"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Paul asked the Lord Jesus this question regarding his future. This question is also an important one for young adults to ask as they contemplate a career for their future.

Generally speaking, the late teenage or young adult years are crucial years for each of us. These years are crucial because of the fundamental, life-affecting decisions that young people must make at this time such as choosing a marriage partner, making public confession of faith and choosing a career. The choice of a career it often very difficult, partly because of the staggering number of vocations available. With the proper education, a young person can become just about anything; quite a change from a few decades ago when young people had perhaps a hundred vocations from which to choose and often followed in the careers of their parents. Those who know from an early age precisely what they want to be are few. For most, questions and even confusion exist. What criteria should be used in selecting a vocation or career?

First of all and most importantly, the Bible must be our guide in seeking such criteria. Already in the first pages of Scripture, the subject of labor or work was addressed by God when He commanded Adam, in the Garden of Eden, to "dress it and to keep it," have dominion over the earth and subdue it (cf. Genesis 1&2). Man, as God's image-bearer, was to subdue creation and bring out the many possibilities in it. Also now, he is to take the raw materials of this universe and subdue them, make them serve his purposes and bring them to nobler and higher levels, thus bringing out the possibilities which are hidden in nature. When thus developed, man is to lay it all at the feet of his Creator. Man's highest and only purpose in life (and that only which gives meaning to his life) is the glorification of God. On the basis of Genesis 2 it is clear that the command to Adam to develop God's world was not a com­mand that centered in Adam's personal satisfaction. On the contrary, this command indicates that man's efforts were to be used "for God." Man's life was to be first of all a life of service. His vocation was to develop the possibilities of the earth for God's glory.

Similarly, in choosing a career today one must be motivated by the thought of serving God. The feelings of satisfac­tion, status, prestige or pleasure gained from work, while nice, ought not to determine our choice of career any more than monetary income. These types of "incomes" are strictly self-centered and focus on man rather than God. Certainly we are responsible to strive with all our power to provide for ourselves and our families, but it remains a fact that God gives us our daily bread, so that we receive life, health, and food in order to serve Him in all spheres of life, including our work.

With the fall of man a new complex of conditions and circumstances entered which radically affected the life of man in this world. We need to be aware that much of what the world will tell us about work and about career choices is erroneous since it is based on a view of work that results from the fall. As such it must be scrutinized carefully. The fall of Adam and of all mankind into sin has not changed what God re­quires of man nor has it thwarted God's purpose. Man, however, has so corrupted his nature by sin, that he is said to be "dead in trespasses and sins" and is no longer able to obey his calling from God. Because of the fall man now refuses to be God's fellow-worker any longer. By nature man refuses to live up to his calling to develop and care for the world. Instead of service for God, his career would be against God. His work has lost its purpose and so life for him has lost its true meaning. Fallen man sees work more as a means to an end, a means to obtain wealth, honor, happiness, and accomplishment. Work is a necessary evil which one must do to gratify the desire for wealth. The goal of life is limited to the here and now, in time.

Secondly, the talents which God has given must play a decisive role in choosing a career. God gave Adam the mandate to work and enabled him to carry out his mandate by giving Adam and his wife, Eve, certain gifts. Eve received different talents than Adam simply because she was to carry out her work in a different way. God gives talents according to the needs that each person has to perform the task laid upon him within the broad calling of work. Each person receives from God certain talents – none is without – and these talents are the indicators for the direction which our lives might take. We may consider this as God's providence over our lives by which the Lord leads to specific tasks which He determines for us. Our Protestant Reformers felt called upon to give particular emphasis to this.

''It is to be remarked," wrote Calvin, "that the Lord commands every one of us, in all the actions of life, to regard his vocation. For He knows with what great inquietude the human mind is inflamed, with what desultory levity it is hurried hither and thither, and how insatiable is its ambition to grasp different things at once. Therefore, to prevent universal confusion being produced by our folly and temerity, he has appointed to all their particular duties in different spheres of life. And that no one might rashly transgress the limits prescribed, he has styled such spheres of life – vocations or callings. Every individual's line of life, therefore, is, as it were, a post assigned him by the Lord, that he may not wander about in uncertainty all his days''.

