"For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable."
Romans 11:29
It is dangerous to align your calling and your vocation as dependent on
each other. God calls us into relationship with Him. That is our
foremost calling. It is from this relationship that our "physical"
calling results. Whether that is to be a teacher, a stockbroker, a
nurse, a pastor, or any number of vocations, we must realize that when
He calls us, the change in vocation never changes His call on our lives.
It is a mere change in the landscape of our calling. This is why it is
dangerous to associate our purpose and calling too closely with our
work. When we define our work life exclusively as our calling, we fall
into the trap of locking up our identity into our vocation. This
promotes aspiration because of a need to gain greater self-worth through
what we do.
Os Guinness, author of The Call, describes the great artist Picasso, who fell into this trap.
"'When a man knows how to do something,' Pablo Picasso told a friend,
'he ceases being a man when he stops doing it.' The result was a driven
man. Picasso's gift, once idolized, held him in thrall. Every empty
canvass was an affront to his creativity. Like an addict, he made work
his source of satisfaction only to find himself dissatisfied. 'I have
only one thought: work,' Picasso said toward the end of his life, when
neither his family nor his friends could help him relax." [Os Guiness,
The Call (Nashville, Tennessee: Word Publishing, 1998), 242.]
What happens when you lose your job? Do you lose your calling? Do you
lose your identity? Do you lose your sense of well-being? No. Calling
involves different stages and experiences in life. Disruptions in your
work are an important training ground for God to fulfill all aspects of
His calling on your life. Trust in your God who says your calling is
irrevocable and that all things come from Him.
Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Copyright by Os Hillman, Marketplace Leaders.
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