I was taking my daughter to tennis practice yesterday when she announced to me that she had taken a career aptitude test. She informed me that the results showed that she was a prime candidate to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, pulling in more than $500,000/year. I immediately began making plans for a vacation house in Florida paid for by my high-powered CEO daughter.
I told her that I was happy to hear that, because she is a very dedicated, intelligent, diligent, hard-working young woman. She is a much better student than I ever was and has all the tools to be a success in this world.
I asked her if that was the job she would like to have one day. She said with excitement, "Yes!"
I said, "Why?" She looked at me funny. "Why?" she repeated, with the kind of tone that signified to me that she believed she was talking to an idiot.
"Yes," I said. "Why?"
She said, "Well, umm, uhh, I mean, making a lot of money is a good thing!"
"It is?" I said. "Why?"
"What do you mean, WHY?" she said.
I said, "Casey, one of the things that adults never asked me as a kid was, 'Why?' No one ever made me think about the choices I made for life. No one ever asked me to think about things from a Biblical point of view. Not one person- NOT ONE PERSON- ever asked me what God wanted me to do with my life. No one forced me to think outside the box of what this culture says is successful. No one ever asked me, 'Why?"
It was true. They told me to stay in school. Why? So I could go to college. Why? So I could get a good job. Why? So I could make a lot of money. Why? So I could buy a lot of stuff.
That's the vision. That's the default mode of what our culture has planned for our young people. And if we never ask them the question, "Why?" they will follow it hook, line, and sinker.
Stop to think about how un-Christian that line of thought is. We follow a risen Savior who tells us in Luke 12:15 that our lives do not consist in the abundance of our possessions, yet the ultimate goal of far too many Christian young people is a life that leads exactly to that.
I am pro-education. I went to college and to seminary for a Master's degree. However, I believe the purpose of an education is to prepare you to serve God more efficiently in the world, not to prepare you to have a job that enables you to live a life that contradicts the very words of Jesus Himself.
I asked my daughter, "You will be a success in whatever you do. You're a much better student than I ever was, and your work ethic will guarantee you success in whatever field you choose to work in. I'm very proud of you."
She said, "Thanks, Daddy."
I said, "The question I want to ask you is this, "How will this world be better because you were in it? What kind of career or study path can you take so that the gifts and talents God gave you can be used in a way that glorifies Him and leaves this world better than it was when you arrived?"
We have to start asking our young people these questions. We have to get them thinking about more than what this world envisions for them. Most importantly, we have to ask our young people, "Why?" Most of us will go to school, get a job, work, live, and die without anyone ever asking us why we did what we did . . . . or why we DIDN'T do the very things that God designed and intended us for.
Maybe that question isn't just for young people. Maybe that question is for all of us right now.
I told her that I was happy to hear that, because she is a very dedicated, intelligent, diligent, hard-working young woman. She is a much better student than I ever was and has all the tools to be a success in this world.
I asked her if that was the job she would like to have one day. She said with excitement, "Yes!"
I said, "Why?" She looked at me funny. "Why?" she repeated, with the kind of tone that signified to me that she believed she was talking to an idiot.
"Yes," I said. "Why?"
She said, "Well, umm, uhh, I mean, making a lot of money is a good thing!"
"It is?" I said. "Why?"
"What do you mean, WHY?" she said.
I said, "Casey, one of the things that adults never asked me as a kid was, 'Why?' No one ever made me think about the choices I made for life. No one ever asked me to think about things from a Biblical point of view. Not one person- NOT ONE PERSON- ever asked me what God wanted me to do with my life. No one forced me to think outside the box of what this culture says is successful. No one ever asked me, 'Why?"
It was true. They told me to stay in school. Why? So I could go to college. Why? So I could get a good job. Why? So I could make a lot of money. Why? So I could buy a lot of stuff.
That's the vision. That's the default mode of what our culture has planned for our young people. And if we never ask them the question, "Why?" they will follow it hook, line, and sinker.
Stop to think about how un-Christian that line of thought is. We follow a risen Savior who tells us in Luke 12:15 that our lives do not consist in the abundance of our possessions, yet the ultimate goal of far too many Christian young people is a life that leads exactly to that.
I am pro-education. I went to college and to seminary for a Master's degree. However, I believe the purpose of an education is to prepare you to serve God more efficiently in the world, not to prepare you to have a job that enables you to live a life that contradicts the very words of Jesus Himself.
I asked my daughter, "You will be a success in whatever you do. You're a much better student than I ever was, and your work ethic will guarantee you success in whatever field you choose to work in. I'm very proud of you."
She said, "Thanks, Daddy."
I said, "The question I want to ask you is this, "How will this world be better because you were in it? What kind of career or study path can you take so that the gifts and talents God gave you can be used in a way that glorifies Him and leaves this world better than it was when you arrived?"
We have to start asking our young people these questions. We have to get them thinking about more than what this world envisions for them. Most importantly, we have to ask our young people, "Why?" Most of us will go to school, get a job, work, live, and die without anyone ever asking us why we did what we did . . . . or why we DIDN'T do the very things that God designed and intended us for.
Maybe that question isn't just for young people. Maybe that question is for all of us right now.
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