Last Friday evening, I was ordained as a pastor in the Church of God. Up until this point, I was a licensed minister and had been for about 7 years. This seems funny to me, because I have been working as a minister in one capacity or another for nearly 17 years. Regardless of licensing or ordination, I have been in a vocation that I felt God called me to do for almost 2 decades. I didn’t actually need anyone to tell me what God called me to do, nor did I need confirmation from other pastors that this was what my life had been aimed at. Working as a pastor, chaplain, or youth pastor has always just felt like the thing that God has made me for. Every other work I have taken on has been hollow in comparison to my calling. I don’t write this to denigrate anyone else’s profession or calling. Rather, I write it to make a point about how God has designed people. We are each given a calling and passions for a purpose, which God has designed us to take on. At times, this is different from our profession. I know several people who are gifted in areas of ministry that are wholly separate from what they do for a living. For many of those people, they work so they can do what God has called them to do. I’m surrounded by gifted musicians that serve God through those gifts. I know teachers, mechanics, farmers, writers, and folks from all sorts of other professions who serve God in their area of calling by using the gifts and talents that have been designed into them. They are most fulfilled and happy when they do what they were made to do. One of the speakers at my ordination service, in his address to the church, said that the service wasn’t doing anything to change me. Rather, it was a confirmation of the fact that God had called me to that job. The same is true of anyone who works in a profession that God has gifted them to do. No one needs to tell them what they are made for. They know because that calling is etched into their souls.
This brings up an interesting question: Can I be fulfilled in my calling without God being a part of my life? My answer would be yes, but only partly. An artist can be fulfilled painting without God as a part of that effort. However, I’d argue that this is a little like having part of a puzzle done, enough to show a section of the scene depicted in the puzzle. It might be beautiful or inspiring. However, in the context of the larger image it is incomplete. Recognizing that God made you to do what you are doing and is accomplishing His will through your efforts offers a larger significance that complements our own sense of fulfillment in our work. It gives us a more complete picture that has the potential to be even more beautiful. Beyond that, if we use our calling to serve God and other people, we are gifted with a greater sense of purpose and accomplishment. Martin Luther once wrote that a Christian shoe maker doesn’t glorify God by putting crosses on the shoes he makes. Rather, he glorifies and serves God by making the best shoes that he possibly can. Knowing God’s place in our calling offers us a deeper sense of satisfaction over excellence in our work because it puts our excellence in the context of serving something greater than us as a gift and labor of love, rather than work.
