The gift of work, the passion of calling

As the beginning of a new school year approaches, young people are dreaming about their futures. They are filled with questions and plans for plotting the course of their lives, particularly regarding career choices. As parents and other mentors aim to offer guidance and wisdom, it is essential to help young people develop an understanding of God’s calling as integral to the Christian life. It is also vital to embrace work as a gift from God – an act of worship and an opportunity to serve Him and others. The Theology of Work (TOW) Project offers unique biblical resources and insights into these important topics.

The Bible and calling

TOW was founded nearly 20 years ago by respected preacher Haddon Robinson, with contributions from dozens of international, interdenominational theologians, pastors, businesspeople, and speakers.

“TOW has the goal that every Christian in the world would be able to work as God intends and would be able to feel called to their daily work,” Leah Archibald, associate director of TOW, told The Stand. “We provide free resources in eight languages of the world to help people interpret what the Bible says and how it relates to their daily work.”

A large portion of the website (theologyofwork.org) is devoted to discussing the issues that most young people face when discerning their calling or the life’s work that they want to pursue.

Kara Martin is on the board of directors of TOW and serves as editorial advisor. She said that when it comes to choosing a career path, Christians often focus on the concept of a calling as their motivation for choosing a particular type of work. However, she notes that nowhere in the Bible does the Hebrew word for call specifically refer to a particular job or career.

“We need to have a fresh understanding of calling – that calling is inclusive of every aspect of our lives,” Martin told The Stand. “We are called to salvation – to belong to God and His people; we are called to be holy; and we are called to acts of service. Calling refers to the way we use the gifts, experiences, and passions that God has given us to honor Him and serve others. Calling is [everything] we do before the face of God: being a citizen, a wife or husband, a son or daughter, serving at church, being a neighbor involved in community.”

Archibald agreed that, while many refer to calling as having a passion or enjoyment for a certain job, the true sense of the word should mean following Christ.

“The first calling that each of us has as Christians is to follow Christ,” Archibald said. “To follow Jesus means that you are answering a calling. If you are pursuing Jesus in your study of Scripture, your faith community, and your time of prayer, then you are absolutely heeding a calling.”

Work and calling

That is not to say that work is irrelevant to one’s calling or that being a Christian involved in a life of spiritual growth makes other day-to-day activities irrelevant. As Archibald explained, God has granted all people the skills and passions that equip them to purposefully fulfill the work that is laid before them in each area and time of their lives.

“Calling is the intersection between someone’s skills and gifts and the needs of the world,” Archibald said. “So, there are many things that a young person can look at when they’re trying to decide what kind of job and schooling to pursue.”

The first criterion Archibald named is skills and gifts. Young people should seek to answer the question, What am I skilled at? This is where parents and adult mentors can come on board to help a student discern the answer to that question.

“There’s a role for parents and churches and organizations that help young people grow, to point out and say, ‘Hey, I see you’re really good at that. Have you ever thought about being a therapist? Or have you ever thought about going into business?’ The community around young people can give feedback about what they’re good at.”

The second criterion is the needs of the world. Archibald advised young people to consider what they feel passionate about. If there are needs in the world that they feel the desire to heal, it could be something that God wants them to help fix, and it could be a call from God. However, Archibald reminded that one’s calling can change throughout a person’s life and can reflect activities other than what is fulfilled at a workplace. In this case, there is freedom in Christ, she said.

“I would hate to give anyone the impression there is a perfect job out there for each individual, and if you don’t get that job, you lost out on something, …” Archibald said. “The need to support yourself or to contribute financially to your family is an absolutely valid need, as are raising a family, caring for aging parents, volunteering at church, and [leading] a Bible study. There are many areas of life in which we work, and all of them are important to God.”

Work and worship

When considering the big picture of the accomplishments of each person’s work, Martin emphasized the importance of not creating a sense of a divide between ordinary tasks and spiritual tasks, whether they involve paid or unpaid work. All work is an opportunity for worship to God and service to others, as she emphasizes in her book Workship, which discusses how work and worship are linked in the Bible.

“In Genesis 2:15, the Hebrew root for work is avad, and it is the same word later used to describe the work of the priests in the temple where they serve or worship God,” Martin explained. “Work, serve, worship – it’s the same word. Our ordinary work is meant to be a way of worshipping God.”

When viewed as an act of worship, a Christian’s attitude toward work is transformed from seeing it as a pursuit of personal fulfillment or a mundane responsibility. Instead, Martin explained, work is seen as a gift: an opportunity to serve God and others and accomplish divine purposes in the world.

“We [as Christians] see our work not as the world sees work, which is as a curse – a necessary drudgery,” Martin said. “If we receive our work as a gift from God, an opportunity to serve and worship Him, that gives us a whole different attitude to our work. We are grateful, we hold it lightly, we understand that God can give that gift, and He can take it away for a season. We steward that gift well, and we work in a way that honors God.”