A close friend recently asked me a series of questions relating to calling. The first had to do with the relationship between vocation and calling. His are good questions! Questions I bet folks like you have as well. So, over the next few journal entries, I’ll share his questions and my answers. I invite you to join in the discussion. As I said to my friend, “Right off, let me assure you that your questions don’t strike me in any adverse way. On the contrary, they help me further refine my own stance on the issue of calling. I welcome the dialog!”
Vocation and calling
The term “vocation” used to have a richer meaning in the past than what it does now and, as such, was more reflective of the nature of calling. Vocation has now come to mean simply what one is doing to earn a paycheck which may, or may not, have anything to do with one’s calling. But, in general, I would say that the old sense of vocation as being a significant medium through which one’s calling may be expressed is close to the mark.
For example, I would define my own calling as inspiring others to a lively faith that God is the truest of Fathers and loves them beyond their wildest imagination. If my vocation was a preacher it would be in line with my calling. If it were a writer it might still be another valid medium for expressing my life purpose. But my calling is also worked out in a broad array of roles and assignments: as a father, a friend, a brother, a neighbor, etc. My calling is expressed through a myriad of assignments. The primary avenues in which I presently express my calling include writing, producing podcasts, and helping you discover your own calling and live it out. In all of these mediums I endeavor to help people see God as the truest of Fathers whose love is beyond what they can imagine!
Calling’s telltale characteristics
In our Calling Primer I put forward an opinion that calling bears certain telltale characteristics:
- Brings glory to God by illuminating the beauty and excellence of his Son, Jesus Christ
- Benefits others
- Engages passions
- Satisfies longing
- Expresses love
For example, when it comes to Henry Ford I’d say that, while he had the calling of an inventor or perhaps even a calling to make money (for even such a calling as the making of money could be from the Lord) and his calling was expressed in the founding of the Ford Motor company and, with it, the “modern automobile industry,” from what I know of the man he fell short of some of the essential characteristics noted above. True, he could be used by God for the ends God had in mind. But I think there is a meaningful difference in being used by God and living one’s unique calling as God’s son or daughter and the impact upon the world that comes as a result. One can’t simply jump to a supposed secondary calling without attending first to the primary, corporate calling of becoming a son or daughter of God. You can try, and you can even appear to accomplish notable things. However, the success is that of the world not the kingdom of God. Ford’s passions and longings may have been ameliorated and the automobile of benefit to society in many respects but the assembly line was a curse in its own right, as far as human creativity is concerned, and I’m not sure Ford’s actions were an expression of godly love or illuminated the beauty and excellence of God’s Son.
Jesus: Is he called or “The Caller?”
As for Jesus, he is “The Caller” for it is his, “Follow me!” that is the two word invitation into the primary call extended to all humanity. And as calling is first to a “Someone” it spins us in circles to say Jesus was called to himself. I think we tangle ourselves even more to think about Jesus’ calling as “one called to be God.” We end up with God calling himself to be what he already is! Even so, I would say that an aspect of such thinking is still somewhat on the right track in that all the “assignments” (or sub-tasks) Jesus took on from his Father were expressions of his “calling as God.”
I haven’t found the realm of calling to be an easy one to get a nice neat handle on. But I’ve found it abundantly worth thinking about and taking to heart! You want a relevant, meaningful life that counts for something and I believe such longings to have been put inside of you by a God who has plans for your good and wants you to join with him in his work. Your part may be the tiniest speck, but that speck counts for much as it is the speck the God of the universe gave you, individually!
Michael
Does calling play the definitive role in your life it should?
Better understand what calling is and why it is so important with our Calling Primer. Download it for free.