What Role Does Faith Play in Career Success?

– Rich Blue

Key Questions

What does faith have to do with success? If we have faith in God, will we be more prosperous? You have all heard successful people attributing their success to God. Who can forget “Touchdown Jesus?” Sometimes you feel moved because their expression of gratitude seems genuine and sincere. At other times, your stomach twists and turns. You feel reactive and uncomfortable when you hear it.

If we follow God, pray, worship, live moral lives, and tithe, can we expect to be more successful in our career? Certainly, Kings Saul, David, and Solomon were blessed materially with abundant wealth and worldly pleasures. On the other hand, Jesus did not complete his life with any material wealth, possessions or even a dramatically large following? He was brutally murdered. Was Jesus successful in his career?

How will you measure success in your career?

There seem to be at least two obvious variables—success and faith.

Career Success

Let’s start with your definition of success? How do you measure success?

My picture of success is wholeness and completeness. Am I living my life fully, taking risks, pursuing aliveness, caring and serving others, and fulfilling my sense of mission and purpose? My inspiration is to live like Jesus—that is the picture in my mind of success. Now, my picture of Jesus is different than yours. There is lots of room for each of us to personalize our picture of Him.

What is your inspirational picture of success? Who are your heroes? What values will you want to be increasingly living by in order to feel successful? This is a personal journey that you must own and author for yourself as you live, learn and grow.

Faith

What is faith? How do I know whether I am exercising it?

Faith is like breathing. You can’t live without it. When you draw a lot of attention to faith, suddenly it becomes a confusing and mysterious experience. Each of us live by faith all the time. The issue is not whether you are living by faith. We all live by faith. The more helpful question is to ask yourself, “What are you placing your faith in?” Is your faith in yourself, God, Jesus, God’s word, your family, others, truth, consciousness, dedication, or hard work? How can you know what you are placing your faith in? Can you only have faith in one thing?

Heart’s Desire

I think faith is a central concern for anyone interested in living a meaningful life. The pursuit of genuine faith has captivated my heart for years. There are so many wonderful teachers that offer you insights into the dynamics of understanding faith. A few of my Christian heroes are Jesus, Paul Tillich, and Sören Kierkegaard. I also cherish a community of other spiritual teachers from other faith traditions who have contributed to my ever-evolving understanding of faith. Some of my most inspirational guides of faith are the people I am with day-to-day.

Size Doesn’t Matter

One thing I have learned about faith is that size doesn’t matter! Jesus in his story about the mustard seed made it clear that the issue is not about how much faith we have. Jesus reminded us that if we had the faith the size of a mustard seed, meaning extremely small, then we could move mountains. I think his point was that it is not about the size of our faith; instead, it is how big is the God we are placing our faith in.

Grow in Consciousness of Faith and Career Success

There are infinitely more lessons to be learned as we increase our consciousness of what we are placing our faith in. Open your eyes and see what you are trusting. Then, ask yourself how you will measure success. Be more interested in questions than answers. The pursuit of certainty is antithetical to the life of faith.