So What Do I Do with My Life?

By Rev. Mark Buetow

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a professional pilot. Maybe I would be an airline pilot flying a 747 or perhaps a corporate pilot in command of a Gulfstream jet. I remember taking a career counseling test that was supposed to help me figure out what my skills and interests would suggest for a career. It wasn’t hard to answer the questions so that “pilot” was on the list! (As was “farmer” and “person who makes artificial limbs!”)

In college, after becoming very active in our campus Lutheran church, I decided during my sophomore year that I would no longer be a pilot but would go to seminary after college to be a pastor. So I changed my major to history and headed off to seminary. Also during college, I met my wife, and we were married just before my senior year. It turns out I left college with a whole bunch of vocations or upcoming callings that I hadn’t even considered when I started!

As a young man looking forward, it seems that my choices were all about what I wanted to do and be and accomplish. I remember a poster my friend had of seven really fancy cars in front of a mansion with the title “Justification for Higher Education.” I wanted to go to college to get a job and make a lot of money. Even when I went to seminary, it was all about my wanting to study theology (which interested me) and to be a person who could help others (whatever that meant). Still, the choices I made were about me and what I wanted to do.

But looking back, I can see now that the Lord was working things out to put me where He wanted me to be, doing what He wanted me to do, to serve those He wanted me to serve. Even as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, the Lord put people around me in their callings and vocations who helped guide and direct me. That’s why, as Christians, we talk about more than just “careers” or “jobs” or “relationships.” They are called “vocations” for a reason. It’s because the things we are given to do in this life for others are given to us by our Father in heaven. He calls us to these vocations so that we may glorify Him and serve others in many and various ways.

As a Christian young person, the answer to the question, “So what do I do with my life? is best answered by, “What do you want to do? What interests you? What do you enjoy doing? What sort of challenges do like tackling? What sort of work do you hope to avoid?” These questions are helpful for figuring out what sort of paths in education or technical training you might like to pursue. But it’s important to have the bigger perspective, too. You are baptized into Christ. You have been called by God to be part of His Church and a believer in Jesus. Your life is no longer about living just for you. It’s about glorifying God by loving and serving others!

You see, no matter what job or career or vocation you end up with, even if you don’t think about it, the Lord will be using you to care for others. The education and skills and experiences you have aren’t just yours. They’re given to you as a gift as you live your life doing good things for others in your particular calling. Whether you end up as the head of your own international corporation or working a seemingly dull 9 to 5 job in a factory, we don’t judge our callings as the Lord does. In every place you end up, in whatever it is you’re doing, you have the opportunity to do good to others and to demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus by doing your job well and helping others as you do.

I don’t know what the Lord has in store for your life. You might think you have an idea, but there are permutations and possibilities you haven’t even dreamed of! Whatever you do and wherever you go and however you are called to serve, know that you have been called since the baptismal font to be God’s own dear child. Everything you do in your life He will use as a blessing to others. Every failing He forgives and every good deed He works through you is for the good of others. You may find yourself at the end of a series of choices you’ve made in a job you really enjoy. You may find yourself in a situation you didn’t choose, due to circumstances, doing something that you hadn’t planned and don’t always enjoy. But either way, that calling—that vocation—is the Lord’s gift to you and it is His gift to those around you through you.

In my calling as a pastor, I have the job of reminding those whom I serve (and those to whom I write articles), that Jesus has died for you and risen again. That’s HIS vocation: that of Savior. And because He’s done that, He’s set you free to pursue the things you enjoy and love, while still guiding and working behind the scenes so that you will be a blessing and gift to others. So what do you with your life now? You keep living it in Jesus! And He will bless others through you.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, Illinois. He can be reached at buetowmt@gmail.com.