Working, but off the clock

I was offered a new job recently.  It’s a really good job.  For me, a dream job of sorts.  A colleague called me and offered me his job.  He’s in the unique position of having been promoted (if you can call upward movement in a missions agency a promotion) and getting to choose his replacement.  Needless to say, I was flattered.  Big time.  There are a ton of pros about this new job that I was offered, not to mention having a somewhat more solid future in the midst of an economic downturn.  I spent about a week talking myself into accepting the job.  And then I realized that not so long ago, I had become fairly confident of the fact that God might want me to take a break from being paid to be a missionary.

It’s not because I don’t like the organization, or the people, or the guy that would be my boss (He’s a great guy, and working with him would be a perk).  It’s not because I don’t like the work I’d be doing.  It would be pretty rewarding and lies within my current skill set.  It’s because it seems like I’m qualified to work in the “real world”.  You know, the “secular world” or “the place where a lot of real people that I spend my time trying to get to know” hang out.  So why wouldn’t I go there, to the place where I can have more interactions with people that don’t know this Jesus guy is great? So once I remembered this, I spent about a week trying to convince myself that I’m crazy.  No such luck.  And I ultimately turned down the job.

I don’t have anything against being a missionary, and I’m still going to be one for a while now (my current job isn’t done yet), and I might even someday find myself again in this full-time missionary gig.  I reserve the right to be wrong.  But right now it’s hard for me to say, “Yeah, you don’t have to have a seminary degree, and you don’t have to be paid to follow Jesus” when I am paid to follow Jesus in an organization that says I need seminary credit.  I think I’m supposed to take a crack at living this life following Jesus with fewer guarantees, just like the people I seek to minister to now.  I feel like Jesus has taught me so much about what it means to follow him, and that I should try to actually put that to use, and for me, right now, that means not being paid to minister to people.

But who knows, maybe I don’t yet fully understand what’s going on here.  Maybe God will show me something else a few months down the line.  He’s cool like that.  Really cool.  So I’m going to try to just go where he takes me.  You see, the only con I could find with the new job offer was that I wasn’t sure God was taking me there.  Recognition? Yes.  Some financial security? Yes.  Working with quality missionaries?  Yes.  Increased trust in God?  Maybe not.