I published the original version of this article exactly 25 years ago this month: March, 1981.
It was a long essay. The full version is here
Even this short version is long. If you're looking for a five-paragraph quick fix to make your life better, this isn't it.
I have been economically successful so far in my life. Because of my outward, visible success, I am often asked by men, especially younger men, what I think are the rules of financial success In life. The Christians who ask me this question sometimes ask me what I think they ought to do for a living.
I have a stock answer. It relates to the biblical doctrine of the calling. It is not a complicated answer, and most Christians see the truth of my advice. The astounding thing in my mind is that they never have heard anything like it before. No pastor has counseled them. No parent has sat down with them to talk to them about these basic rules of thumb for a Christian's occupation. Here they are:
1) Evaluate your capacities accurately
2) What is the most important job you can perform?
3) What is the most important job you can perform in which few men can replace you?
A man who has even a vague idea of the answers to these three surveys has a good grasp of what he ought to do with his life. It is not easy to conduct such a survey, but It is vital, God calls each man to make this survey.
Capacities: The more you have, the harder the decision, The man with limited capacities except for one skill has a much easier time of It. He knows what he ought to be doing. But someone who has multiple talents -- and this includes most men -- has some hard evaluating to do. "What kinds of work appeal to me? What are the ones I do best? What are the ones I would be willing to do for the remainder of my life? What are the ones that I could not stand to do for very long. What skills should I seek to improve, if I am given the opportunity?"
You must be rigorously honest here. You should probably consult others: teachers, parents, pastor, employer, and even a professional testing service, if necessary. You must come to grips with yourself. You must also come to grips with other peoples evaluations of you. You will be serving a market, after all. Get used to the idea of having to take seriously other peoples opinions of your talents.
Job importance: If a man can do several things well, he will then have to face the problem of meshing his skills with an occupation. If he can speak five foreign languages fluently, what should he do with his talents? Teach school? At what level? Translate for a multinational corporation? Translate for a Federal bureaucracy? Do book translations for a publishing company? Join a Wycliffe Bible translating team? There are several possibilities. Salary levels are only one way to make the decision. There are others.
I tell people to use this rule of thumb in making a decision. Try to peer ahead 40 years, or whenever you think you will be too old to work at this Job. When you look back at your life, what will you think of your work? Was it God-honoring? Did you leave a large inheritance behind for your children? Did your children grow up with the moral training to handle their inheritance in a godly way? Did you give a lot of money away to charity? Did you give your life away in service rather than money? Was it a good decision when you accepted this calling as your life's works If you even try to answer these questions in advance, you are far more likely not to be disappointed when you ask them again in 40 yea rs.
Replaceability: This is something few men consider in advance. They should never stop considering it. It is not enough to select the most important job you can do. You have to ask yourself this question: "If I were to quit, or die, would the job be rapidly filled by someone just as effective as I am, and at the same wage?" If the job is easy to fill rapidly and at the same wage, then the person who now holds it has not distinguished himself by the level of his performance. . . .
The 40-Hour Work Week
No Christian should work only 40 hours a week unless he is physically impaired in some way. Few men ever get rich or famous working only 40 hours a week. Few people ever become outstanding in their professions working only 40 hours a week. Six days shalt thou labor, and not 7 hours a day, either, Work 9 or 10.
Now, I think that under normal circumstances, salaried people should work no more than 40 hours for an employer. Since so few men will work 60 hours a week, you are giving your time away (selling it too cheaply) if you work for a salary over 40 hours a week. That extra 10 or 20 hours should be invested in church service, or in the establishment of a family business, or in getting a better education, or in community service. I am not speaking of men who work on commission, or junior men in a profession establishment who may be able to become partners if they work hard enough. But a man who is willing to work 60 hours a week should work at least 20 for himself. Use the salary to feed the family; work the extra 20 to build up a capital base, either for retirement, or for launching a family business. I became financially independent by doing just this. I strongly recommend it.
A salaried job is seldom a full calling. It may be a means to a calling. A man may be a skilled craftsman in a field that does not pay well enough to support him full time. He uses his 40-hour a week job to support him in his calling. That is what I do with my economic newsletter, Remnant Review. The income from that venture allows me to donate most of my time and energy to the Institute for Christian Economics, from which I receive no salary or other compensation (except psychological). My calling is my Christian economic work. My source of income is my economic newsletter. I distinguish the two jobs.
Only in those rare jobs, such as pastorate, where a man is salaried, yet called upon to give more than 40 hours a week, should such a calling be considered. Even in this case, the man is really giving those extra 20 hours to God. He is not giving them to some employer who is converting that extra labor time into profits for himself or the corporation. No one with good sense works a 60-hour week for someone else, Just for the money. There are better ways to make a buck: more productive, more rewarding, and more profitable. Also, more pleasing to God. Never give away to an employer what you should be giving away to God, especially time.
I still publish Remnant Review. I edit this site. I write Reality Check. I write my economic commentary on the Bible. I publish on Lew Rockwell's site. I spend 10 hours a week on my economic commentary on the Bible. After I wrote this essay in 1981, I published 98% of the materials on this site: www.freebooks.com. I kept busy. The money has kept rolling in. I am short of time, not money.
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