Yeah, it has been forever since my last post. Mostly used this to try to stay in touch with the youths. Anyways, we talked about God's calling in our lives in Sunday school last week. Came across this article via subscribed email through Intervarsity exactly on this topic, so thought I'd post it here. Very interesting that it talked about much of what we discussed in class. Enjoy!
OUR WORK AND OUR CALLING By John Bernbaum
When we were children, how many times did interested (or nosey!) relatives or acquaintances ask us: "What are you going to be when you grow up?" The same question pursued us through junior high school and high school; in college, the question persisted, except then we were asking ourselves : "What should I do with my life? What kind of job do I want?" In mid-life, the question is still there, but with another wrinkle: "Is it time for a job change? Am I going to do this work for the rest of my life?" And then, much to our surprise, we turn fifty and the very question we started with comes around again: "What am I going to do when I grow up?"
Much of our lives revolve around this question of our work and career. As Christians, we believe that God cares about us and has given us certain abilities and talents. We also believe that the Bible can give us guidance. What is often difficult to understand, though, is whether or not God calls us to specific careers. Sometimes we struggle with this question because our understanding of "calling" is confused.
Our General Calling as Christians The vast majority of Biblical references to "calling" or "the call of God" are directly related to salvation and to holy living. The Bible states that we are "called out of darkness into His light" (I Peter 2 9), "called to repentance" (Acts 2:38-39), "called into fellowship with Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 1:9), and "called into His Kingdom" (I Thessalonians 2:12). This general calling is given to all Christians and, in this sense, every Christian receives God's call to salvation and the call to live as saints (I Corinthians 1:2).
The Biblical emphasis on the call to salvation is an important reminder that God's will for our lives focuses much more on the people we are, rather than on how we earn a living. We need to remind ourselves of this regularly, because our culture continually points in the direction of relating our worth to our work, our identity to our careers, our significance to our position.
Calling and Careers
Do you feel "called" to your work? For many of us, this terminology about "calling" is reserved for pastors and missionaries. Often we hear the words "full-time Christian service" in reference to students "called" to seminary or Bible school; this terminology, however, is profoundly unbiblical. Scripture clearly teaches that every Christian is called to serve Christ all the time regardless of what career path he or she chooses.
Though scarce, there are some Biblical passages which describe God's specific calling of certain individuals to positions as priests, kings, and prophets. In the New Testament, it is clear that Jesus chose the disciples, and Paul does speak about being "called" to be an apostle (Romans 1:1). However, we must not conclude from this that their work was somehow a "higher calling" than the work of others. In addition to the general "call" which all followers of Jesus Christ receive, the apostles and others also received a specific "call." So do we.
Avoiding the Pitfalls We get in trouble when we make this "calling" too mysterious. It is very rare in Biblical history that God dramatically intervenes in the life of someone and instructs specifically what to do, where to work, or where to go. It happened, but only a few times. In most cases, the specific "call" each of us receives is not given in a burst of lightning or through a "Damascus road experience."
God is a God of order, and a God who cares deeply about each of us. God also desires that we serve Him, and work is one of the ways in which that can happen. All of us who love God and are desirous of living lives in accordance with His plan can joyfully refer to our work as a "calling." In fact, the word vocation is taken from the Latin word vocatio which means "calling."
Rather than waiting for divine guidance, which allows us to be passive until "God shows us His perfect plan for our lives"-which we sure don't want to miss-we should instead be evaluating ourselves by both subjective and objective criteria. Subjectively, we need to ask ourselves:
"Do I feel called to a particular kind of work?"
"Do I have a desire, a passion, for this type of career?"
"Is this job the one I believe God wants me to take?"
These can be tough questions and, often, we have to wrestle with contradictory thoughts waging war in our minds. But there are also objective criteria to help us, questions such as:
"Do I have abilities and gifts in this area?"
"Am I appropriately qualified to do this work?"
"Do the people who know me best support this vocational direction in my life?"
In addition, there are excellent tests available to help us ascertain our strengths and weaknesses and to determine which types of jobs we are best equipped to handle. God does "call" us to specific careers, but usually not in a loud voice. God uses our background, our abilities, our experiences, and our passion to help us find meaningful work; we must be willing to follow His leading through a reasonable self-assessment and the counsel of others who know us.
Dr. John A. Bernbaum, founder and president of Russian-American Christian University in Moscow, Russia, is an educator, distinguished lecturer and author. For over 20 years he was a vice president with the Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities in Washington DC. He has served on many boards including InterVarsity Marketplace's Advisory Council from 1988-1993. His book, "Why Work? Careers and Employment in Biblical Perspective," published by Baker Book House in 1986, was featured at Marketplace ë86. This article is the first of what we hope will be many of John's monlthy newsletter, "Reflections on Faith & Work."
This is kind of like false advertising, by the title "New post", since this is not even really a post, but I just realized that it's been almost 3 months since I have kept this up to date...but I guess it is now :).
Well, guess I'll give this thing a try again. It's like maintaining a journal, you need to be disciplined to keep it up to date. As a guy who just don't make the effort for these things (yes, I do procrastinate), I liketo read what's going on in other people's lives more :). In other news, it took me almost two weeks to unpack everything that I brought up to Maryland, and I still got a few boxes of books sitting in the corner of my room (book shelves, anyone?). That'll be my excuse of not taking a certain book out for reference etc, since I have no place to put it. If any youths from CBCHC is reading this, don't worry, I got my ministry books already at the church office, lol.
It's been great to serve at the church I was at last summer, but I actually kinda of miss being in classes in seminary as well. What it all comes down to is to be able to learn and interact with others in a class setting, along with all the relationships that I cherish the most. Now that I am out of NC, people can experience true peace down in the south for once ;). A friend of mine works as a campus security for the seminary, and they must be experiencing unusual down times there...meanwhile, the unrest rate in Baltimore is only on the rise...we sure need prayer here indeed. All is well up here where I am through, it's endearing to see many of the same youths and parents again. I am excited for what God has in store for all of us...do pray that He will use me in ways that I can never imagine...
This semester is finally over. Tomorrow is graduation, and I am reminded of how God carried me through my studies over the last two years. I am excited to move on to a new stage of my life, and by God's grace He will continue to lead each one of us to where He wants us to be. Merry Christmas to everyone here, and I hope to keep in touch with many of you throughout the new year...
