The Call — 2
Part 2: What do we mean by ‘Calling’?
The idea of calling seems to be important for the modern mind, but we have diverse perspectives on what it might be. It is a difficult topic to pin down because of its broad, diverse, personal, and transcendental nature.
Christian author Os Guinness in his book The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life gives a remarkable working definition of calling for Christians: “Calling is the truth that God calls us to Himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to His summons and service.”
This is unlike what modern individualistic culture means by call. To them, it is very much what we achieve in professional or material terms, or what we enjoy doing well. Traditional cultures focus on the roles that culture gives us. Like fulfilling the expectations as a parent, spouse, citizen, etc.
Biblically, calling is fundamentally relational. God calls us to Himself as his children to restore His image in us. We also relate calling with the act of creating and naming. God called Abram and named him Abraham, because he wanted to make him a father of many nations. God named Jacob and called him Israel. This aspect of calling involves both being and becoming what God intends for us. In the bible, calling is also synonymous with salvation. God is calling us from darkness to light.
Therefore, God calls us to make us his children, he saves us from darkness, to his marvellous light and calls us his kings and priests to serve him. Biblically, this is our primary calling.
However, the modern world sees calling from a functional and utilitarian mindset. It merely sees it from professional or material goals. Unfortunately, many Christians also think similarly.
In traditional Christian circles, many use the word calling only to describe our vocation as a pastor, evangelist or priest. We even used to call it a higher calling. Unfortunately, the Church viewed calling in terms of occupation, then elevated the role of a priest, pastor, evangelist, and missionary higher than other occupations. This is not true anymore in Christ. All those in Christ are kings and priests called to serve.
Simply seeing callings from a career perspective is not biblical. Abraham’s call is not merely to travel to the foreign land and have a son to inherit his possessions. God called Abram to transform him through his faith into the father of a nation and, through him, bless all nations. This is beyond his earthly goals.
Primarily, it is God calling us to Himself. We are called by Him, to Him, and for Him. Secondly, we are called to be transformed into the image of God.
“And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
That means calling not only involves being but also becoming what God intends for us.
And lastly, God’s call enables us to order our lives to walk in God’s ways in response to our relationship with God. He may call us to act in certain vocations and equip us with certain skills and resources to live out that purpose in practical ways.
Besides all these, God’s call demands a response. He is not casual about it. When Jesus called his disciples, he said. “Follow me”, the disciples left everything and followed him. In everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have, we should live out our lives in response to his call.
