Is there such as thing as a calling?
You hear it talked about mostly in terms of a "call to ministry", as in to be a pastor or priest, or maybe a call to be a missionary, or some other kind of role in a religious setting, as long as it's vocational. Plus, if you want to be ordained as a minister, there's usually some review of your credentials and training, and some kind of panel you must go in front of and convince them of your fitness for the role, including your "calling."
But in the Bible, the only vocational religious workers were the priests in the Old Testament or the apostles/missionaries in the New. Most of those serving in leadership roles in the church were unpaid volunteers who had other jobs. Paul even set the example for that with his tentmaking. Somehow the church evolved over time to having lots of paid "pastoral staff." Why? Is the idea of having a "calling" really all that Biblical?
In the church, there are lots of different ways people are gifted by God for service. Having those gifts (even the ones like teaching and leadership and prophecy and shepherding and evangelism) don't necessarily require that you have to do them as your full-time occupation and earn your living at them for it to count. So why should there need to be a sense of "calling" at all? Isn't it instead a question of how God has gifted you?
Must it be religious at all? Don't we hear people talking about "calling" in another sense? Have you heard people say that they were called to be a teacher, or a nurse? Can you be "called" to a vocation at all? And if you can be, could you be called to *any* vocation, not just a "helping" one? Can you be called to raise cattle for God? Called to the accounting ministry? Called to a life of service as a politician? Can you be called to serve God as a professional wrestler?
And if there is such a thing as a calling in a vocational sense, then isn't there a calling for everyone? Eph. 2:10 comes to mind - don't we all have good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do? Isn't that our calling? Put another way, isn't your "calling in life" really just a combination of your aptitude, skills, preferences and motivations, all of which God gives you or develops in you over time? And if your skills, preferences and motivations change over time, does your "calling" change, too?
Maybe to make it even simpler, if skills & aptitude can be called "giftedness" and preferences & motivations can be called "desire", isn't your calling, your "mission in life", that place where your giftedness and desire meet?
If I have desire to do a thing but am not gifted for it, can it really be my calling? Sounds like the opening rounds of American Idol. After some quick laughs at my ineptitude, I'll get sent home pretty quickly.
In the same way, can something be my calling if I am gifted for it, but it makes me want to run screaming in the other direction? Sounds like the reluctant prophet Jonah. Hm. Perhaps it would be best for the crew right now, perhaps the seas would get calmer, if I got thrown off the ship..
So, if there is such a thing as a "calling" - do I have one? And what is it, exactly? I have lots of different skills and aptitudes. I also know what my preferences and motivations are. Hm. Too bad that place where they intersect doesn't pay very well...
On the other hand.. does my desire - my preferences and motivations - really have anything to do with the good works God has planned for me to do? Does my desire always line up with His plan? No.
If I have a variety of gifts - my aptitudes and skills - then maybe there are a variety of good works for me to do, too. Fine. Just... which set of gifts do I take on as a vocation? If not where they intersect with desire... then wouldn't I need an overriding "push" from God to choose contrary to desire? Perhaps that's a "calling" in a sense? A push from God to work contrary to my desire - for a larger purpose?
Okay, so ... push me then. Otherwise...
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1 comment:
Oi. You sound like you are trying to justify going back into the cage.
First of all, relax. You probably couldn't hear the voice of your calling right now anyway. You have spent too many years being something that you are no longer happy being, but which you are still drawn to for reasons that have nothing to do with your heart or inner desires.
Second, God doesn't mandate that you be poor in order to be of valuable service, but to follow a TRUE calling, you must be *willing* to sacrifice wealth and comfort to do what it is that you were meant to do. That doesn't mean that you will always be poor doing it - only that the money will be less important to you than knowing that you have given all that you have to do what was asked of you.
As for doing good works... Good works follow from the compassion you have for your fellow man. You can give all the money in the world, serve on all the boards, lead all the youth groups, but if you are not doing it out of compassion, you are missing the point.
"Some will give with cold hearts, conscious of their own rectitude and with an eye to reward, and their payment is dust. But some will give because they themselves know need and have felt hunger and what it is to walk alone, and they would spare another. They understand the ways of love, and I shall keep them in the hollow of My hands forever. Their names shall be upon My lips."
Third, I think God already pushed you. Out the door of the cage. How can you live a life filled with the love and compassion that produces great works when you are living a miserable lie everyday? What great works could that possibly lead to??
God could feed all the hungry people today if He wanted to, but He doesn't. And He doesn't because they give us the opportunity to learn about compassion. So thinking that making good money will afford you the opportunity to do something meaningful with that money by giving it away to others misses the point. It's a good work, if done out of compassion, but if the life you have to lead to get that money forces you to internalize goals and ideals that do not match what is in your heart, I would suspect that you would be better served spiritually by living a simpler life of service.
When your calling manifests itself, you will know. You will feel happy and excited at the prospect of doing whatever it is that is facing you - even if that same prospect scares someone else. You will be consumed with the desire to learn more and be better at whatever it is you are doing. And when you have done it, you will feel a peace that you have never known before.
Go to a bookstore and spend some time just wandering around. See if a particular book draws your attention. See what sections you prefer to spend time in, and what books catch your eye. If you go with a willingness to be guided, you may just find an answer. At the very least, you'll probably find a good book. :)
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