When My Job Became My God

In a meeting soon after learning that my position was changing drastically, I made this statement:

"Removing those responsibilities is removing a part of me... that is a part of my identity."

The organization I worked in had just undergone a leadership change, and as part of that process, my job changed. Making that statement signaled I'd made my job my idol.

You shall have no other gods before you. — Exodus 20:3

Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. — Romans 5:1

Martin Luther said the command to have no other gods and the call to believe in Jesus alone for our justification are, in essence, the same thing. Anything we look to more than we look to Christ for our sense of acceptance, joy, significance, hope, and security is, by definition, our god.

Idols don't always start as bad things. Family, career, romance, achievement, talent — none of them are wrong to hold. They become idols the moment we let them hold us.

In admitting that losing those responsibilities felt like losing part of myself, I was admitting my job had become mine. The worst part: this was a position at a church. Full-time ministry. Yes — a position in ministry can become an idol.

I wish I could tell you I left that meeting and knew immediately what I'd just said was wrong. I didn't. It took months to move into the right identity — not a moment, a journey. Still is, honestly. But I remember that meeting.

That meeting is still there when I need it — the moment I go back to, to remember who I actually am.