Christian vocation: the big questions

Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare, to call. It’s widely used in my field of work, (education) to describe a certain set of careers such as education, medicine and care services. People choose to enter these professions because of their skill base, their interests and their desire to be involved directly in caring for fellow humanity. But what does the word ‘vocation’ mean to a Christian? Is it related just to the fields of full time Christian ministry or the caring professions? Or is there much more breadth to the concept of vocation for people of faith?

Does my Christianity change the way I approach my work?

Once we become Christians, we have an extra dynamic to our lives – we are in a relationship with the living God. Our vocation is the call to become holy, just as God is holy. This is clear from both the Old Testament: ‘I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy …  I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:44-45) and the New Testament: ‘But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do’ (1 Peter 1:15).  In acknowledging our purpose here on earth, we also acknowledge the implications of that purpose for all that we do.

As Christians we believe that we each have a purpose in life by virtue of being created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) – existence is a gift from God and one which we should use wisely. The Bible makes it clear that work is part of God’s purpose for us. It fills a large part of our lives and fulfils a basic human need. It’s also an institution designed by God: ‘The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2:15). God works, so we work. It’s a concept that Jesus reinforced: ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working’ (John 5:17). That may or may not be paid work – it all fulfils God’s purpose.

The Bible is clear about our responsibility to work – 2 Thessalonians 3:10 is uncompromising in its ‘No work, no food’ message. Timothy reminds us that ‘Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever’ (1Timothy 5:8). And if, as the Psalmist writes ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands’ (Psalm 19:1) then God reveals Himself to the world through His work. So we also, as Christians following God’s model, reveal God to the world through our work.

But God not only worked; He worked well. He took pleasure in His work and He evaluated it – Genesis 1:31 tells us that ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’  Genesis 2:2 also tells us that ‘By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so … he rested’, not because He needed rest, but to offer us a work-rest model. So it’s not just about what we do, but how we do it. Writing to the church in Colossae, the apostle Paul said: ‘Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favour, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord’ (Colossians 3:22). He said the same in his letter to the Ephesian church: ‘Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people’ (Ephesians 6:6-7).

Furthermore, once we become Christians it isn’t just about how good we are at our jobs. Nor is it just about validating ourselves or finding significance through our work. It is also about the way we influence our culture through our work – the way we model a Christian worldview in the workplace. For example, Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, ‘encourage one another and build each other up’ (1 Thessalonians 5:11). So we should be known as encouragers. We will also show evidence of the fruit of the Spirit growing in our lives (Galatians 5:22). Are we known for our love, our joy, our peace, our patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control at work? And finally, we should work in relationship with others, not in pursuit of personal ambition, as Paul reminds us: ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others’ (Philippians 2:3-4).

Can I balance work and prayer?

As products of modern thinking, we are very keen to compartmentalise our lives, becoming expert jugglers as we agonise about how to divide our time between work, family, church and leisure. Christians have created a false sacred/secular dualism, and this, too, creates problems in our thinking. People in the ancient world had no such problem, because they made no such division. The Hebrew word for work is avodah. But avodah also means ‘worship’ and ‘service’. One word, one concept. When we think in this way, balance is no longer an issue. It becomes less a matter of how my work will impact on my church and prayer life, and more a matter of what God wants me to do with my time in order to fulfil His purpose through me. Paul urged the Corinthian Christians: ‘So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God’ (1 Corinthians 10:31). Work is worship is service – do it all with the same clear purpose.

When should I stop talking and start working?

Ephesians 2:10 says: ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’. It’s clear that we are created to do something, not just to talk about it. In his letter, James writes: What good is it … if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? … faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead’ (James 2:14,17). So we need to get on with it, fulfil God’s purpose for us through working, and let our witness as reliable, faithful workers speak for us.

Can I persevere even when I don’t see God?

Our primary objective is to love God and become more like Christ whatever we do. Sometimes that’s hard, because we’re frail and human, and it can be easy to doubt God’s presence. When writing to the Hebrews, Paul described it like this: ‘let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith’ (Hebrews 12:1-2). We may not be able to see the finish tape, but we keep running towards it because we’re determined to reach it. Even if we can’t see our trainer, He’s there, empowering us through the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to send when His life on earth ended: ‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth … you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you’ (John 14:16).

Can I follow God’s will without knowing how I got there?

So if, as Christians, we live with this additional dimension, there are implications when we choose what to do with our lives – what career path to follow and where to work. We can’t just exercise the freedom to do as we please; we also have to consider what God wants us to do.  We have to think about how best to fulfil the role for which God created us, how best to fulfil our calling to become holy and also how best to share kingdom living with those around us. That’s less about the ‘what’ and the ‘when’ and much more about the ‘why’. Think for a moment about Saul on the road to Damascus. God didn’t discuss Saul’s actions. Instead, He went to the heart of his motivation by asking, ‘Why are you doing this?’ Not what job shall I do but why do I want to do this job?

If our lives really are ‘hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3) then we want to talk to God about the decisions we make. Sometimes, what we should do isn’t always clear and it’s only in retrospect that we realise that we are where God wants us. Christians often use the metaphor of a door to illustrate God’s will. We talk about doors opening or closing so that we can see where God wants us to walk. But fulfilling the vocation to become holy is a lifelong task. When Esther, a Jewish girl living in the middle of a Persian court, found herself chosen to be Queen, she must have wondered whether this was what God really wanted for her life. Events proved that it was – God had placed Esther there to save her people from destruction at the hand of the King’s wicked official, Haman. In a communication to Esther before the threat became apparent, her uncle Mordecai said: ‘And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this’ (Esther 4:14).

For each of us, the question is the same – are we where God wants us to be ‘for such a time as this’? It’s only through a daily walk with God that we fulfil our vocation to become holy and can know that we are centred in God’s will.

 Read other perspectives on the question of vocation