Can’t You Get a Real Job?

For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Habakkuk 2:3 (NKJV)

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of vision is that it changes your way of thinking, which, in turns, changes the way you live.

One day I was talking to two brothers. The oldest had just turned thirty; the youngest wasn’t far behind. Neither of them had a steady job, both still lived with their parents, and they relied on the hand-outs of others to keep it all together.

And they had some pretty expensive stereo gear.

You’re probably already forming an opinion about these guys. Why don’t they get real jobs? Why haven’t they moved out of mom and dad’s home? How can they take hand-outs from others when they seem capable of supporting themselves?

All good questions, and, as it turned out, they were asking those same questions of themselves.

But they had a vision.

The two brothers were Christian musicians, and they were working off a vision God placed before them, to spread the gospel through their songs. And their songs were of extraordinary depth and quality.

They didn’t have real jobs because they were constantly touring; they lived with mom and dad because their parents were supportive of the vision and they all agreed it would be the best cost-saving strategy; the hand-outs they took were actually donations from others who believed in their ministry; and their expensive stereo gear included the tools of their trade—amps, mixers, speakers.

The power of the vision they had, one they were convinced came from God, sustained them as they got older and all their friends were settling down, getting married, and making something of their lives.

But “the vision is yet for an appointed time,” and two years after my conversation with these brothers, they were nominated for a Dove award for their music (Habakkuk 2:3 NKJV).

Jon Walker is the author of Breakfast with Bonhoeffer, Costly Grace, and Growing with Purpose. He is managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Hope devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2013 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.