What should I do with my life after graduation?

In the life of every Christian many choices arise, some more important than others. Nebuzar-adan says to Jeremiah: “See all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.” Doesn’t a young man face virtually the same situation when he is about to choose a career or a profession? At the end of his high school or college years various alternatives are offered to him. Which is the path that the Lord wants for him? His parents may advise him; an experienced brother may express his opinion; yet it remains the young believer’s responsibility to decide with the help of the Lord how he will spend the main part of his life.

We all know that school-days must come to an end, and as they are only a preparation for the real work of our lives, I do not think that boys and girls are doing wrong when they take a look beyond the walls of their schoolroom with the question, “What am I going to do with my life?” Will you not pause, dear ones, before you venture on the untried path that may lie before you, and making the words of scripture your own, say to that great and holy God whose goodness has surrounded you with so many mercies it, “My Father, thou art the guide of my youth” (Jer. 3:4).

Though, as you know, I and my schoolfellows were blind, we were, I believe, very much like seeing girls of the same age, we looked forward to leaving school, and often talked to each other about the things we hoped to do when we left school; all I think, or nearly all, wished to be of some use to others.

One of our girls, Nellie M—, whose mother had died when Nellie was hardly old enough to remember her at all, was to be her father’s housekeeper, and as she really wished to be a help and comfort to him, she was often, at her own request, allowed to go into the kitchen and help with the cooking. I still remember how pleased she was to tell her special friends that she had prepared the vegetables or made the puddings—the latter certainly did her credit. Susie S— hoped to live with her widowed mother and, by getting work as a chair-caner, a trade she had been taught at “St. George’s,” to be a help and not a burden to her. “And what was my ambition?” some young friend will ask. A good deal of pains had been taken in training my voice, and teaching me to sing with correctness and expression. I loved music, and often thought how much I should like to earn my living, or at least part of it, as a public singer—a path on which I was allowed to enter only to find my bright visions fade away and to learn much of sorrow and disappointment.

What will you do with your life?

Now our question is, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? What wilt Thou have me to do with my time, my strength, my money, my ability?" "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths" (Prov. 2:6). But the direction must come from the word of God. Sometimes we do not know what to do — we want to do what is right and we don't know what is right. Well, you lack wisdom, don't you? and "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God" (James 1:5). It shall be told you, "This is the way, walk ye in it" (Isa. 30:21).

If a man is to trade successfully he must consider carefully where and how to trade, and this is surely not less important in that which is the chief business of the servant of the Lord, and every Christian is a servant. Doctors, mechanics, teachers, nurses, typists, clerks, and many other callings we may follow, but all these are secondary. We desire to be efficient in these secular duties, and that is right, but our chief concern is our business for the Lord, and we ought to know how and where He would have us serve. We ought to know where we can put the pound out at the best rate of interest. With most of us the Lord intends that we should continue in the calling wherein we are called and hold forth the word of life and shine as lights just where we are. It may be that He would have some of us to carry the pound in diligent labour into the streets and lanes of the city, or far out into heathen lands. In these things He, the Master, must direct; it is ours to obey, to serve, to trade.

If a man is to trade successfully he must consider carefully where and how to trade, and this is surely not less important in that which is the chief business of the servant of the Lord, and every Christian is a servant. Doctors, mechanics, teachers, nurses, typists, clerks, and many other callings we may follow, but all these are secondary. We desire to be efficient, in these secular duties, and that is right, but our chief concern is our business for the Lord, and we ought to know where and how He would have us to serve. We ought to know where we can put the pound out at the best rate of interest. With most of us the Lord intends that we should continue in the calling wherewith we are called and hold forth the Word of life and shine as lights just where we are. It may be that He would have some of us to carry the pound in diligent labour into the streets and lanes of the city, or far out into heathen lands. In these things He, the Master, must direct; it is ours to obey, to serve, to trade.

If a man is to trade successfully he must consider carefully where and how to trade, and this is surely not less important in that which is the chief business of the servant of the Lord, and every Christian is a servant. Doctors, mechanics, teachers, nurses, typists, clerks, and many other callings we may follow, but all these are secondary. We desire to be efficient, in these secular duties, and that is right, but our chief concern is our business for the Lord, and we ought to know where and how He would have us to serve. We ought to know where we can put the pound out at the best rate of interest. With most of us the Lord intends that we should continue in the calling wherewith we are called and hold forth the Word of life and shine as lights just where we are. It may be that He would have some of us to carry the pound in diligent labour into the streets and lanes of the city, or far out into heathen lands. In these things He, the Master, must direct; it is ours to obey, to serve, to trade.

Evidently, then, this is the chief business of our lives. We are not here, in the first place, to be mechanics, shop-keepers, or professional men, to guide the house or rear the children, much less to live lives of selfish ease; but to trade for our absent Lord. Our very lives are His, as well as the pound that He has delivered to us. We may be able to put the pound out to the best rate of interest as we follow our business, and guide the home, rubbing shoulders with men in the affairs of this life. But this will only be as, in these things, we serve the Lord Christ. It may be, on the other hand, that He would have some of us to carry the pound with us, in diligent labour for Him, into the streets and lanes of the city; or into the highways and hedges where the fallen and lost stray and sin and hide; or it may be His will that others should go far afield to heathen lands: in these things He must direct and command, it is ours to obey, to serve, and to trade.

Evidently, then, this is the chief business of our lives. We are not here, in the first place, to be mechanics, shop-keepers, or professional men, to guide the house or rear the children, much less to live lives of selfish ease; but to trade for our absent Lord. Our very lives are His, as well as the pound that He has delivered to us. We may be able to put the pound out to the best rate of interest as we follow our business, and guide the home, rubbing shoulders with men in the affairs of this life. But this will only be as, in these things, we serve the Lord Christ. It may be, on the other hand, that He would have some of us to carry the pound with us, in diligent labour for Him, into the streets and lanes of the city; or into the highways and hedges where the fallen and lost stray and sin and hide; or it may be His will that others should go far afield to heathen lands: in these things He must direct and command, it is ours to obey, to serve, and to trade.

What are you going to make of your life? A brother writing to me from Brazil speaks of the large number of young Britons who, for the sake of a livelihood, will face a tropical climate and the learning of a foreign language. He asks sadly, “Where are the Christian young men or women, who are willing to do this for the Lord’s sake?” What a boon they would be, self-supporting, yet able to work in a dark and needy place for the Lord. Qualified medical men or women, dentists, opticians, really good photographers, have particularly useful qualifications, which would support them easily in many a needy part of the world. Then there are accountants, clerks, and the like.