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I certainly believe there are times when we should actively pursue another job or another career, when the right thing to do is find a place to work which uses our abilities better or get more education so we can advance to better jobs, or simply find a better working environment. But if you’re in a job you hate, however long you are going to be in that job, as a Christ-follower, you should learn to be content there. The Apostle Paul said he learned to be content in any circumstance, and he was in some very bad situations. If he can learn contentment, so can we.
Let me tell you the story of a woman in Wisconsin who found herself in a job she hated. It was a manufacturing job with repetitive and boring duties. She graduated from college with very good grades but found herself in this job that was beneath her. Finally, after hearing my message on The Freedom of a Captive Mind, she decided to change her attitude about that job and to think of it as her mission field. She began reprogramming her mind with Scripture, memorizing verses on the job, and singing songs of praise in that factory job.
Her co-workers noticed the change in her. They began to ask her to sing her songs, and many times she was able to share the Scripture she was memorizing in conversations with different individuals. She started praying for her co-workers, and they began to come to her with their needs and ask her to pray for them.
She was able to lead one of her co-workers to know Jesus as her Savior, and touched the lives of all who worked with her. Yes, the work was boring, but she made the best of a tough job because she looked at it through the eyes of eternity, and asked God to use her there.
It’s fine to look for a new job but one thing you don’t want to do is to leave in defeat. If and when you move on from that job you don’t like, you want to leave in victory. You don’t want to be running away from that job; you want to be leaving in good standing, with a good testimony, and with the knowledge that God is now opening a door and you’re leaving in victory. That is really important.
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