In the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30), we are told to use well the talents that God has given. One is to work with them, use them and develop them so that the Lord may receive what is due Him with interest. It is our re­sponsibility to find out what our strong points are, what we are able to do. It then follows from the parable, that as the money given to the servants, we are to improve, develop and perfect the talents given to us. Specifically, the person blessed with ability and understanding in science should not, if pos­sible, let his special talents lie unused. He should not drop out of school simply because he feels inclined to, for he is responsible to God to not bury his talents but to develop them, mature them, and work with them, to earn that which the Lord expects to receive from them.

It is important at this point to note that nothing in the parable of the talents indicates that our interest need to be consulted prior to using the talents we are given. Although interest in a certain vocation can certainly indicate that there may be talent in that field, since we usually enjoy doing what we are good at, interest must not be the determining factor. We may have a great interest in a certain field and enjoy immensely that particular kind of work and yet not be using the talents God has given us for the greatest possible good. Self-denial is often a necessary part of our lives. We are not to shy away from a career that implies great responsibility, public ridicule or criticism. God's gifts must be used to accomplish the greatest good and consequently we are to seek a place in God's world that will give us the opportunity to have the greatest impact for good. We must keep in mind, how­ever, that he who had only two talents described the results of his work as cheerfully as he who had five. "Our comfort in the day when we must give an account of our stewardship will be according to our faithfulness, not ac­cording to our usefulness; our sincerity, not our success; according to the uprightness of our hearts, not according to the degree of our opportunities." (Matthew Henry)

When young people wonder what they are to become, they need to identify the talents which God has given. Parents and teachers can be a big help here. Our Christian schools should offer a broad-based curriculum to help young people discover, develop and refine their areas of special talent. For it is precisely during their years at school that children's capacities become apparent. Both parents and teachers should encourage students to develop their abilities to the fullest extent. This means encouraging high school graduates to go on to college, to vocational school or to pursue on-the-job experience as much as individual circumstances may allow. Young people need to be discouraged from dropping out of school to pursue the short-sighted goal of a job simply to earn money to acquire the material things which the world insists are essential, while their abilities are allowed to lie dormant and undeveloped. Parents should monitor carefully the after-school employment of their teenagers since the benefits of such employment in the development of adolescents is greatly overestimated. Overzealous commitment to such work often causes students to cut back on courses at school. In addition, young people often become very materialistically minded with the income they are earning.

Yet, even after one has identified and developed his talents, all still hinges on what opening the Lord makes available. One can desire to be a teacher and spend much time and money preparing for it. Yet the Lord may not provide an opening because He has another task in mind. As difficult as it may be for us, it might then be necessary to lay aside our interest, desires, and perhaps even our training and go where the Lord is directing us by His providence.

Thirdly, in choosing a vocation, young people should seek counsel and advice from parents, teachers, and pastors who in turn have a responsibility to provide Biblically based guidance. The mandate to provide guidance to our young people is an obligation of all those seek to bring up children "in the fear and nurture of the Lord." We must assist our young people as they seek to answer that all important, constantly reoccurring question of the Apostle Paul, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" The meaning and purpose of life must be discussed often with them. It is so crucial to spend time with young people to seek to develop and strengthen mutual feeling of trust, confidence, interest and respect early in their lives so that when they face the serious and complex questions of young adulthood, they will seek and accept our guidance. Knowing our children well is prerequisite in guiding them towards that station in life which seems appropriate in terms of the talents, aptitudes, and gifts that they have received.

May the goal of our guidance at home, church, and school be "that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." To that end Christian guidance strives to give thoughtful assistance to the child that by God's grace he may live a full, productive life that honors God with the talents with which God has blessed him.