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I would love to try dozens of jobs, including writing a musical, being a travel planner, designing a bookstore, and serving as the personal photographer of a president or dignitary. The list goes on and on.
Why don’t I give one of these careers a shot? Because loving my neighbor through my work requires the pursuit of excellence in my work. And the pursuit of excellence requires loads of focus and time.
You simply can’t “do it all” if you want to do your most exceptional work for the glory of God and the good of others. But you can in the life to come!
That brings me to the fourth of five biblical truths about work on the New Earth we’re exploring in this plan: We will have unlimited time to do the work we want to do for God’s glory.
Psalm 37:4 says, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” On the New Earth, we will perfectly “delight in the Lord” because we will be free from all sin. And so, there will be no disconnect between our desires and God’s. As Dr. Randy Alcorn explains, “our desires…will be sanctified and fulfilled on the New Earth”—including our desires for our work.
But that could be way off in the future. How should you and I respond to this truth today? Here are three ideas.
First, praise God for freeing you from the burden of finding your “dream job” in this life. He has found it and has it waiting for you on the other side!
Second, choose which skill you will master for God’s glory and the good of others in this season of life. Need help? Consider using my book, Master of One, as your guide.
Finally, put vocational dreams that distract you from mastering that skill on a Someday list. I have many of the dreams I shared above in a “Someday” folder in my to-do list app, even though there’s almost zero chance I will touch those projects in this life. So why put them in there at all? Because it’s a way to remind myself that this life isn’t my only chance to “do it all.” If my desires align with God’s, I’ll get to do everything I want very soon.
But right now, I’m intensely mastering the work I’ve chosen to do this season for the glory of God and the good of others. I pray this devotional frees you to do the same!
About this Plan
There’s a lot that we don’t know about work in heaven and on the New Earth. But there’s also a lot that we do know. In this devotional plan, we’ll unpack five under-explored biblical truths about our eternal vocation and what they mean for our work today!
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