Youth : Spiritual Life vs. Professional Life

It can be a real dilemma when on one hand we want to invest in our spirit, and on the other we can’t ignore or school work and our professional life.

After all, we have half the world looking and questioning our Christianity, waiting for the first signs of fanaticism to judge our faith.

Our faith requires of us to have a good testimony in this area.

When I arrived at the UCKG I was 13 years old and my grades at school were terrible. I was very rebellious, skipped school, and when I did go to school it was to disturb the good classroom environment. But after the rational faith in the Living God was revealed to me, I discovered the reason for living! Nothing else mattered.

I participated in meetings daily, did all the purposes, special meetings, vigils, etc. All this investment was making me so well, not only because I was getting closer to God, but also I was slowly changing as a person.

 

But my grades were still low, and obviously (and they were right) my family demanded good grades from me. What apparently seemed to be responsible for my failure in school were the many hours I spent investing in my spirit. I had many eyes on me, on my faith; people expected something more, different attitudes.

What did I do? I began to focus on my studies. I gave up attending a few church meetings and my grades improved a little and I also started working, all this led me back to the same dilemma: What now? Am I leaving my spiritual life to the side to invest in my professional life!

How can I balance it all out?

I ran to God! I needed a response urgently…

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (I Corinthians 10:31)

I asked myself: What is my goal in my professional life? Is it to be successful? To have fame, higher appreciation, prove that I have value? Or is it to glorify God with my life?

The only function of God’s Servants in this world is to serve Him, glorify Him through their life.

I wanted to prioritize my Spiritual life therefore I determined a rule for myself:
– My first commitment is with God; my faith is my first responsibility, the rest will have to fit into that “agenda”.
– And the rest has to glorify God too! All my life is to serve God.

Of course this does not necessarily mean that you will miss work in order to attend the meeting in the church, but we must always have balance. When my intention is really to please God, the Holy Spirit gives me this balance and the wisdom to act the right way.