Still Not Getting Vocation

Our newspaper publishes Billy Graham’s Q&A column. Here is a recent question from Mrs. K. W.:

DEAR DR. GRAHAM: My husband and I want to serve God, but we’re still tied down with family responsibilities and jobs. Maybe we can volunteer for some kind of mission work once our children are grown or we retire.

Dr. Graham’s reply talked around the doctrine of vocation–you can serve God now by being good parents, helping others, and witnessing on the job–but he didn’t really seem to get the concept either.

“Family responsibilities” and “jobs,” as well as our citizenship and our involvement in church ARE the arenas where God has placed us to serve Him. And we serve Him by serving our neighbors, the human beings we interact with in our families, jobs, churches, and society.

And it isn’t just by overtly pious activities in these areas (such as witnessing on the job) that we serve God and our neighbors, but by the work of the calling: changing the baby’s diapers, spending time with your spouse, meeting the needs of your customers, etc.

These kinds of things are all part of the life God has assigned to us, and to which God has called us (1 Corinthians 7:17). “Vocation” is simply the Latinate word for “calling.”

The doctrine of vocation is no less than the doctrine of the Christian life. Although it is taught much more frequently than it used to be, Billy Graham’s column shows that there is still much to be done.

If Christians in vast numbers would recover the doctrine of vocation, they would have stronger marriages, be better parents, be more satisfied with their lives, and have an impact on the culture.

I have written quite a bit on this topic, so if you want to learn more or want to direct someone like Mrs. K. W. to where she can learn more, try this article or, better yet, my books God at Work and, written with my daughter, Family Vocation.

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