How Losing My Job Helped Me See Myself Through God’s Eyes

I have a friend, a member of our small group at church, who recently lost his job.  After moving to an area they loved, and taking what they thought was a really good job, and buying a house, the new company downsized and let some folks go.

That phrase should be so easy to say: “Honey, I was ‘let go’.”  But try saying it to your spouse.  Or your kid.

The phrase carries so much baggage.  We have to downsize.  We may have to move.  What if we have to sell one of the cars? 

If your spouse stays at home, “YOU may have to get something until I can land a new job…”  How are we going to pay for our student’s tuition?  And health care?  And, on it goes.

But in addition to the practical considerations of being, “let go” – there are subtle messages bouncing around your head.  Things like your idea of self.  Of being, “engineer”, “accountant”, etc.  Suddenly, you’re just… “unemployed”.  You start to resent that couple at church who wants to talk about their new car, or the cool kitchen reno that they’ve started! You’re just struggling to get by.

And it’s the self-identity that suffers most, isn’t it?  Because, even as believers, we tend to think of ourselves as what we do, not who we really are.  

I had to come home and tell my wife those words some years ago.  “Honey, I was let go.”  And we suffered as a family, but I also suffered privately, as my feelings of self-worth and my idea of who I was eroded with each passing, unemployed day.  So I know how gut-wrenching it can be.

But here’s one thing God was doing in me during that time of unemployment.  He was showing me just who I really was.  I wasn’t an employee.  I wasn’t even that guy on the radio.  None of that was who I was in my Father’s eyes. 

Chris Tomlin says, in Good Good Father, not just; “YOU’RE a good good father” and that’s “who you are, God” – but also, that, “I’m loved by you, and that’s who I AM!”  My identity is that of an adopted son!  My identity is found in Jesus!  I am loved by Him!

Look.  You have to pay the bills.  You need a job.  Seek His will in that, and be patient.  The job will come in His time.  In the meantime, abide in Him and let Him work in you during this season of your life.  See it as a blessing that the God of heaven and earth would lovingly adjust your thoughts about who you are. Eventually, your thoughts will match His, and you’ll see yourself the way He sees you.  This is good.  He is good.

Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…”

Kevin Brooks
Evening Show Host, STAR 99.1