Podcast Episode 25 – Without Compromise (part 8)
This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article, part five in the series titled “Without Compromise.” Here is the transcript of the podcast:
Have you struggled with compromise or conformity? That’s the ongoing question we are talking about in this series. Today’s discussion is the eighth in the series, and all of them are based on a study of Daniel chapter 1 and correspond to the articles posted each week on the Leadership Ezra website. The big idea we are discussing is how you can navigate pressure without deviating from your values – specifically, the pressure to compromise or conform in an unhealthy or immoral way. It’s really a discussion of how to lead and live with excellence without compromising your faith. And today, that begins by understanding your purpose.
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In the matching article to this podcast on the Leadership Ezra website this week, I talked about the story of how God moved me from a ministry in Christian counseling to a ministry in Christian education. Here’s the rest of that story. I left off in the article with a phone call that I made in desperation that opened the door to a job as a temporary teacher in a Christian school. With no other options opening up, and at my wife’s suggestion, I contacted the church she had attended in high school to ask if they had a counseling position available. They said they did not, but immediately transferred me to the office of their Christian school. When they picked up the call, I gave them my name and told them who I was married to, and they begin singing the praises of my wife as one the most well-loved students that had graduated from that school, and invited me in to apply. I said that my background was in Bible and counseling, but not education, and they told that a teacher who taught Bible, Psychology, Family Living, and ancient history had suddenly resigned the day before, and wanted to talk to me about at least taking a temporary position to help with those classes. Before the end of the day, I had met with them in person, been interviewed, and was offered the job. Two things happened next. First, almost every other place to which I had applied called me back about interviewing for a job AFTER I had already accepted the job at this school, and second, I began to get excited about the possibility of shaping the minds and worldviews of students.
Less than a month later, as I started teaching students in a classroom, I began to discover a passion for impacting both the minds and the hearts of these students, and began to connect for that purpose. I discovered a passion that I didn’t know was there. That redirection from God led to a 30-year ministry in Christian education.
That’s what we see in Daniel’s experience Daniel chapter 1. I would be certain that his personal career plan and life goals did not include being taken as a captive to another country and being forced into their training program. I’m sure he had different plans. But when God unexpectedly changed his direction, he embraced it with a faithful commitment to God. From our historical viewpoint when we read the account, it becomes obvious to us that God had specifically equipped Daniel for a purpose that God had in mind. And in being obedient to that, Daniel found his purpose and his fulfillment, so much so that he served in a leadership capacity not just for the king that first took him captive, but for kings (and kingdoms) that would come after.
In the same way, God has specifically equipped and prepared you for a purpose, and He continues to use the people and circumstances in your life to shape you for that purpose. In a big-picture view, we each have a story that is a chapter in God’s great story. His story is much bigger than ours, but He intentionally uses ours as part of His. When we understand that we get to play a part in what He is doing, we can get excited about the purpose He has for us. We can see our lives through that lens, we can begin to align our identity and our experiences with what He is doing in and through us.
The truth is, God has a purpose, and He knows what it is and where it is going, even when we can’t see the whole picture. What we can do is learn to identify the things we do well and the things we love to do, and pray for the wisdom to see the opportunities that God puts in front of us that match those things. And once again, realize that God will be using all of our past experiences and relationships to help develop that purpose. Interestingly for me, as God broadened my passion and purpose to helping Christian schools with brokenness and struggle, one of the schools He moved me to required the wisdom and ability to help people heal from great wounds. In other words, it required counseling abilities. Although that was almost 15 years after He moved me away from counseling ministry, I could see how that had been part of His intentional preparation for the work I would be doing in Christian schools down the road.
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The bottom line is that you have a purpose, and it’s not random. God has equipped and gifted you, and He has put people and circumstances in your life as part of that preparation. Learn to see your life experiences through that filter, and embrace what God gives you to do. Find your purpose in His plan.
