Pondering vocation as a service to Christ - John Piper

Things come together in beneficial ways.

I've been reading through John Piper's Taste and See.
I've also been praying about what in the WORLD I'm doing next year.

Then, these two activities intersected in Piper's book. He says,

"I don't want my people to simply drift into a job or coast along in it with little sense of calling or significance for the supremacy of God in what they do."

I think this is what I've been struggling with. It's hard for me to think of a job I can do for next year that I think has significance, that allows God to be supreme in my life. I know I want to do all I can to further God's kingdom, and it's hard for me to think that something like supply teaching is truly strategic in doing that. It's hard for me to avoid the mentality that next year is a limbo year, before I decide what to REALLY do with my life. I know I need to live in the present and go hard in the present...but what does that mean about the job I should apply for for next year?!

So while I ponder what God really wants me to do next year, I have started applying to the Ontario College of Teachers to start the supply-teaching application process. I feel like I haven't submitted this decision enough to Him, so I'm going to keep praying for His will. This decision makes sense...but sometimes He asks us to do things that don't make sense. I'm praying for confirmation of what His will is. All I can say for sure right now is, thank goodness He will never leave nor forsake us!

Meanwhile, Piper gives good guidance to finding a job. Piper asks these questions (and refers to the ultimate authority, the Bible!):

1) Can I earnestly do all the parts of this job "to the glory of God," that is, in a way that highlights his superior value over all other things? (1 Corinthians 10:31)
2) Is taking this job part of a strategy to grow in personal holiness? (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
3) Will this job help or hinder my progress in esteeming the value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord? (Philippians 3:8)
4) Will this job result in inappropriate pressures to think or feel or act against my King, Jesus? (1 Corinthians 7:23)
5) Will this job help establish an overall life pattern that will yield a significant involvement in fulfilling God's great purpose of exalting Christ among all the unreached peoples of the world? (Matthew 28:18-20)
6) Will this job be worthy of my best energies? (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
7) Will the activities and environment of this job tend to shape me, or will I be able to shape it for the Christ-magnifying purposes of God? (Romans 12:2)
8) Will this job provide an occasion for me to be radically Christian so as to let my light shine for my Father's sake, or will my participation in the vision of the firm tend to snuff out my wick? (Matthew 5:16)
9) Does the aim of this job cohere with a growing intensity in my life to be radically, publicly, fruitfully devoted to Christ at any cost? (Mark 8:34)
10) Will the job feel like a good investment of my life when this vapour's breath of preparation for eternity is over? (James 4:14)
11) Does this job fit with why I believe I was create and purchased by Christ? (1 Corinthians 6:20)
12) Does this job fit together with the ultimate truth that all things exist for Christ? (Colossians 1:16)

High standards, and so they should be.

Here's back to praying and waiting on Him.