My wife is a stay-at-home mom; I have no doubt that this is one of the most significant callings in the world. What if women who stayed at home with their kids understood the significance of the calling that God has given them as a mother? My dad has this boss who recently told them that he needed to make sure to not be in work on Sunday so he could spend time with his family. What if more bosses didn't simply try to maximize the profit an employee can make, but also actually cared that their employees were spending time with the people who matter most? A recent survey said that 77% of teenagers want to be their own boss someday. Imagine the world we would live in if we helped these teenagers understand the significance of starting businesses in a God-honoring, kingdom building kind of way. What if the future businesses in your city were all run by people who believed they have a calling by God to be a blessing to the world through the running of their organizations.
The way you understand your calling has a significant relationship to the way you live your life. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. This is great news if you feel like God has called you to something, but if you are like most who struggle to figure out what exactly it is they're supposed to do with their life, it might feel like bad news. A survey from the Barna Group indicates, "only about one-third of Christians (34%) feel called to the work they currently do."
Think about that.
"Only about one-third of Christians (34%) feel called to the work they currently do." - the Barna Group
Only 1/3 of Christian people feel like the work that they do is the work that God wants them to do. Only 1/3 of Christians feel like God has placed them in the jobs they are working in because he wants them in that place for this season. The majority of Christians believe that what God wants is for them to be doing something other than what they are already doing. The biggest problem when we talk about vocation is not whether or not somebody has a calling, but instead how we understand what it is that God has called us do.
I don't want to minimize career aspirations and goals; we should absolutely be thinking about how God has created us and what that means long term. But what if instead of simply focusing on our God's calling for some day, we focused on God's calling right now. After all, God doesn't say "Serve me once you get a degree" or "Love your neighbors once you get a good paycheck." He calls us do to those things right now - we have may have a future calling that we are trying to figure out, but we also have a present calling that we need to be living out. What are the places God has placed you in, the people he has put you around, and the opportunities he has presented you with? He has give those to you because he has called you. God has called you to live out your faith in your schools, in your families, in your neighborhoods, in your workplaces, and in your churches.
What if you thought of your calling not only as one of a career but also all the places in which God places you to make a difference in the world?