Live Out Your Calling Today
“What is my calling?” Is that a question you have ever asked yourself? I am almost certain you have met a Christian who has asked that question at some point or is currently asking it. “What is God calling me to do? Where is God calling me to go?” And probably most important of all: “What is God calling me to do with my life?”
I don’t think I have met a sincere, Christ-loving Christian who wants to waste their life. Christians want to live out God’s will for their life, to spend the time allotted to them in a God-honoring way. But this often is easier said then done, especially when you aren’t clear what God wants you to do.
Recently, I have been reading a book called “Grit” by Angela Duckworth . It is a pretty useful book which focuses on the positive effects of perseverance in life. If you are a Christian who reads your Bible consistently, you almost certainly understand and know all that Duckworth says in her book. But there was a “parable” she gave in one of her chapters which helped me think through what “calling” is and how it connects to the Biblical idea of “renewing your mind”.
Three bricklayers are asked: “What are you doing?”
The first says, “I am laying bricks.”
The second says, “I am building a church.”
And the third says, “I am building the house of God.”
The first bricklayer has a job. The second has a career. The third has a calling.
GRIT by Angela Duckworth
What the quote means
Perspective is everything
What I love about this little story is how memorable it is. You have three people doing the exact same job: laying bricks. On the surface, there is absolutely no difference between them. But when asked what they are doing, their answers could not be more different.
The first is focused merely on the task at hand: laying bricks. It simply is a task; there is no higher calling. This is why the first bricklayer merely has a “job”. You have certainly met people like this: they come to work to get a paycheck, that is all. There is no bigger picture or larger goal. There is simply the task at hand, the task they are paid to accomplish.
The second bricklayer has a bit better perspective. Rather than focusing on the task, the second bricklayer focuses on a larger goal: building a Church. This second person is connecting their work to something bigger than the individual task. They are conscious of what their work means and what goal their individual task contributes to. This bricklayer is said to have a “career.”
But it is the final bricklayer that is the most important for our discussion. This last bricklayer connects their work to something larger than their individual task, and larger than the final “product.” Despite the sketchy theology in this parable (see 2 Samuel 7 for what God thinks about David building a house for Him), I think it is a profound illustration of Biblical truth. This last bricklayer connects his or her work to God, to theology, to a their larger worldview.
And it is this bricklayer which is said to have a “calling.”
I would summarize the three bricklayers as follows:
- The first bricklayer is focused on the daily tasks
- The second bricklayer is focused on the end goal of the tasks
- The third bricklayer is focused on why they are pursuing the goal
Why it is important
Don’t try to figure out God’s will for your whole life. Live faithful today.
“Calling” is a tough word to define. A lot of times, when I hear Christians ask what their calling is, what they mean is “I want to know the specifics of God’s will for my life. I want to know for certain what I am to do now and in the future.” But this certainty is not promised in Scripture.
J. I. Packer in his book “Knowing God” contrasts two views of “knowing God’s will.” What you and I often want is to see the whole picture, like if you were to look at a whole map of a subway system. You want to know exactly and with certainty all the different paths God wants you to take. But knowing God’s will is not like looking at a subway map. It is more like driving a car: you can only see and make decisions based on what is immediately ahead of you.
This parable of the three bricklayers builds on this idea. You don’t “find your calling” by figuring out God’s sovereign plan for your life. You live out a calling by connecting what you are doing in the present with your Theology. The last bricklayer has a calling by connecting his daily tasks and the goal of his job to God. God is not going to write out His sovereign will for your life in the sky for you to read. But He does promise to guide your steps as you trust in Him.
How can you live your calling? Remind yourself each day “this is God’s sovereign will for my life.” And then work for His glory, not your own. I think we need to re-define “calling” to “obeying God commands in all He ordained for you to do while staying conscious of how what you are doing connects to God’s larger plan.” In other words
You turn your tasks into a calling simply by connecting it back to God, the Scripture, and the Gospel
“What does God want me to do with my life?” is an impossible question because God doesn’t promise to answer it in specifics. But I guarantee there are daily tasks you have to accomplish each time you wake up. These tasks are the part of God’s plan for your life that He has revealed. God has prepared good works for you ahead of time so that you can walk in them (see Ephesians 2). Don’t focus on the part of God’s will that you don’t know. Focus on faithfulness today by doing all your daily tasks to God’s glory.
Takeaways
1. The most practical thing you can do each day is renew your mind with Scripture
An implication of all this is to renew your mind each day. The last bricklayer had a theological, God-focused mindset which enabled him to connect what he was doing to why he was doing it. He had a different perspective than the other two. It does not get more practical than this.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2, ESV emphasis added
You aren’t naturally going to wake up with the mindset “all I do today is for God’s glory.” The natural perspective of life when you wake up is that of the first bricklayer: just get done these tasks and be done with it. But as Christians, part of the privilege we have is doing all that we do for God’s glory and to make much of Christ.
Your theology should transform your most mundane daily tasks.
Don’t buy the lie that says Theology is some study of God divorced from anything you actually do during the day. There is absolutely nothing more practical than renewing your mind with the Word. It changes everything. The parable of the bricklayers argues that it is your mindset, your perspective, that matters each day. The Bible makes it more explicit: you must renew your mind or you will be conformed to this world.
2. Ask God to show you what faithfulness looks like today. Let Him work out your long term “calling.”
If God explained to you every single plan He had for your life, do you really think your life would be better? I think God is merciful to allow us to take one day at a time. Your calling is to die to self daily and subject each day’s tasks to the Lordship of Christ. That is hard enough to do without also knowing everything coming tomorrow.
“Sufficient is the day for its worries” Jesus said. You can only be certain of what God is calling you to do moment by moment. So pursue faithfulness and obedience moment by moment. As a Pastor I know once said “Do the next faithful thing.”
You might not know God’s long term plans for your life. But you know today you are called to “glorify God and enjoy Him.”
3. Consciously, through prayer and meditation on Scripture, offer each part of your day up for the glory of God
To get even more practical, doing all things for God’s glory probably means praying a lot. “Without ceasing” as Paul says. The mindset of the third bricklayer is not easy to maintain. There are dozens of distractions and sins each day that cause you to lose sight of why you are doing what you are doing, and for whom you are doing it.
Dedicate time throughout the day to read Scripture. Call out to the Lord before you start a new task. Ask yourself “how does what I am going through connect to any Bible passages I have heard lately?” It is only through focus on God that our tasks become a calling. Why? Because God has called His people to exalt Him in all things.
What tasks do you have to accomplish today at work? At home? For Church? Will you merely check the boxes? Or will you realize everything you do is done before the presence of God?
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