Many people nowadays are so driven by their careers. They work non-stop and put all things aside to make enough room for their work schedules, leaving out family trips, the kid's sports matches and recitals because we're too busy with work.
Sound familiar? I'm sure many people will probably know what I'm talking about. I once read an article where someone argued that career must come before family because career is more than a job, it's God's call for our lives.
And I get it. We aren't just doctors, engineers, business executives or managers for the sake of money. We do it for the glory of God. But is our job really who we are? Do our careers heavily determine God's call for our lives and maybe even the reason why we live?
I have had many professions at various times -- discipleship coach, pastor, writer, public speaker and even entrepreneur in some seasons. But for majority of my life, I have had other, more important titles, I would like to believe -- son, brother, cousin, husband, father, friend.
Pastor Steve Murrell says in his book "My First, Second and Third Attempts at Parenting" that our jobs are not who we are. It is only what we do. Before we are seafarers, pastors, entrepreneurs and lawyers, we are first followers of Jesus, and then we are husbands and wives to our spouses and parents to our children. Only after those are we our professions. Our vocation is not our highest calling, but just fourth in line next to the three most important relationships -- our relationship with God, with our spouse and with our children.
Our call in life is not only to be professionals. We are called to value relationships and God has called us first to value family. Proverbs 11:29 says, "Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise."
Imagine you are on your death bed breathing your last breath. At that moment we will not be looking for our business partners to be around us. We won't care if we're in the best hospital or a ward unity. We won't even care how successful we got, how much money we made or what we built with our time on earth.
What we will desire most is to be surrounded by family and friends. Relationships are what matter most at the end of the day, and the most important relationships God has ordained us to keep and nurture are the relationships we have with our family.
God is a God of relationships and He values our families more than the companies, buildings and monuments we can build even if it were done in His glory.
