The Right Way to Get Promoted

There are few people who are satisfied with the job that they have and don't want to be promoted.  Most of us want to keep moving to the next level.  To take on more responsibility and make more money.  And we'll do our utmost to make sure that any time there's a new position open, everyone in the company from the CEO to the janitor know that WE are the best person for the promotion.  But if a large portion of time on your job is spent on self-promotion, you may not be as ready for that next step as you think you are... 

After college I was living in Tulsa and working as a shuttle bus driver at Fine Airport Parking.  It actually was a much better job than it sounds.  Most of the employees were attending or had attended the ministry training school I was attending.  The pay was minimum wage plus tips, and you usually got around $40 in tips a shift.  You could work almost as much overtime as you could handle.  After a year at the job one of the shift leaders was moving so his job was open.  Shift leaders had a little more pay and responsibility and I wanted the job.  So I told my boss.  My boss knew I had the potential to be a good shift leader.  But he also wasn't sure if I was ready to be a shift leader.  So he took a risk while taking steps to minimize the damage.  He promoted me to shift leader but only for a couple of shifts.  Then he split up the other shifts between other "part-time" shift leaders.

"And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them, when thou art bidden of any man to a marriage feast, sit not down in the chief seat; lest haply a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him, and he that bade thee and him shall come and say to thee, Give this man place; and then thou shalt begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that hath bidden thee comes, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have glory in the presence of all that sit at meat with thee. 
For everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted."

Luke 14:7-11

I'd like to say that I lived up to my potential.  That every shift ran like a well-oiled machine and every person I was leading respected me and the job I was doing.  Nope...  I wasn't a good shift leader.  I knew the job, but I didn't know people.  I was full of pride.  I could never be wrong.  I couldn't take correction from anyone that wasn't "my equal," a shift leader.  I wasn't ready to be promoted.  Lucky for me I didn't stay at the parking lot long enough to be humbled.  I was only there for another year before I moved back to Indy.

You may think it is in your best interest to promote yourself at work.  Otherwise how will your bosses know that you want something more out of your career?  But while you may excel at the work you are currently doing you likely have no idea how well you perform at the next level.  It would be something completely different.  You don't know how your co-workers will react, especially if you become their boss.  And will the increase in pay be worth the extra stress and time spent at work?

Are your truly ready for a promotion?  You are not the best person to evaluate whether you are ready to be promoted.  Your boss is.  Think about it if God was your boss.  Do you think that God would promote you to a position that you wouldn't be able to handle?  A good boss will have the same consideration.  They will want you to succeed.  A promotion when you're not ready will be more harmful to your career than helpful.

Just be patient.  Know that God will take care of your career.  It's easy to say, but a difficult thing to accept.  But by waiting on God's timing you know that you will be in the best position to succeed.  Even if that position is the one that you're in right now.

Small Decisions

"So since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm ourselves with the same thought and purpose, patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God.  For whoever has suffered in the flesh, having the mind of Christ, is done with intentional sin, has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God.  So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by his human appetites and desires, but he lives for what God wills."
1 Peter 4:1-2

I know I have made choices that don't please God.  And why do I do that?  Because it pleases my flesh.  It make me feel good.  Do I need to stop for coffee and doughnuts on my way to work?  No.  I need to lose weight.  But the doughnuts taste so good.  If I don't get up early to study God's Word before work I can get 30-45 extra minutes of sleep.  Saying the sarcastic comment that's on the tip of my tongue will sure make me feel good.  But will it help my Christian witness with my unsaved co-worker?  No matter how great or small the choice we come to a point where we have to decide between our will and God's will, and your flesh battles against what God is asking you to do.

It always seems easier in the big questions.  When I finished my degree I could have started the job hunt, but I felt like God was calling me to got to Rhema Bible Training Center.  So I moved to Tulsa and lived as a poor student for a couple more years rather than finding a job and "getting started with my life."  It was hard, but I know that I pleased God with that decision.  It's the daily small decisions that I constantly find myself choosing to please my flesh instead of pleasing God.

Getting up early to study God's Word is the perfect example.  I already get up early for work.  During the week I'm rarely in bed at 5:00 AM.  The sleep I lose by getting up 30 minutes early is valuable.  But how valuable?  Is it worth failing to please God?  To be honest, I've been valuing sleep more than pleasing God.  I've used the argument that I could study later in the day, at work, or before bed.  But that never happens.  It's too easy to get distracted at work.  And when I get home I need to spend time with family.  Then it's time to eat.  Then I need to relax with my wife.  Then it's time for bed.  At some point I must sacrifice.  And I won't sacrifice necessary time with my wife and kids.  But I will sacrifice 30 minutes of  sleep because I want to please God.  But that is just one of the many small choices.  I need to start making more decision like getting out of bed early this morning.

So today I start with a question for myself, "Will you please yourself or please God?"  And today I make this commitment and confession.  "I will patiently suffer rather than fail to please God.  I will stop pleasing myself.  I will please God."