Light in Futility

Light in Futility

(Discussion Notes Below)

The Shadow of Futility

The Lie: My work doesn’t matter.

The Truth: You have a kingdom assignment.

If you were a room full of pilots, you would fall into two distinct groups. Those who are launching their planes and those who are on final approach or landing.

In both cases, you already have flight plans. It is not our intent here at Iron Leadership to make you feel guilty over the flight plans you have already submitted. It is our intent to help you take off successfully and land safely.

Two simple points today:

  1. Work can be meaningful.
  2. But it’s only meaningful as a kingdom MOS.

TURBULENT WEATHER

You are taking off or landing in turbulent weather as it bears on work. The gig economy which is spilling into all kinds of work promises maximum flexibility and minimum security and the absence of meaning. It is difficult to find meaning in being DoorDash driver or dogwalker. Others of you nearing retirement are stressed by the volatility of the Stock Market and what it is doing to your retirement savings. And everyone is anxious over the implications of AI and the impending prospects of global military conflict. Even with the “vibe shift” with the launch of Trump 2.0, there is a foreboding sense that we are amid an inflection point. Security and stability seem increasingly foreign concepts.

COPING MECHANISM FOR TURBULENCE

We have our ways of coping with this employment turbulence. Few of the options we choose are that constructive. Half of the workforce is engaged in “quiet quitting,” when an employee does only what is required in their job description—nothing more, nothing less. They fulfill their duties but don’t go above and beyond. Others simply work for the paycheck or weekend with little care for the work they are going. Most expect too much from work, thinking that it should provide a sense of identity and meaning. This is backwards.

FIND OR BRING MEANING – AUTHORITY

You don’t find meaning from your work rather you should bring meaning to your work. It is God who provides the meaning in your work. This is because whatever you do, your job is simply a reflection of God’s assignment for your life. The meaning in your life comes from your relationship to God and not from your relationship to work.

KINGDOM MOS (Military Occupational Specialty – never outgrow)

In the military what does MOS mean? Military Occupational Specialty —it’s your assignment, the content of your training, and your role within your unit.

Each of you has a God-assigned kingdom MOS. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10: “We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he had given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would to do fulfill it.” Our kingdom MOS is that part of the broken world in which you are to uniquely bring heaven on earth. This assignment is personalized to your personality, gifts, and life experiences. Unlike the military MOS, only you can fulfill this role. But like the military, you are fully responsible for fulfilling it responsibly—your unit—Christ and his kingdom—is counting on you to do so. And finally, it is in the fulfillment of this kingdom MOS that you will find your life’s greatest sense of personal fulfillment. It will be the expression of the most of you for others in action.

MOS DANGERS

There are dangers in blowing off your kingdom MOS. Most plane crashes happen when the plane is landing or on final approach (49%), likewise 61% of fatalities in alpine mountaineering happen during the descent. The second most dangerous time is on take off (14%). So, the two groups of pilots in the room today need to pay close attention to your kingdom MOS.

There are four questions we will discuss together? Whether you are launching or landing, what does this make you think about your flight plan?

Questions:

  1. Do I have clarity on my kingdom MOS? Is there an arena in the broken world that I am passionate about, I have access to, and gifting for?
  2. Am I listening for my assignment? If I’m unsure at this season of my life what my kingdom MOS is, how am I listening for God’s assignment?
  3. Do I expect guidance? God is orchestrating your life story. Are you expecting God’s guidance? What would this look like in your life?
  4. Am I quiet quitting on my kingdom MOS? This is always a temptation and is in some contexts justified by the wider world. How might I be avoiding what I should be doing?

 

As a cautionary warning to quiet quitting on your kingdom MOS, I leave you with this poem by Victorian actor and poet Steven Phillips.

 

Woe, woe! to those who placidly suspire

Drowned in security, remote from fire;

Who under the dim sky and whispering trees

By peaceful slopes and passing streams have ease.

No sacred pang disturbs their secular life,

Eluding splendor and escaping strife;

They die not, for they lived not…

To those whom he doth love God hath not sent

Such dread security, such sad content…

But he hath branded on such souls his name.

And he will know them by the scars of flame.

So fear not grief, fear not the anguished, thou,

The paining heart, the clasped and prostrate brow;

This is the emblem, and this is the sign

By which God singles thee for fields divine.

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