How do we discern and follow God’s call?
Last week we talked about how we found ourselves in our current jobs. Some of us picked our jobs because that’s what we are good at. Some of us picked our jobs because of what they would do for us (income, education, etc.). Some of us aren’t really sure how we got into our current job…it just fell into our laps. So how should we go about the process of figuring out where we should be, what we should do?
I think the way we look at “picking” a job changes significantly if we see work not as a choice or a career but as a “calling.” One serves us, the other serves God. And a calling from God certainly seems to limit the jobs that line up with His character.
Maybe we’re willing to do whatever God wants as long as it pays a certain salary. Maybe we’ll go wherever God leads after we make enough money to fund that next step or get enough education to enable it. Maybe we are content with starting a Bible study at a company that does unGodly work, justifying the things we do during the day so we can be a “light.”
As I have thought about this week’s question and discussed it with some of you, these scriptures have come to mind. I’m not 100% sure how they all intersect when it comes to discerning and following God’s call, but they should certainly inform our beliefs:
Are you actively working to discern the Good Shepherd’s voice? How? Is it possible that He will lead you into an unGodly job to be a light or to learn or make money to provide for your family or support your local church? Is it possible that God is/has been calling you out of your current job because the work that you do is not Godly?
How important is it to understand what your talents are and to find a job that utilizes them?
What changes when you realize God does not exist for your glory but you for His? How do you follow God’s call knowing that you are but a member of a larger body and you may just be the toenail?
Feel free to comment on one or more of these questions – we’re not in a rush. If we need to keep talking about how to follow His call for a few more weeks, we’ll do that.
I think the way we look at “picking” a job changes significantly if we see work not as a choice or a career but as a “calling.” One serves us, the other serves God. And a calling from God certainly seems to limit the jobs that line up with His character.
Maybe we’re willing to do whatever God wants as long as it pays a certain salary. Maybe we’ll go wherever God leads after we make enough money to fund that next step or get enough education to enable it. Maybe we are content with starting a Bible study at a company that does unGodly work, justifying the things we do during the day so we can be a “light.”
As I have thought about this week’s question and discussed it with some of you, these scriptures have come to mind. I’m not 100% sure how they all intersect when it comes to discerning and following God’s call, but they should certainly inform our beliefs:
- Genesis 22:1-18 – God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the son he has longed for and that was finally given to him when he was 100. Abraham is clear on the what and how of God’s calling, but the why was not clear at all (at the time of the call)…in fact, it seems to contradict God’s character.
- Matthew 14:22-33 – Peter walks on water out to Jesus. Peter initiated the call and Jesus responded, “Come.” The what and the why were clear (Peter just wanted to come to Jesus), but the how was not clear at all…there was absolutely no scientific explanation for the ability to walk on water and, as a fisherman, Peter had to know that the safest place in the middle of a storm was on a boat, not stepping out into the middle of the sea.
- John 10:1-18 – Jesus talks about the sheep following the shepherd when he calls out to them because “they know his voice.” He also says the sheep will run away from strangers because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice. There certainly seems to be a relationship between discerning the voice of the shepherd and the action of following.
- Matthew 25:14-30 – the parable of the talents. I’ve always been confused about whether it is just a coincidence that this ancient currency shares a name with our modern word for natural ability, but regardless, it seems to suggest we are to invest what God has given us for the purpose of bringing a return to Him.
- Romans 12:3-8 – last week, JB talked about verses 1-2, seeing ourselves as living sacrifices to God. Verses 3-8 go on to say that we have to humble ourselves, realizing we are members in a body, each being gifted uniquely and having an individual role to play for the sake of something bigger than ourselves.
Are you actively working to discern the Good Shepherd’s voice? How? Is it possible that He will lead you into an unGodly job to be a light or to learn or make money to provide for your family or support your local church? Is it possible that God is/has been calling you out of your current job because the work that you do is not Godly?
How important is it to understand what your talents are and to find a job that utilizes them?
What changes when you realize God does not exist for your glory but you for His? How do you follow God’s call knowing that you are but a member of a larger body and you may just be the toenail?
Feel free to comment on one or more of these questions – we’re not in a rush. If we need to keep talking about how to follow His call for a few more weeks, we’ll do that.
posted by Matthew at 2:41 PM
5 Comments:
In the past, my utter naiveté convinced me that the authenticity of a person's "calling" was typically characterized by the magnitude of his circumstantial abandonment for the sake of others, a particular mission, or a third-world country (the poorer the better) in relation to his Christian journey.
