神的心意--事業篇面
作者：李晋徽 翻譯：鍾楨
在現今的世代中，人們在規劃未來時，往往把事業的走向看得非常重要。去年，好多大專院校在溫哥華的公交樞紐設攤。他們在那裏擺放了各樣照片，照片上往屆畢業生們自信滿滿的笑臉，讓人們不禁也想要去那裏深造，以期能從事自己的理想中的職業。而宣傳海報上，“你會怎麽辦？” 這樣的標語，更是發人深省。
實際上﹐對於事業的側重並不會讓今天的人們大感意外，因為對於成年人來說，職業的選擇是至關重要的。更有甚者，個人的職業成為人們在社交生活當中特色鮮明的標簽，在很大程度上決定了一個人在當今社會中的價值。當人們可以選擇的就業範圍越來越廣，而在事業上獲得成功的壓力又日趨增加，人們在就業導向上所作的努力可以被單純地看作是一件屬世界的事。而這一想法在從未想過要在教會裏全職侍奉的人群當中尤為普遍。可事實是﹐我們的信仰應該貫穿到我們生活的方方面面，在我們的工作中也不例外。無論我們決定做什麼事，信仰都應該被放在首位。那麼這兩者之間又有什麼關聯呢？
在我們進一步討論信仰在個人事業中所扮演的角色之前，我們首先要明白神對於我們的心意。我們教會的一位牧師曾經分享說：“神在我的生命中有著什麼樣的心意？” 這樣的問題，我們往往問得次數太多。隨後，他解釋道，神對於我們每個人的心意並沒有我們想像當中的那樣天差地別，事實上，祂對於我們的心意是非常明確的。我們與其問 “神對我們的心意是什麼？” 還不如問 “我們應該如何把神的心意在我們的生命中行出來？” 這是因為神早已經啟示了祂在我們生命中的心意。
在《馬太福音》中，神已經向我們顯明了祂的心意。耶穌在地上的時候，法力賽人想要設計陷害祂。在法力賽人對耶穌的幾次試探中，有一次一個法力賽人問耶穌，律法中最大的戒命是什麼﹐耶穌回答他說:
“夫子，律法上的誡命，那一條是最大的呢？耶穌對他說，你要盡心，盡性，盡意，愛主妳的神。這是誡命中的第一，且是最大的。其次也相仿，就是要愛人如己。這兩條誡命，是律法和先知一切道理的總綱。”（馬太福音22:36-40）
那時候，耶穌在加利利和他的十一個門徒在一起，他對他們說:
“所以你們要去，使萬民作我的門徒，奉父子聖靈的名，給他們施洗。（或作給他們施洗歸於父子聖靈的名）凡我所吩咐你們的，都教訓他們遵守，我就常與你們同在，直到世界的末了。”（馬太福音28:16-20）
這兩段經文就是傳說中的 “大誡命” 或 “大使命”--也就是神對我們所有人在地上的心意。在我們選擇我們的職業時，神的這兩條啟示應當成為我們首先需要考慮的。這並不意味著我們必須朝著在教會裏全職侍奉的道路上努力，但是無論我們將從事哪一種工作，我們都要為著神對於我們的心意而奮力前行。
在我們的工作中行出神的心意不是一件容易的事情，這是因為在我們身體力行的過程中，會遇到各種各樣的試探。我們可以花大把的時間在 “領英” 網站上更新我們的主頁，讓我們自己看起來更加專業，以期在我們的競爭者當中脫穎而出。我們也可以花很多時間在我們同事、朋友的 “領英” 頁面上，比較我們自己的成就與他們的之間的距離。我們很容易在這些事情上受到試探﹐是因為我們的事業很容易被當作我們個人成就的里程碑，從而對我們的人際交往和社會定位產生影響。雖然想要有所成就本身並不是什麼錯誤，但是當我們想要在事業上不斷獲得成功，卻把神對我們的心意放到一邊時，情況就變得很危險。
從我大學畢業至今，六年時間過去了。在事業上，我不斷獲得了更大地成就，而在此過程中，我意識到在我們工作中所獲得的成就並不是永恆的。舉例來說，我白天在一家公司上班的時候，需要同時兼顧幾個項目。有時候，因為時間非常緊迫的緣故，我就需要長時間地工作，甚至於還要把工作帶回家。當我在趕進度的時候，壓力很大。但是當我完成了某個項目以後，我會從中獲得很大的成就感--就好像我又抵達了在事業上的另一座里程碑。這樣的感覺在工作完成後的當天晚上尤為強烈，但是當第二天我再一次走進辦公室的時候，等待著我的卻是大同小異的另一個項目。
我的工作對我來說曾經那麼重要，需要我全身心投入其中，而到了後來卻變得不再重要。事實上，我在工作中所取得的成就，其中有一大半，都已經被我忘得一乾二淨了。但是在那時候，它們當中的每一個對我來說都非常重要。我們在事業上總會取得一些成就、遭遇一些失敗，而這一切都會隨著時間的流逝而被淡忘。但是我們為著神的心意所作的努力卻可以在永恆的國度中產生果效。而《聖經》清楚地告訴我們:“草必枯幹，花必雕殘，惟有我們神的話，必永遠立定。”(以賽亞書40:8)
而且，我們可以用很多種不同的辦法來行出神地心意。於此同時，這與我們在事業上的積極進取並不抵觸，無論我們是成為一個會計師、牙醫、設計師、木匠或是工程師，我們都可以在工作中把福音傳給我們的同事。這樣，我們就可以活出神對我們每一個基督徒的心意﹐我們也可以盡己之力支持那些全職侍奉的主內肢體。總而言之，最重要的是我們每個人都能切實地通過自己手中的工作，把神的道行出來。
God's Will in our Career
Written by Monica Li Translation by Zizian Zhong
These days, there is a lot of focus on career development. In the past year, a number of college advertisements have popped up in skytrain stations and buses around Vancouver. Photos of smiling graduates achieving their dream career entice us to enroll in programs that will help us pursue our own dream. And catchy taglines challenge us to take action by taunting, "What will you do?" This focus is not surprising as our career is an integral part of our adult life, and more importantly, it has become a way to define who we are and how we're valued in modern society. With the plethora of career options and the increasing pressure to succeed in our work life, the pursuit of a career can seem like a purely secular process—especially if we don't plan on working in full-time ministry. But our faith shouldn't be a secondary consideration in our career. It should be the first consideration, no matter what we decide to do. So how do we start connecting the dots between our career and faith?
To grasp the role of faith in our career, we first need to understand God's will for us. A minister at my church once shared that too often we ask the question, "What is God's will for my life?" He explained that our calling from God is not unique to each of us. In fact, we all have the same calling. Instead of asking what God's will is for us, we should be asking how we should fulfill God's will—this is because God has already revealed what He wants us to do.
