Devo 3
9/15/99
"Experience Required..."
Having recently graduated college and beginning the Great Job Search, I have come to discover two words that a great number of prospective employees have come to know and hate: "Experience required..." This then introduces one of the great paradoxes of life; how to get experience when experience is required to earn the experience needed.
Putting yourself in the employer's position, however, the reason for desiring an experienced person is fairly obvious...you don't want a bumbler gumming up the works. Training can often be given on the job, but not the quality of training that can be gained by a couple years of working in a similar environment. Again the great question arises: "How do I get experience?!"
Well, in a lot of cases, college or trade school will provide a good start. If not directly supplying the needed training, it will at least establish channels to places where experience can be acquired. In fact, many schools boast of their placement percentage, that is, how many graduates go immediately to the work place. These colleges are places specifically designed to prepare students for the work-world, providing them the necessary skills and talents to efficiently integrate themselves into 'real life'. (Yeah, I can hear you university students laughing!) So where am I going with this? (give me a second, I'll remember...) oh yeah!
The Christian life and mission, if it were to appear in the 'Help Wanted' section of your local newspaper...(ok, you can stop laughing again)...would probably also include the words, "Experience required". Now wait a second before you ask one of those hundreds of questions that have suddenly jumped up in your mind, let me finish. I am obviously not saying that God requires anything of us before allowing us eternal life (besides acknowledgment of His Son). What I am saying, though, is that the most effective people in God's employ, are those who have been properly trained. Look at the process involved in becoming a missionary. You don't simply call up your church and tell them you leave for Africa in a week. It is certainly possible, but without the proper training and schooling, this person will be clueless upon arrival in a remote village in the back-country of Africa.
Of course, God is not going to send every believer to Africa; there are other places that need the Word of God, and that includes your neighborhood. OK, reading back through what I've written, there's at least one thing I want to clarify. I'm not saying that we should all go enroll at a Bible college or Seminary in preparation for missions work. Another thing that I need to point out (since it is one of my major points), is that no matter what you end up doing, the training will always take some time. I think that this stage of our lives (for most of us, entering or just about exiting college and high school), is one of the most frustrating times for a Christian. I've seen a good number of my friends in college constantly agonizing about how much they want to get out into the world serving God, but frustrated that homework takes so much out of their days. And it is hard! The feeling is overwhelming at times that you are wasting valuable time sitting in classes learning such trivial things as differential equations and critical theory.
Maybe what needs to be remembered is this: if you truly believe God is guiding your life, then you need to also believe that your time in classes is valuable. You can learn so much more in class than just formulas and equations. You can learn listening skills through paying attention in lecture, reasoning skills by actively thinking about what is being taught and comparing it to the Bible, communication skills in tactfully challenging the 'B' on your last test and interacting with other classmates.
I think Colossians 3:23 is really applicable here. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Note, it says, 'whatever'. This says to me that anything we do can be done for the glory of God (now obviously some things are more conducive to this than others...). It can be frustrating waiting for what we perceive to be the real work God has called us to do, but realize that in order to be effective, you need to be ready, and to be ready, you need to use every situation--no matter how mundane--for God's glory.