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PROGRAM D-8391
Are you in a job you really hate? If so, you would quit tomorrow! But you feel like you’re in a prison because you need a job, you’ve got time and benefits invested in this job—and yet you hate the job.
I can understand your feelings because I’ve had a job or two like that myself. But the Apostle Paul wrote this to the Philippians:
…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. . .I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-12)
I want to talk about how to find contentment even in a job you hate. If you and I can learn this secret of being content, as Paul learned it, we can’t lose because our fulfillment and satisfaction will not be based on circumstances—not based on whether we have a terrific job that we love or one we don’t like so much!
Keep in mind that Paul had to learn this technique of being content, and so do we. Are you willing to enroll in Contentment 101 to learn how to be content with your job? That’s where it begins. If you’re not willing to learn to be content, you never will learn it. If you insist on saying, “I hate this job; I refuse to change my attitude toward this job; I could never be content with this job and, furthermore, I don’t want to be content with it,” then you’ve already prevented God from changing you and giving you a new heart and a new attitude.
First of all, you must give up your rights. Most of us think things like, “I don’t deserve this job,” or “I deserve to have a fulfilling job,” or “It’s not right that I have to work at a job that doesn’t utilize my talents,” or “I can’t be expected to endure the kind of treatment I get on my job.” That’s just our normal selfish nature—which has been fed and fired up by our humanistic society, which teaches us that “We have our rights!”
Dear friend, if you want to be a contented person, you must first of all tell God that you recognize you have no rights to all that you think you have a right to. If you’re a child of God, you belong to him and he is the Master. Are you willing to give up your “rights” to have the job you want, and to allow yourself to be contented where you are? That is step one in being content with a job you hate. Think about that and pray about it.