God's will is clearly stated in the Book of Matthew. During Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees attempted to trap Jesus by testing him. In one of their attempts, a Pharisee went up to Jesus and asked Him what the greatest commandment in the Law is. Jesus replied to him saying,
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matthew 22:36-40)
Then, when Jesus was in Galilee with His eleven disciples, He addressed them saying,
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:16-20)
These two quotes are also known as the Great Commandment and Great Commission—God's will for all of us here on Earth. This clear calling from God should be an important part of the decisions we make for our career. This doesn't mean that we must pursue a career in ministry work at a church, but that whatever we may choose to do, we should strive to fulfill God's will.
Fulfilling His will in the pursuit of our career is not an easy task, especially when there are so many distractions along the way. We can spend hours updating our LinkedIn profile to carefully craft our professional brand in hopes to stand out among our competitors. And in turn, we can spend hours poring over the profiles of our co-workers, friends, and acquaintances to see how we compare in our achievements. It's easy to get distracted because our career has become an integral part of our identity and a benchmark of our success in life. Although there is nothing wrong with striving for achievements, the danger comes when obsess over success in our career and forget God's will in our work.
In the six years since I've graduated and been in full pursuit of my career, one thing I've learned is that things that happen in the workplace won't last forever. For example, in the daytime, I'm employed in a consulting firm where I get to work on multiple projects over the course of the day. At times there are tight deadlines where I have to put in long hours and even work at home in the evenings. It can be stressful trying to meet the deadlines, but when I finish a project, I feel a great sense of accomplishment—it's as if I've achieved another milestone in my career. The feeling lasts for the night, but the very next day I step into the office again and the whole process starts over. The work that at one time seemed so important and required my full attention no longer matters. In fact, I can't remember half the projects I've completed during my tenure at my work, and every single one of them seemed important at the time.
The accomplishments and failures in our career will come and go, and eventually they will be forgotten. However, the works we do in fulfilling God's will can bear fruit that is everlasting. It says in the Bible,
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." (Isaiah 40:8)
And there are many ways we can fulfill God's will, however we may decide to pursue our career—whether we become an accountant, dentist, designer, carpenter, engineer, etc, It can take the form of sharing the gospel with our co-workers, conducting ourselves in a manner we are called to do as Christians, or using our resources to support those who are in ministry work. The important thing, however, is to take the time to consider how we pursue God's will in what we do.