Your Vocation Can Truly Be Your Calling
December 1st, 2006 | Michael Pink
Most of us thought that if God had a calling on our life it must be as a pastor, missionary or an evangelist, but I am here to tell you that most of us have been called to a vocation. That vocation, for most of us, is right in the middle of a very large mission field called the marketplace.
Recently, I was with a client and prayed that as we went about our business, others would notice the Spirit of God on our lives and want to have that for themselves. When we were having dinner at the airport, a lady who had been overhearing our conversation, interrupted us and said, “I’ve been eavesdropping a bit; would you please tell me how I can become a Christian?”
We were both a little surprised, at first, but soon found out how serious she was and invited her to join our table. After listening to her story and sharing the love of the Father with her, she was eager to pray right there in Ruby Tuesday’s! God is truly awesome and He is calling people to himself right there in the marketplace. Our vocations are convenient locations from which we can reach out to the unchurched and disenfranchised with the hope that is within us! Truly our vocation can be a holy calling!
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December 4th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
This is an issue that I have struggled with over a long period of time and finally have settled in my heart. Our conceptual difficulties with callings, vocations, avocations, and occupations may be rooted in the Greek philosophy of “Dualism.” Dennis Peacocke was the first to spark my interest in exploring these issues. Suffice to say that there’s still a lot of confusion out there about what these terms really mean. A blog does not really provide an opportunity to appropriately to explore all of them in depth, but as a practical matter, to quote the apostle Paul, “If the whole body were [occupational pastors] where would the [selling, garbage collecting, food preparation, home construction, business managing, teaching, truck driving, plumbing, et al] be?” (1 Corinthians 12:17; cf. entire chapter).