“And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:26 ESV). 

As an English Major, I face a constant stream of doubt and criticism for my choice of major. As soon as I tell someone that I am studying in this field, their immediate reaction is always either one of concern or mockery. 

“Oh! So… what exactly do you plan to do with that major?” asks the first person, usually looking at me with wide eyes that whisper she’s going to be so poor. The second person (the mocking one) goes straight to jokes about me becoming a crazy cat lady who writes for a very, very meager pay – if I’m paid at all. My current answer, when asked about my career plan, is that I hope to go into the publishing field and become an editor. This puts most people at peace, because it sounds, to them, like it would pay better than being a teacher or a writer. The unusual few, however, find it necessary to remind me that editing is a dying field, because AI will be doing all the editing for us in the future. Now, while I think it is ridiculous to think that AI will ever be able to replace human editors, I understand their concern. That being said, I am not going to write about AI. Instead, I am going to focus on these two types of responses, and why I believe they ultimately show a lack of faith in God. 

The experience I just described is unfortunately a common occurrence for people with majors like mine. The great tragedy, though, is not just that these conversations get repetitive and irritating, but that these mindsets and narratives stop students from pursuing their passions. As children, we are told to chase our dreams, and to go after the things that make us happy. But by the time we reach college, these hopeful narratives have shifted to say that we must “pursue a career” and “climb the corporate ladder.” Why did they change? Because the older you get, the more you become afraid – afraid of not having enough money, and afraid of not being able to provide for yourself (and others). These are valid fears, but like any other healthy fears, they become unhealthy when we fear them too much. More importantly, it becomes a problem when we fear something more than we trust God. 

Most of us, if we were raised Christian or have been in the faith for a while, have heard that God will provide our daily bread. It’s likely that we say we believe it. But do we, really? The concept that this idea teaches is mirrored in Matthew 6. Jesus says “do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.” Why does he tell us this? We need these things to survive, so shouldn’t we be worried about whether or not we have them? No, actually. Something else is more important. Jesus asks a question to hint at this: “is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25 ESV). We are not to worry about material provisions. Why? Because there is something greater to worry about: whether or not we are fulfilling our calling. 

But we can’t fulfill our calling if we haven’t met our basic needs for survival. After all, if we aren’t worried about our material provisions, who will be? If we aren’t making our daily bread, who is going to?  

You already know the answer. God will. The passage reminds us to “look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26 ESV) Jesus’ message is clear. God provides for the animals, who never worry about what the future will bring. And if God provides for them, how much more will he do for us – his children, who are made in His very own image? 

Now that we know who’s taking care of our material needs, we can focus on this “greater thing” that we are called to: our vocation. In C.S. Lewis’s book, The Weight of Glory, he reminds us that everyone is called to different vocations. We will not all be called to be doctors, or lawyers, or engineers. We will not all be called to vocations that “pay well.” If we were, so many jobs would disappear. And this, of course, would be disastrous. A world of only doctors and lawyers would collapse immediately. So a person like me, who is passionate about literature, should not pursue a medical degree. As Lewis says, “a mole must dig to the glory of God and a cock must crow” (Lewis 47). God has created us uniquely. We must honor the way he made us by pursuing our individual passions.  

This sounds lovely, of course – the permission to pursue our passions – but financial anxiety is often quite valid. One still needs, of course, to make a living wage. But our fear of being “poor” can get in the way of logical thinking. Teachers still make a livable wage. So do plumbers. I must now remind you of my initial argument – that God provides our daily bread. So a fear of the future is a sign that you doubt God’s provision. God has promised to take care of you, so why are you afraid? However, please take note that I am not without fear. In fact, I am terrified of the future. I am writing this article for myself just as much as I am writing it for you. Because God will provide. This is not a baseless hope. If you believe in the God of the Bible, you must believe this truth. I pull again from Lewis’s previously quoted book: “A more Christian attitude… is that of leaving futurity in God’s hands. We may as well for God will certainly retain it whether we leave it to Him or not” (Lewis 50, emphasis added). You see, God is fully sovereign. He is holding us in His hands. This is true whether or not we have unwavering faith in him.

To those of you, like me, who are in oft-looked-down-upon majors: Keep going. Do not let those of little faith convince you that you are being impractical. Your hope will often be mistaken for naïveté. But the human purpose is not to make money. It is to glorify God. So allow me to leave you with this: Anything you do, as long as you are glorifying God through it, is a worthwhile pursuit. Put your faith in the God who provides, and He will not let you down.