While the Lord obviously calls ordinary individuals to extraordinary circumstances (see: Moses, Abraham, Nehemiah, etc.), response to a true calling does not necessarily involve moving to Africa, selling everything but your toothbrush, and translating the Bible into a foreign language.
Take Mother Teresa for example. I doubt she spent time praying for God to call her to the most wretched conditions imaginable to prove the integrity of her commitment. Her heart for the sick and poor was unquestionable BEFORE her move to Calcutta. The desires of her heart and her willingness to serve God fully were united in her lifelong ministry of peace and service.
By the same token, I truly believe that God calls us towards Himself within the bounds of our spiritual gifts and humble desires. Whether it is visual art, accounting, engineering, education, or basket weaving...I feel that a calling involves discernable degrees of sacrifice, humility, trust, and love.
With all that being said, I wonder how often we convince ourselves that we are "called" to jobs, relationships, activities, etc. that at first glance seem uncharacteristic of a Godly life yet remain in our lives because they are comfortable.
I, for one, have spent plenty of time convincing myself that some of my actions (or inactions) are governed by a "divine calling" when my feelings are nothing more than a cerebral justification of my own self-interests.
I have begun to learn that God will call us OUT of jobs, cities, relationships, etc. as well as into them. Of course, the question of how exactly to discern those things is an entirely different matter. Sorry I didn’t address it…it’s because I don’t know the answer. What I do know is that it’s high time we start LISTENING to the Spirit, engaging in disciplines that truly foster discernment, and dedicating ourselves to Christian formation. We need to learn how to listen before we determine what we should be listening for.
This year my wife and I have the unbelievable opportunity to serve God in East Asia for a year. Following this year we will be given the opportunity to return for a second year. Even though that decision is many months away, thoughts about next year are already creeping into my mind. Before I came, it was easy to preach the promise of Jesus in Matthew 29, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life." Now that I am here and have been removed from the comfort of home for a few months, it is a little more difficult to remind myself of Jesus' promise. So I often find my thoughts drifting towards returning to America next year, rationalizing it by thinking of "God-glorifying" ways that He could use me.
The other day it struck me, or God struck me, with the convicting truth that my thoughts on returning to America were ALL about me. These thoughts were not centered on how I believed God wanted to use me next year. As I said before, I was thinking of ways God could use me. I was the one doing the thinking, not God. I think Bogart got it right when he said, "we need to learn how to listen before we determine what we should be listening for."
I am a long way for figuring out how to discern God's will, but I know that we must start by being open to anything. If I am honest, the idea of being in this country another year scares me, but I MUST be willing to die to myself and die to all of my desires in order to follow wherever He leads me next year. If I am not willing to lay all of my desires at the feet of Jesus, then I am in danger of clogging my ears with the filth of my desires and disabling myself to hear God's voice. So I must lay all of my desires at the Cross, then I must listen without chiming in with my own opinion of how we should be used.
Good point, Dan. We know a lot about God and God's desires for the world. Often we think we have to wait to 'hear' God's call for us to do something when he has made it very clear to us already what he would have us do. It is good to 'have a heart' for something in particular, but we should all 'have a heart' for the poor, the oppressed, the naked, widows, orphans, etc. because God 'has a heart' for them.
We don't have to be called individually to fight injustice, care for the earth, love our neighbors(in ALL ways, including how we conduct business with them and what we try to sell them), pray for our enemies, etc. I believe Os Guinness makes this distinction between 'General Calling' and 'Specific Calling' in his book, The Call.
Gentlemen,
Much like Dany, I have been reading these posts the last few weeks. A couple things mentioned by Bogart and Nick in particular hit close to my heart. First, I couldn’t agree more that we could all LISTEN more....I am probably in most need here. I was blessed enough to go on a retreat with some friends from school about a month ago. Leaving that weekend, the one thing God laid on my heart, which I can’t hide from, is that he desires me to spend time every day listening to Him. That is the only way I will know where he calls me to work, which relationships he calls me into / away from. Second, I continually let the “ME” and what would be good for my flesh, get in the way of what God has planned. And its not always bad to think about providing for one’s family, looking for a job where we will learn and have opportunity to mature as business people, teachers, etc. But that is not the end goal. That said, much like you guys, I find myself overwhelmingly busy doing the things of this world and routinely neglect to LISTEN to God. The Bible reminds us so many times…that we need to seek God daily.
Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God”, Mark 1:35 – “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed”
-Shadrach
It seems that no one is talking about the role of the church community in discerning God's call. Is 'listening' to God's call simply a matter of becoming a better prayer all by myself in my room? What about listening to and engaging with the community of believers that can help to tell me who I am and discern with me? What might that look like?
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