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Faith and Work

What Does It Mean to Be "Called"?

December 22, 2013 by Theology of Work Project, Contributor William Messenger

Continued from Page 2

Second, we must take care not to let work dominate the other elements of life. Even if God leads you to a particular job or profession, you will need to set limits to that work to make room for the other elements of God's call or guidance in your life. If God leads you to be married and to be a small business owner, for example, then you will have to balance the time and responsibilities of both callings. Work should not crowd out leisure, rest and worship. There is no formula for balancing work and the other elements of life. But take care not to let a sense of calling to a job blind you to God's calling in the other areas of life.

4) God's Guidance to Particular Work

At this point, we are now able to delve into the possibility of God's guidance to a particular task, job, career, or type of work. We have seen that:

a) Everyone is called to belong to Christ and to participate in his creative and redemptive work.
b) Everyone is commanded to work to the degree they are able.
c) God calls us to a whole life, not just to a job.

Putting these together leads us to conclude that your profession is probably not God's highest concern for you. God is much more concerned that you come under the saving grace of Christ and participate in his work of creation and redemption, whatever your job may be. Exactly what kind of work you do is a lower-level concern.

But that doesn't mean it is of no concern. In fact, the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit is guiding and empowering people for the life and work to which God leads them. He provides guidance for both what kind of work people do and how to do that work.

Discerning God's Guidance to a Particular Kind of Work

1) Direct, Unmistakable Call to Particular Work

With the understanding that the ultimate image of calling in the Bible is the calling to follow Jesus, we are ready to explore callings to particular kinds of work. If by "calling," we mean a direct, unmistakable command from God to take up a particular task, job, profession, or type of work, then calling is very rare in the Bible. No more than a hundred or so people were called by God in this sense. God called Noah to build the ark. God called Moses and Aaron to their tasks (Exodus 3:4, 28:1). He called prophets such as Samuel (1 Samuel 3:10), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4-5), Amos (Amos 7:15), and others. He called Abram and Sarah and a few others to undertake journeys or to relocate (which might be taken as a kind of workplace calling). He placed people in political leadership including Joseph, Gideon, Saul, David, and David's descendants. God chose Bezalel and Oholiab as chief craftsmen for the tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-6). Jesus called the apostles and some other of his disciples (e.g., Mark 3:14-19), and the Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to be missionaries (Acts 13:2). The word "call" is not always used, but the unmistakable direction of God for a particular person to do a particular job is clear in these cases.

Aside from these examples, very few people in the Bible received an individual call to a particular kind of work from God. This strongly suggests that a direct calling from God to particular work is also rare today. If God is calling you directly and unmistakably to particular work, you don't need guidance from an article such as this, except perhaps for the affirmation that, yes, this type of calling does occur in the Bible in rare instances. Therefore, we will not discuss direct, unmistakable, personal calling further, but will instead focus on whether God guides or leads people to particular types of work through less dramatic means.

2) Guidance to a Job or Profession

Although God does not give most people a direct, individual, unmistakable call to a particular job or profession, God does give guidance to people in less dramatic forms, including Bible study, prayer, Christian community, and individual reflection. Developing a general attentiveness to God's guidance in life is beyond the scope of this article. But we will look at three major considerations for discerning God's vocational guidance.

:::page break:::

2A) The Needs of the World

Article Continued On Next Page

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12/22/2013 5:00:00 AM

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