Discovering Your “Calling”
One of the most frequent questions seniors in college are asked is, “What are you planning to do after you graduate?”
Often the response to this question is, “I don’t know.”
I spent so much time during my own senior year pondering this question. Life after graduation felt like a dark abyss, and I had many conversations with friends expressing my desire to just know what the Lord was calling me to do. If the Lord would just tell me what he wanted me to do, I would do it! But I had no idea what it was he wanted me to do.
I remember praying and pleading with the Lord to give me a “burning bush” moment. I desperately wanted him to appear to me, somehow, someway, and tell me exactly what it was he wanted me to do next, but much to my dismay, he did not appear to me and speak to me through the flames. That being said, the Lord does actively speak to his children today. It wasn’t that he wasn’t speaking to me, it was that I wasn’t listening to what he had already said.
Oftentimes, we wait for a monumental moment wherein the Lord will show us what he has called us to do. We drag our feet through college, then through our job, cycling through the mundane routines of life, waiting and waiting for a life-changing moment when the Lord finally makes clear what it is he wants us to do. We stress over the unknown while remaining frozen in fear, spending more time thinking about what could possibly be next rather than living in obedience to what the Lord has called us to do in the season we are in right now.
We waste precious time, in these finite lives of ours, waiting rather than acting upon what the Lord has called us to do. Your “calling” is not a mystery. There’s no need to wait! The Lord has spoken and told his people what we are called to do with our lives.
Seek First The Kingdom
“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:32-33.)”
During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses both the crowds and his disciples directly about what, above all else, they are called to do. He tells them to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” and teaches that they can depend on their heavenly Father to provide what they need. “First,” in the original Greek, is prōtos, a word that refers to something “holding the highest position” in reference to time or order, but also in importance, meaning that when Jesus tells his disciples to “seek first the kingdom of God,” he is telling them that the kingdom of God must be the most important thing in their lives, what they are living for first and foremost (Strongs, G4413.)
The command to “seek first the kingdom of God,” is the calling that fuels the life of a believer. It is meant to be the basis of the decisions we make in our lives. God has prepared in advance specific “good works” for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), but those unique “good works” are centered on seeking first the kingdom of God. Whether you are a doctor, a college student, or a vocational ministry worker, your first and most important calling is to seek first the kingdom of God. Your motivation behind the decisions you make is not primarily centered on what would be best for you, but rather what would be best for the advancement of the kingdom of God. The details of what we are doing matter a lot less than the reason behind what we’re doing. As seasons of life change, our responsibilities, jobs, the places we live, will change, but the call to “seek first the kingdom of God” remains the same.
Go and Make Disciples
“Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20.)”
This passage, known as The Great Commission, was one of the last commands Jesus gave to his disciples before he ascended into heaven.
The Greek word for “go” is poreuomai, which means “to pursue the journey on which one has entered, or to continue on one’s journey (The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon, 1999.)” The command to make disciples isn’t only for select believers who are sent to a strategic place. Jesus is telling his disciples that as they go throughout life, or as they continue living their lives, they are to “make disciples of all nations.” The command to “make disciples” isn’t circumstantial. The call to make disciples is always the call of a follower of Jesus, despite their age, occupation, financial situation, or any other factor unique to them. Whether you are an overseas missionary who packed their bags to go and make disciples or a teacher in your hometown, as you go through life, you are called to make disciples of all nations.
SEEK and GO
The calling of every believer is to seek first the kingdom of God and to go make disciples. Whatever season you are in, as a follower of Jesus you can be confident that you are always called to seek first his kingdom and make disciples. The circumstantial details may change in different seasons of life and will look different for different individuals. As Paul expresses in Romans 12, the church is one united body, made up of different members with different gifts. So although individual circumstances may look different, as we each are unique people with unique giftings, we are all called to seek first the kingdom and go make disciples. Don’t get so caught up in the details that you forsake obedience to what the Lord has already called you to do in the season that you are currently in.