“Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.)”                          Mark 15:43 (NLT)

Have you ever been tempted to hide your faith because you thought it might hinder you from getting that job you wanted or promotion at work? Recently, I was faced with this very temptation. I was suddenly unemployed and needing to begin an active search for work in a highly competitive job market. I quickly landed a temporary contract assignment with a company which was a huge blessing! However, in the back of my mind, I knew I needed to keep looking and get up to speed on all the latest techniques for gaining permanent employment.

I learned that its a whole new ball game when it comes to landing a job theses days. Recruiters are relying on social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook to locate qualified candidates. I had a LinkedIn profile but used it to promote my speaking and writing ministry. My tagline under my name said “Writer,  Speaker & Ministry Leader” or something like that. I also had links to all my websites and twitter profiles listed.

After learning how LinkedIn is a valuable tool to find a job; I decided to update my LinkedIn profile to include my previous jobs and list all of the types of responsibilities I had with each. I also promptly removed all my links to my ministry sites and changed my tagline to reflect what my current title was at the brand new job I had just started.

I thought if I had recruiters looking at my LinkedIn profile and saw my ministry links and tagline, they might not want to contact me for an interview…

I CAN’T BELIEVE THE HYPOCRISY OF THIS THOUGHT!

I look back now and am so embarrassed and hate to admit that I did that. It goes against everything I claim to be. I understand now in a very real and personal way, how it was so easy for Peter to quickly deny his involvement with Jesus even after their close friendship. I did the very same thing. I thought that I needed to hide who I am if I was going to get a job.

After all the miracles Jesus has done in my life; I so quickly erased any reference to him on my profile. But of course I was praying to him the whole time, asking him to help me find a permanent position. How quickly I adopted the world’s wisdom. I bought a lie that if I was going to be successful in my employment search, I should remove any reference to my faith in Christ. Really? Wow, now there’s a strong faith!

When I read about how Joseph took a risk by asking Pilate for Jesus’ body; a light bulb went on in my head. I can not live in faith without taking those same risks. If I am going to claim to fully trust in God; I must not worry that a company might see my LinkedIn profile and decide not to consider me for a job because of my faith.

I have since changed my profile back and will trust in God’s ability to provide for my needs the same way He has faithfully done over and over in my life.

How about you? Have you suddenly stopped trusting in God to provide for you in some area in your life? Have you taken matters into your own hands? Have you bought into a lie the world has adopted as truth?

Pray for God’s help today to see where He is wanting you to take a risk.

Though Peter denied Jesus, later he became bold in his ministry. Acts 4:13 “The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. The also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”

-Kristy