Many people feel trapped in work that provides a paycheck but little else. They find they have little opportunity to use their gifts or do anything that is personally meaningful. Have you reached a point in your life where you know that what you are doing is not enough? Are you looking for your calling rather than settling for just another job?
Understanding Your "Primary Calling" vs. Your "Secondary Callings"
Most of us spend 60% or more of our lives working. The right job can give you opportunities to use your unique gifts and abilities to make a positive difference in the world. Being in the wrong job can be agonizing, affecting every area of your life.
As you seek to find work that is a calling, however, it is important to realize that your work is not your most important calling. There is a critical distinction between your "primary calling" to follow Jesus and your "secondary callings," or life roles, which include your work:
The Bible...reveals that work is not our central calling. There are no biblical examples of someone being called to paid employment.... Before being called to something, we are called to Someone. Before being called to do, we are called to be.
Our primary calling is to be in a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that God has called us into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ....Our primary calling is not tied to our employment.... God values us for who we are, not for what we can produce or achieve within work. God's call to us is an eternal one that encompasses and transcends our temporal activities....
Your work, or vocational calling, is one of your secondary callings.... Your vocational calling is a summons from God to use your gifts in the world, whether it be within paid employment, the home, or volunteer activities. [As Os Guinness says,] "But these and other things are always the secondary, never the primary calling. They are ‘callings' rather than the ‘calling.' They are our personal answer to God's address, our response to God's summons. Secondary callings matter, but only because the primary calling matters most." (Live Your Calling, pp. 5-8)
Therefore, if you are a Christian who is seeking to follow Jesus each and every day, you have already found your most important calling! (For more information about the primary calling, see Your Most Important Calling at www.LiveYourCalling.com.) You can live this calling even if you are unemployed or in work that doesn't fit you well. The more diligently you are seeking to live your primary calling, the more effectively the Lord can guide you in finding your vocational calling (that is, work that fits your gifts and brings a deep sense of purpose and significance.)
to be continue...
by Kevin Brennfleck and Kay Marie Brennfleck
National Certified Career Counselors and Life Calling CoachesSM
Good morning!
Apostle Julius Ikhide-Iyke Etaifo
NOGM
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