to go in search of happiness which he eventually found in a monastery far away from civilization and the razzmatazz of public acclaim and material reward. Julian was bold to turn his back on what he believed was different from what he would love to be. The same cannot be said for far too many people. They would rather plod along even when their very life is at stake!
However, if your life must amount to much, you must be willing to trade success for significance. The good thing is that if you pursue significance, you will find out that your success is tied to it. Your title, status or position is not you. And unless it has a congruence with your life mission, it is guaranteed to become an emotional albatross if you are unwilling to give it up to pursue your life purpose. Purpose must become more important to you than position. A position or social status may enhance an individual’s visibility and give him popularity but it does not necessarily make him socially relevant.
There is a difference between a profession and a vocation. A profession can give you a job that helps you put food on the table. But a vocation is what you are called to do. It is what your being pulsates with each time that you find yourself engaged in its pursuit. You talk it, you dream it. You cannot shake it off your lexicon even if you are not actively engaged in it. It is your work, even if neglected. The tension between its pull and your contrary status quo is the result of the frustration that you often feel. It is what you are willing to do for free until someone notices and offers you a fee! The word vocation is from the Latin word ‘vocare’ which means ‘to call’. In your vocation is your voice to humanity.
Jonathan in the Bible was the rejected king Saul’s son but David’s covenant friend. In the heat of David’s trouble with Saul, Jonathan went to meet his friend in the cave where he hid to escape the wrath of Saul. With a tinge of clairvoyance, he declared that David was going to be the next king of Israel while he Jonathan would be content to be his lieutenant. But he chose to return to the opulent comfort of royalty in the palace instead of sharing the inconvenience of the open skies with David. He died a needless death with his father in a war he should never have been involved in in the first place.
Why do many people find it difficult to trade position for purpose, or a profession for a vocation? Vulnerability. We hate to feel vulnerable. How many would take the risk of abandoning a life that provides all the pleasures of life for a possibility that may mean scrounging to pay bills? For many, the loss of a position means a loss of self-esteem, a loss of social ‘face’, and a possible loss of material resources afforded by the status. What we fail to realize very often is that the same society that gave you a job or social status can take it away. But no one can take away your ‘work’. You retire when you desire, if ever! Dr. John Haggai, founder of the Haggai Institute is 94. He still reports at his desk practically every day! He left the pastorate of a thriving church forty eight years ago to follow his dream of raising sterling leaders – laity and clergy alike – from the Third World to replace foreign missionaries in the task of evangelizing their own people. Everyone who knew him believed that he made a mistake. The serial rejection that he faced at the onset was enough to make him backpedal. But he chose significance over security. To date, the institute has over one hundred thousand alumni in different parts of the world through its exponential training strategy that has more local missionaries than any missionary sending agency has accomplished in the same period since its establishment!… continued.
Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!