What if losing your job is what you need?

The truth about unemployment is it sucks. It can be lonely. It can make you feel hopeless. You stand to lose more than just your job.

With unemployment, you can lose:

• Money
• Identity
• Direction in life

For the average person, losing a job halts whatever plans you had in place, and when you’re in the middle of that, it seems like a huge deal. The truth is though, if you are wrapped up in your money, your position, and your plans, then that is a whole bunch of you. You don’t need more of you. You need less of you. What if joblessness is exactly what you need?

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” -John 3:30

You see, I achieved a college degree. I was an engineer. I made $50,000 a year. That was who I was. I didn’t even realize how much of my identity was based on that. When I lost my job, I felt a wide-open, frightening freedom. I had no clue what to do next.

Thankfully, I was plugged into the local church. Since I had so much new free time, I found ways to belong there more and more. God consistently revealed my sin and convicted me of the sin in my life. He surrounded me with real, biblical community. People began to push me towards spending time with God. I began to hear Him speak to me like never before as I read my Bible.

It’s awesome to look back and recognize that God was building a structure and giving me a firm foundation to stand upon. He knew my bottom was going to fall out, so He gave me something better to stand on — Himself.

I shed my identity and dependence on where I worked and how much I made, and I took on my identity with Jesus. Ultimately, it was through this surrender that intimacy with Jesus grew. That surrender is exactly what Jesus wanted from me all along.

Whether you have a job or not, know this:

1. Jesus is pursuing you in every way and even in ways you wouldn’t have chosen. He will do whatever it takes to get your attention.
2. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:26-30)
3. If it’s not good, God is not done (Romans 8:28). Your current situation may be difficult, but God can work in that situation to bring about new opportunities that are better than anything for which you have hoped.

Job or no job, when you have Jesus, you have hope. If you lost hope because of a job, it’s time for a heart check. Whether your unemployment lasts for two days or two years, seek to know Jesus better because of it.