People go about choosing careers in different ways.  Many choose based on which will provide the most money or status. Others decide to follow their passion. And most of the rest just happen into a career through opportunity, chance, or inertia.

There is a better way—a biblical way—and it can be summarized in three questions: one you shouldn’t ask and two you should.

The question you shouldn’t ask

The first is the one most people ask but shouldn’t: What job will get me the most money or status? 

Now, I get it—who doesn’t want wealth or respect? The problem is that work doesn’t exist primarily for making us wealthy or respected. So, when we look to our work to serve those purposes, we are likely to be pulled away from what we were created to do.

The other problem is that when we think our job exists to make us rich or respected, we will  use it for those purposes.  Instead of asking how our work can serve others, we begin asking how it can serve us. Clients become stepping stones. Coworkers become competitors. Success becomes measured by compensation, titles, and recognition rather than faithfulness, usefulness, or excellence.

Instead, here are two questions to ask to unlock what God has called you to do.

What is in your hand?

The first is, “What is in your hand?” This is the question the Lord asked Moses when He was trying to convince him he was the person to deliver the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 4:2).

What was in Moses’s hand was a staff. That staff represented the last 40 years of Moses’s life as a shepherd, corralling sheep, feeding sheep, and leading them from one place to another—what he would soon be doing with the Israelites.

The staff also represented all the preparation in Moses’ life to that point—his education in the language, learning, and culture of the Egyptians, as well as his familiarity with Pharaoh’s court. Moses’s training and experience were no accident—they were orchestrated by a sovereign God to make Moses uniquely qualified to confront Pharaoh and lead God’s people to the promised land. 

What is in your heart?

The second question is, “What is in your heart?” Moses was called to be a leader, a deliverer. We know that from what God said to him at the burning bush. But we also know that calling was already hidden in Moses’s heart when he was living in Egypt as a younger man. 

When he killed an Egyptian to save a fellow Hebrew, “Moses supposed they understood God was granting them deliverance by his hand.” (Acts 7:25). What Moses sensed in his heart about his calling, he sensed so strongly that he thought it was obvious to others. 

What’s in your heart is not necessarily the same thing as your passion. Passions are things you love doing—gardening, playing golf, painting. They are more often hobbies than careers. Moses wasn’t passionate about being a deliverer. It took a lot of convincing at the burning bush by God to get him to go, but it was in his heart 40 years earlier. 

What’s in your heart is not necessarily a burning but a whisper. It’s more likely a quiet pull than a consuming hunger, but it will persist. It will persist because it’s the call of your Maker inviting you into the role He designed you for. 

So, what’s in your hand?

And, what’s in your heart?

They may be two of the most important questions you ever ask. GS