Your career is more than a paycheck.
Whether you lead a company, work for someone else, build a business, serve customers, stay home with your children, or are still discovering what your future looks like, God cares about how you approach the work He’s placed in your hands.
In Part 6 of “How to Structure a Home Run Life,” the focus turns to another important race you’re running: your calling and career race.
The big idea throughout the Home Run series has been that the race God has called you to run requires you to become the person who can build the structure to win it. Your career is no different.
You don’t simply need a better opportunity.
You need to become better prepared for the opportunities God gives you.
Your Career Is Part of Your God-Given Race
It’s easy to separate your spiritual life from your professional life.
You worship God at church, pray at home, and read your Bible—but then Monday arrives and work feels like an entirely different world.
But what if your work is also an opportunity to honor God?
Second Peter 1 describes a process of intentionally developing your faith through qualities like excellence, knowledge, self-discipline, endurance, godliness, and love.
Those qualities aren’t limited to Sunday.
They should affect how you lead, serve, communicate, solve problems, handle pressure, respond to correction, and treat people throughout the week.
Your calling isn’t only about discovering what you’re supposed to do.
It’s also about becoming who you’re supposed to be while doing it.
Growth Makes You More Useful
One of the strongest challenges in this message is to refuse to live on autopilot.
You can have faith and still need to grow.
You can love God and still need more knowledge.
You can have talent and still need greater self-discipline.
You can have a calling and still need endurance.
Second Peter teaches that intentionally developing these qualities makes you increasingly productive and useful.
That’s an important career principle.
Instead of only asking, “When will I get a better opportunity?” start asking, “How can I become more useful with the opportunity I already have?”
Learn more about your industry. Develop your skills. Strengthen your character. Become more disciplined. Receive correction. Identify your blind spots.
Growth doesn’t happen automatically.
You have to intentionally participate in it.
First Base: Develop a “Get To” Spirit
The first base of your calling and career race is changing your attitude from “I have to” to “I get to.”
“I have to go to work.”
“I have to deal with these people.”
“I have to finish this project.”
“I have to show up again tomorrow.”
That language may seem insignificant, but it can reveal how you’ve started viewing what is in your hands.
A “get to” spirit changes your perspective.
You get to contribute.
You get to solve problems.
You get to create.
You get to develop your gifts.
You get to serve people.
You get to earn, learn, grow, and prepare for what’s next.
Colossians 3:23 says to work willingly at whatever you do as though you are working for the Lord rather than for people.
The weight isn’t always the work itself. Sometimes the weight is the attitude you bring to the work.
When you change your perspective, you can begin seeing today’s responsibility as an opportunity instead of an obligation.
Second Base: Lead Yourself to Add Value
The second base is simple:
Lead yourself to add value.
It’s tempting to spend your career waiting for someone else to recognize your value.
You want your boss to notice you. You want the promotion. You want more money. You want someone to acknowledge your hard work.
But what can you control?
You can control the value you bring.
Instead of starting with, “What are they going to do for me?” ask, “How can I add more value here?”
Luke 16:10 teaches the importance of being faithful with what is already in your hands.
That means your current season matters—even if it isn’t your dream season.
Your current job can become training for your future. Your current responsibility can develop skills you’ll need later. Even working under imperfect leadership can teach you how you want to lead when you’re given greater responsibility.
Add value before you ask to be valued.
Don’t wait for a title to lead.
Lead yourself now.
Third Base: Work for the Lord
The third base changes who you’re ultimately working for.
Your boss may sign your paycheck.
Your clients may hire you.
Your customers may evaluate your work.
But as a follower of Jesus, your ultimate standard isn’t determined by them.
Work for the Lord.
That means your excellence shouldn’t disappear when nobody is watching.
You don’t give your best only when you’re hoping for recognition. You don’t work hard only when you like your boss. You don’t change your character depending on who is in the room.
You choose excellence because excellence becomes part of who you are.
Your workplace becomes another environment where you can honor God.
Excellence Isn’t Perfection
There’s an important difference between excellence and perfection.
Perfection can become focused on appearance—making sure everything looks right so you look good.
Excellence is deeper.
It’s choosing to bring your best because that’s the kind of person you’re becoming.
Excellence affects how you think, how you carry yourself, how you treat people, how you handle details, and what you do when nobody is watching.
You won’t always get everything right.
But you can consistently ask yourself:
Am I bringing my best to what God has placed in my hands?
Run Your Career Race to Win
You may not be able to control your company.
You can’t control your boss.
You can’t control the economy, your coworkers, your customers, or when your next opportunity appears.
But you can control how you run your race.
You can grow.
You can become more disciplined.
You can add value.
You can choose gratitude.
You can become the bigger person.
You can pursue excellence.
And you can work as though you’re ultimately working for God.
So tomorrow, instead of thinking, “I have to go to work,” try something different.
I get to.
I get to serve. I get to create. I get to grow. I get to add value. I get to prepare for whatever God has next.
That’s how you begin building the structure to win your calling and career race.
If you’re looking for a church in Frisco, TX where you can discover God, develop yourself, and grow as a leader with a biblical worldview, we’d love to welcome you to Elevate Life Church.
