By Robert Irby, Charlotte Fellow 2020
Uncertain is an understatement.
As America traverses the uncharted waters of the COVID-19 outbreak, the future is anything but clear for many citizens. The Charlotte Fellows program is no exception.
Six recent college graduate strangers arrived in a new city in September to learn how to be young Christian professionals. Though none of us knew each other before, we embarked on a journey together that saw us grow both professionally and spiritually.
With jobs ranging from working for a NASCAR team to installing doors and windows, the other Fellows and I sought to gain any relevant experience we could find. The end goal was centered around discovering God’s calling for us and being prepared to excel in it.
For most of the Fellows, we believed our calling would largely be reflected in whatever jobs we found at the end of the program in May. The hope was we would begin our job search in March and have a career path lined up within the next two months.
But then, much like most other Americans’, our plans changed.
In addition to the virus’s physical effects, it has caused an economic crisis and a hiring freeze for most companies. As the Fellows are looking to be hired, the nation has effectively shut its doors. Americans are consumed with fear of the unknown, and the Fellows have plenty of reasons to feel it too.
I would be lying if I said I am not fearful. The job search was already hard enough, but now it seems impossible. Like so many others, I was laid off from my job due to budget cuts in response to the virus. How long will I be forced to remain indoors? What will the job market even look like when this virus is under control?
Though the rest of the Fellows and I have great reason to fear, finding a job was not our main purpose in coming to Charlotte. As I stated above, our end goal was and still is to discover God’s calling for us. In Philippians 3:7-9, Paul writes this:
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”
Paul prefaced this statement by listing all the reasons he has to be proud of himself and what he has done. But in this statement, he says that all his achievements on earth are meaningless. He calls them garbage.
The only achievement worth boasting about in Paul’s eyes is the righteousness that comes from knowing Christ. Nothing else matters.
For us, this means that our job, our finances, and our future endeavors are meaningless when compared to the importance of knowing Christ. This is not to say that these things are bad; the Lord can use them for good. But our sole source of purpose and meaning in life comes from following God.
Being God’s follower is wonderful, so wonderful that Paul felt compelled to write this passage while locked in a prison cell. After he had lost every worldly possession and status, God comforted Paul in his struggle. He will do the same for us.
This is also not to say that we should expect to be left with nothing. God has promised to provide for us. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus says this:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“... So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
God will not let us go hungry or without clothes. Our belongings may become less through this situation, but God will still supply us with everything we need. Anything else, as Paul says, is garbage compared to being his follower.
This is an especially hard truth for me to grasp in this situation. I just lost my job. I was forced to move back in with my parents in Virginia. Everything I built for myself in seven months in Charlotte is gone almost instantly.
As I navigate through unemployment, I constantly feel the temptation to be angry or resentful towards God. I felt satisfied with the direction I was in, and then suddenly it was all taken away. What reason do I have to believe that God is working for my good?
Then I remember Paul’s words; no job or living situation could ever bring me even a fraction of the satisfaction following God gives me. And then I remember Jesus’s words; God has provided for all my needs yesterday, today, and will keep providing tomorrow. There is nothing else worth holding on to.
This does not mean my end goal in doing the Fellows was failed either. I must remind myself that my goal was not to find a job but to find God’s calling for me. Even if that calling means, as Paul says, “losing all things”.
As the other Fellows and I still attempt to uncover God’s calling for our lives, we will try to keep our focus on God and his perfect, holy will for the world. In all the uncertainty, we will remain certain of God’s grace. We pray that you will do the same.