I told Trudi this morning that one of the reasons I’m willing to work hard in ministry, lose sleep, and frequently end each day tired is because I have a strong sense of calling.[1] This has been true ever since God got a hold of my heart as a fourteen-year-old high school freshman. But after making this comment to Trudi, I paused and re-asked myself: What do I mean when I say that I have a strong sense of calling?
I mean two (connected) things: (1) I have a strong sense that God has called me into relationship with himself (and that I must pursue this relationship with all its attendant implications); and (2) I have a strong sense that God has called me to do ministry—both in the world and with God’s people.
But am I using the word “calling” in a biblically proper way? The reason I ask is because I have noticed that Christians often use the word calling as somehow synonymous to vocation (that is, employment) unless they consider their work to be a dead-end job. But I think anyone will be hard pressed to make a case that the job you work at is how calling language is used in the Bible.
Granted, there may indeed be a connection between calling(s) and vocation, but I think going straight to vocation when we talk about calling is probably an example of employing biblical language in a non-biblical way—and might even hinder Christians from focusing on some things God wants to them to focus upon.
In the Bible, “calling” or “call” is used primarily in two ways—which also happen to be the two ways I responded to Trudi this morning.
The first way refers to God calling people into relationship with himself (= to salvation through Jesus’s death and resurrection) (e.g., Rom 8:30; 9:24; 1 Cor 1:9). You could refer to this as big-C calling. It is the more common way the word is used in the Bible.
But the word is also occasionally used in the Bible in the sense of being directed by God to serve in particular ministry roles (e.g., Acts 13:2; 16:10; 1 Cor 1:1; cf. Heb 5:4). You could call this small-c calling (perhaps made clearer if you use it in the plural: “callings,” since most Christians have been given more than one of this category of calling, cf. 2 Tim 1:11). In this second sense, the concept of small-c callings overlaps with Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts as ministry assignments (e.g., “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues,” 1 Cor 12:28).
But as far as I can tell, the language of calling is never used in the Bible for one’s employment. Please don’t misunderstand. Work is God-ordained—in the general sense that we need and ought to work. Men and women who want to please the Lord have an obligation towork. And when they work, they should work diligently and faithfully, without begrudging their work (2 Thess 3:6-12). Occasionally (but only occasionally), one’s work overlaps with the second (minor) use of “call” in the Bible—the call to God-given ministry assignments. A pastor, for example, may have a calling (small “c”) that overlaps with his employment since he has been given a teaching and shepherding ministry from God. But small-c callings usuallydon’t overlap with one’s employment—and in Bible times they overlapped even less frequently than they do today.
Is something lost when we use the language of calling for employment? Yes, when we conflate calling and work, it is easy to get distracted both from the Bible’s emphasis on big-C calling (God calling us into relationship with himself) and from the Bible’s discussions of small-c callings (the various ministries he wants us to do to further his kingdom in the world and build up his church). In a worst-case scenario, a Christian man or woman walks through life without responding to God’s big-C calling. Others respond to the big-C calling but don’t lean into the various ministries assigned to them by God (small-c callings)—in some cases because they limit their thoughts about calling to their place of work.
Once again, don’t misunderstand. Work is a gift from God. (If you don’t think so, ask someone who has been unemployed for a long time and has struggled to find work.) Moreover, you might even have a strong sense that God has directed you to your place of employment. If so, this is a truly good and wonderful thing, and in certain senses overlaps with small-c callings in the Bible.
But if we plan to use the language of “calling,” how about if we use this word in the two biblical senses I mentioned above (big-C and little-c)? When we start doing that, we will have a sharper focus on growing in our relationship with God and in seeking to serve in the various ministries to which God has appointed us by his grace.
[1] “This morning,” as in the morning when I originally wrote this article.
Kindle Afresh 