What is my calling in life? Many serious Christians struggle with this question often. It is easy to assume that is a struggle we have once in our teenage/early twenties. Once we settle into our education/vocation, we will simply put our efforts into that. However, I’m not so sure it’s a one and done deal. It is likely our callings can either evolve or change over time. Sure, we may think of calling as a profession that we will work at for several decades. However, I suspect there is more to it than that. Having a career is not exactly the same as fulfilling a calling. So how do we discern our calling? The obvious first step is serious prayer to the Lord. However, there are a few less obvious steps that we can figure out if we take the time to honestly reflect on ourselves. In addition to prayer, I will list four questions that are important for discerning our calling (not job) in God.
What Are My Spiritual Gifts?
If you haven’t taken a spiritual gifts test, I suggest taking one. By answering the questions honestly, you will have a fairly accurate reflection of what your top three spiritual gifts are. Often our gifts are linked to our personalities and what we’re called to fulfill in the kingdom of heaven. I mention the top three spiritual gifts because they help determine the parameters related to how I operate. This is helpful dealing with ministry and vocation.
We are currently going through a series on Spiritual Gifts at TGP. Sunday May 21, we will be handing out books/tests to help determine spiritual gifts. Our church wants to take an active role in helping our members grow in develop the gifts God has given them.
What Are My Interests?
What do I like? What really motivates me? I’m not talking about the latest movie or the tasty pasta at that local Italian diner. I mean, what are the things I really like? What were my favorite subjects in school? What things would I not mind learning on my own initiative apart from core curricular subjects. An honest reflection of our interests reveals a lot about how God has made us. Maybe we are technical junkies, or love history, or are intrigued by psychology and sociology. Maybe we love helping the elderly or the poor and disaffected. If we take the time to honestly list may three things in order of intensity that we are interested in, this helps set another parameter for what our calling may be.
Let’s take some of my interests for example. I love learning. I feast on knowledge like some people feast on Chinese buffets. However, there are only a few subjects I’m really interested in. Liberal Arts: History, psychology/sociology, Bible/Theology, Mythology. I’m also interested in Fantasy and some Sci-Fi novels. Additionally, I am interested in life-improvement skills (I’m constantly challenging myself to grow in different areas. So I put those three categories together: Liberal Arts, Literary Genre, and life improvement. Those three lend themselves to being a guide or mentor of some sort. I could find myself teaching these subjects at a school, teaching through writing projects in print and digital, or helping build life skills. If I coupled that with my top three spiritual gifts: Teaching, Serving, and Mercy, then I have a clearer view of what callings and vocations would fit how God has made me. I could be a pastor (I am). I could be a writer-extending my knowledge influence across time and space (I am). I could also be a life coach/mentor. I could help lead a team of deacons.
Our interests help continue to narrow the avenues that we are likely called to.
What Are My Passions?
Another factor in showing me where my calling may lay is what I am passionate about. This is not the place to simply say “Jesus is my passion.” Any true Christian lives that as an inherent fact. I mean passion in specific areas. This is not just an interest. Passion is what gets our hearts pumping. It gets us motivated to get out of bed. It is a driving force that will move us to do what we must to get where we earnestly desire. Maybe some of us really enjoy volunteering in local community organizations. We have a passion to help our communities with our hands and feet. Maybe we are really driven by social justice-so much that we want to educate ourselves and do something about it. God has placed passions in each person, like a fire that burns and hungers for more. What are our passions? If we can reflectively define these, then we can start developing our gifts and activating our interests in line with our passions. These are first three founding elements to identifying our calling.
How Do I Get Resources For My Calling?
Our calling may or may not be our job. Some of us fulfill our calling away from the work field. We work in order to support ourselves. In our off-duty time, we pursue our calling. This will be the case for many people. And this is a good thing. Even the most prolific writer of the New Testament, Paul, made tents to support his calling.
Whether we are called to a full-time type of ministry, or earn our wages in secular work, we will need resources to fulfill our calling. If we join a missions trip to install water pumps in 3rd world villages, it takes money, skill, and time off. We may have to plan that around our vacations.
Other resources we will need is access to training and education to do the work of the call. If we are called to man the online presence of a church, we will need to take time to learn the technology: Facebook, blogs, Instagram, Google+, and more. That could easily by a full-time job in and of itself. Fortunately, many of those trainings are easily available online.
Whatever we decide our calling is, it will need to line up with our Spiritual gifts (from either birth or impartation), our interests, and our passions. In addition to that, we will be driven to find the resources to get to where we can excel in our calling.
So if you are unsure about your calling, answering these four questions as specifically as you can will begin to guide you to what type of calling the Lord may have on your life. Obviously, don’t make any sudden decisions without going to the Lord in prayer and seeking godly council.
Thank you for reading this post on the TGP Worship Chicago website, where our motto is Presence. Love. Power.