Every Christian Has a Calling: Understanding God's Purpose for Your Life
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29
Does every Christian have a calling? Does God have something important for every Christian to do? At times in the life of the church, the idea of calling was confined to clergy, missionaries, and special holy people. It was thought that ordinary people were not very important in the plan and workings of God.
That changed at the time of the Protestant Reformation. The reformers realized that there were not two categories of Christians, the holy and the ordinary. All Christians were in fact called to be holy, follow Christ’s commands, and fulfill his work in the world. What the reformers realized was that people could serve God in their everyday occupations. The farmer could be as holy as the monk. The housewife could fulfill God’s will as well as the clergy person. This came to be known as the “sanctity of the common life.” God needed people doing many different things. Everyone’s calling was not the same. One’s calling was to serve God right where one was. If one worked in a secular occupation, one’s calling was to do so with faithfulness, integrity, and faith. That was also a holy calling.
The Great Commission, for example, is the task of every Christian. It is not simply the task of clergy and special designated people. Together, we as the church are called to take the good news to the world, live it out for others to see, and even live prophetic lives. We are not to abandon the world we live in but extend the lordship of Christ to every corner of it. God gives his gifts and graces to all his church because everyone is important. Everyone has a place in God’s plan, and he calls each of us to his service. His gifts and calling to us are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).
Another important idea that came from the Protestant Reformation was the “priesthood of all believers.” This meant that we are priests to one another. As Christ was our great High Priest, so we participate in his priestly, mediatorial work. We stand with others in their sufferings and need. We bring them before God in prayer. We intercede for the world and ask that God’s kingdom will come in it. Who equips us for this work? It is the Holy Spirit. He equips us for our service to God and helps conform us to the pattern of Christ’s life.
Where should we serve God? The great fifth-century theologian Augustine thought the answer was obvious. Since God has put us in families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities, he means for us to serve him there first. Since we are located in a certain place and among a certain group of people, we should serve God right there in that place and with those people. The calling of God is right around us every day.
An often-used benediction that originated with Dick Halverson, a twentieth-century Presbyterian pastor, captures this sense of everyday calling. He used this benediction at the end of worship on a regular basis, and we often do as well. It says: “You go nowhere by accident. Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has put you there. God has a purpose in your being there. Christ lives in you and has something he wants to do through you where you are. Believe this and go in the grace and love and power of Jesus Christ.”