Stop Overspiritualizing Part II: "Calling"

Christian truisms really annoy me. (Here is me coming clean and admitting my hypocrisy. Despite my best efforts, I'm certain I've written posts that come off as trite and uninspiring.) A chief offender is the word "calling." Christians (and I'm sure I'm guilty) love throwing this word around. I think Bethany Jenkins offers a really refreshing take. Lightly edited excerpt below: 

As a Christian, whether I’m called to be a pianist or a writer is incidental to my main vocation—to be a child of God. When the Scriptures speak of “calling,” they mainly speak of our fundamental call to know Christ. There are at least 51 uses of the word “calling” in the New Testament. Forty-six refer to becoming a Christian (e.g., Rom. 1:7), and four to living a holy or peaceful life (e.g., 1 Pet. 1:15). In just one case (1 Cor. 7:20), it’s used to speak of the station for which we have been appointed.

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul explains that people are called to various stations—single and married, circumcised and uncircumcised, slavery and freedom. What matters more than our particular situation, Paul says, is how we live out our calling as God’s children in that situation. As Paul writes, “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them” (1 Cor. 7:19–20).

This doesn’t mean that we can never change jobs or that we don’t serve a God who calls. It does mean, though, that work isn’t a means of expressive individualism but of faithfulness. God’s far more concerned with how we work—with faith, hope, and love—than with what career we have.

Too often we overspiritualize “calling” and make it about self-expression instead of faithfulness to God and service to others. We search for the perfect job—just what we’re “called” to do—and use “calling” as a trump card to replace perseverance, risk, and qualification.

Yet there is no Job Charming. Most of us could do any number of things. We simply must make a vocational choice (using the classic disciplines of prayer, community, and Scripture reading), work deeply at it, and be faithful in it. As Paul summarizes, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Col. 3:23).

Even if we feel “called” to a particular work, we usually experience that “calling” in retrospect. It’s far easier to look at the past and see confirmation than to look into the future and feel confident. Yes, the Lord speaks to us and calls us in advance, but the primary way he does so is through his Word. We step out in faith, work heartily, and—in retrospect—feel increasingly confident that we’ve been faithful and obedient in our vocation. Such humility recognizes that time, experience, and community are vital pieces of our vocational formation.

Let’s not, then, overanalyze or overspiritualize “calling” in our lives. Our primary calling is to know Jesus Christ. That’s his resounding voice in his Word. Yes, in addition to his Word, he has given us gifts and talents—as well as prayer and community—and called us to different stations. But there’s no perfect job and, even if we love our work, we often only experience that in retrospect after years of deep labor, working heartily as unto the Lord.