Ikigai - One Christian's Perspective

“Ikigai” is a Japanese word. It deserves study and reflection for anyone who is seeking to get their career, their hobbies, or their contributions to family and society, in line both with what they value most and with how they can best serve others. As a Christian, I’m aware that some of my brothers and sisters in the faith are suspicious that anything “eastern” may have false and even dangerous spiritism attached to it. So I want to tread carefully as I discuss why I think it’s a valuable concept and one that no one needs to fear.

I place ikigai in the category of what my seminary professors taught me to call “general revelation” – perspectives on life that humans can generate whatever their spiritual beliefts and that, with some discernment and correction from a biblical perspective – and thanks given to God as the source of every good thing – can help people (including Christians) think in a way that is godly, helpful, and healing.

So it’s in the spirit of thanksgiving to the one true God, that I offer this perspectifve on "ikigai.” Just like “servant leadership,” a concept most Christians I know are eager to embrace as their own (after all, it was perfectly embodied in Jesus’ life), ikigai is built on ethical concepts that are easily found in the Bible.

And to clarify, the Bible will always be my most authoritative source of truth. So, at the end of this post, I give what I think are some biblical perspectives to help Christians to properly embrace all that is good with ikigai.

Understanding What We’re Uniquely Created to “Do” in Four Dimensions

The following diagram diagram introduces ikigai better than any of my words can. The idea is to line up “what we do” whether professionally, relationally, or recreationally, where all four circles overlap. From a career perspective, that area of overlap is our sweet spot. As we grow and learn and experience new things, some aspects of it will change through time:

Discerning Your Ikigai

It’s important to identify your four elements of ikigai so you can discover the sweet spot where all four are aligned.

1. What do you love to do? Who do you love to be?

From a “doing” perspective, these are the activities that make time fly by and cause you to feel excited and alive. It's what you enjoy doing most, and, perhaps something you'd do even if you weren't getting paid for it. (Christian: God put those passions there, for his reasons! Our word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek work ‘entheos’ – something God put there; you can think of it as a deposit he made in us. It shares the root ‘theos’ that is translated into English as “God,” with the Greek word ‘theopneustos’ or “God-breathed,” which appears at 2 Timothy 3:16 where we read “all scripture is God-breathed [NIV]).

2. What are you good at? What are your strengths?

Your skills and strengths are those things in which you naturally excel, and that might not come as easily to others. Perhaps you’re great with numbers, or at making music, or at fixing things, or designing buildings. Thinking about the compliments you’ve received for things you’ve done and identifiying patterns in what people have praised you for, can help you recognize these strengths. (Christian: I think of the Old Testament stories of how the Tabernacle [Exodus chapters 25-40 and especially 31:1-6], and the rebuilding of the Temple we read of in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were accomplished. People were selected to do specific work based on what they were trained to do. Paul tells us at 1 Corinthians 12:12 and following, that believers are not all gifted the same – some are hands, some are feet, others are eyes; but all are needed for the body to be complete.) We want to train our hands to pick up things and catch balls, things our eyes cannot do!

3. What does the world need, that you have to offer?

Are there problems or challenges in your community or in the world you feel passionate about solving? Does that match up with what you have to offer to the world? Answering these questions can help you to identify your God-given mission – a mission that benefits others. (Christian: I think of the beautiful story of the boy in John 6, who offered what he had to Jesus – 2 small fish and 5 loaves of bread – and Jesus used it miraculously to feed a gathering of thousands.) Take stock of what you have whether talents, passions or possessions, submit them to God, and don’t despise small beginnings! Rather, trust him to use your offering to accomplish good.

4. Cultivate your gifts – whether professional or recreational

Whenever I hear the phrase “self-made man” I always think of the teachers, books, mentors, role models, YouTube videos (these days!) and friends that this phrase ignores. It takes teachability – and practice! It takes work, intention, and a willingness to be courageous enough to risk trying something new (we might fail at it!) to keep stretching and growing and becoming expert. Whether in person or through reading someone else's wisdom, it takes apprenticeship - very closely related to the biblical term DISCIPLESHIP. (Christian: Think of all we know of of sanctification – which is the process of becoming more and more Godlike. It takes constant awareness, intentionality, prayer, and practice, doesn’t it! And surrounding ourselves with people of high character doesn't hurt, either. Three of my favorite passages: James 1:2-4, Hebrews 12:1-17, and 1 Cor 9:24-27)

Perfecting the Imperfection in Ikigai

Hopefully, whether or not you are a Christian, you’ve gotten as sense of how helpful it can be to understand what the concept of ikigai adds to our understanding of how to line up our careers with our passions, skills, mission and what we love enough to continue practicing. And since I’m writing on ikigai from a Christian perspective, I’ll now add my faith-based critique of the idea.

The definition of “ikigai” that you might find in a Japanese dictionary would be “a person’s reason for being.” Some secular studies of ikigai have said that the highest human experience of it is a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment that a person experiences when they have successfully pursued their passion in way that leaves them feeling contented and peaceful, that gives them satisfaction that they’ve tangibly benefitted others, and that has provided for their own economic security. Those are indeed good things! But I want to add a true spiritual layer to that, grounded in biblical perspective.

Christians should think of a supercharged “ikigai” that includes along with all else, an enhanced relationship with and enjoyment of the God who created us. This is wrapped up in the spiritual discipline of expressing heartfelt gratitude to God for every good thing, including our own accomplishments. We can thank him when our accomplishments beneift others, and for the positive frame of mind which results. We must recognize that all of these good things are from “…the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). This biblical truth - that all good things are from God - extends to every human endeavor.

For example, NASA astrophysicist and Christ-follower Jennifer Wiseman explicitly subordinates her scientific inquiry to her Lord, saying “historically a great many leading scientists have done their work as explicit service to God…; it should be no different today.”

Even a person’s devotion to an athletic passion can be an expression of a Godly, biblical ikigai. Eric Liddell, who is memorialized in the 1981 film ‘Chariots of Fire,’ won the gold medal in the 400 meter race not because it was his strongest event but rather because his strongest event (100 meters) was on a Sunday and it would have violated his conscience to race on the day of the week he believed God had set aside for him to focus on other things. And while the real Eric Liddell is not recorded to have ever said it, the movie gives us a great quote that is highly relatable to the idea of a God-centered ikigai: “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.”

But here’s something Liddell really did say: “I was made for China.” That is where he eventually served as a missionary, remaining there even when it became dangerous during World War II. He was bent on pursuing what he believed he was made for. It was his passion, his gifting, the need he saw, and his decision to trust God to supply his needs, that led him to chart a course and to act on it. A Christian ikigai! A merely human perspective would mistake the fateful decisions he made during WW II to remain in China (where he did not survive an internment camp) as foolish. But Liddell submitted himself to where he saw his God leading him. And we, as Christians, can recognize the triumph woven into the sacrifice he made as he sought to serve others.