What Is Your Calling? Part 1

This Sunday, we looked at our cultural understand of "calling" and "vocation." Here's how modern dictionaries define these terms:

CALL•ING
a strong urge toward a particular way of life or career; a vocation
   • a profession or occupation

VO•CA•TION
a strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation
   • a person's employment or main occupation, especially regarded as particularly worthy and requiring great dedication
   • a trade or profession

In our discussion, we noted two things about these definitions. First, the source of calling is entirely inward. It comes from within yourself. Second, the nature of calling is entirely subjective. It is an "urge" or a "feeling."

How do these definitions stack up against what God's Word has to say about your calling in life? This week we looked at two passages from Genesis to help us begin to answer that question.

​Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. (Genesis 1:26–30)

Notice the source and the nature of man's calling in Genesis 1. The source of man's calling is not from within himself, but from God his Maker. The nature of the calling is not subjective, but objective. God called man to fulfill a specific purpose, one which He made clear: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

We discussed 3 aspects of our calling which flow from God our Creator.

God gives us our identity.

"In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God" (Genesis 5:1). You were made to be God's representative on the earth, bearing His image. God is the source of your identity, your uniqueness, and your value. What gives a famous painting its primary identity? Its creator. That's why we call it a Picasso, or a Rembrandt, or a Monet. Where does your primary identity come from? Your Creator. You are made in God's image.

God gives us our name.

"He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created" (Genesis 5:2). God not only gave us His image, but He gave us a name: Man.

God gives us our purpose.

Beyond identity and name, God provides our purpose. Be fruitful and multiply. Subdue the earth and rule over it. This was Man's calling in the very beginning, and if you are descended from Adam, this is your calling as well.

If you're trying to discover your calling in life, don't start with yourself. Start with who God is. If you start with yourself, you'll only end up confused and frustrated.

Over the next few weeks, we will work our way through understanding God's calling on all mankind, to understanding the holy calling of being a Christian, on to understanding the implications of those things as you pursue your particular vocation.

Join us as we dig deeper every Sunday morning at 10 AM at Clearnote Church!