A calling can be defined as a strong inner impulse towards a certain course of action; or a strong desire to pursue a particular line of work.
We often associate a calling to those in religious vocations, but a “calling” is not limited to clergy and missionaries.
A calling is for each believer. A calling is God’s way of guiding us to where He wants us to be, doing what he made us to do in order to point others to Him and bring glory to Himself. That can take place anywhere, with any skill set, at any time in your life.
It’s important to realize that you can have more than one calling in your life at the same time. There is no reason to put God in a box. He doesn’t fit.
When we look at God’s calling on our lives as some future goal to attain, an end point where we will finally be fulfilled; or a position to work towards, we put limits and parameters on God.
God longs to give us the desires of our heart
“Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 (NKJV)
-it’s true. Both those desires of our heart are the desires that God puts there, not the ones we come up with on our own. And that’s a good thing.
Think of the desires I have for my life as a string of plastic pearls. They may be shiny and nice and look good from far away.
But upon closer inspection, it doesn’t take long to see that this “pearl” is not the real thing. It’s a fake. Shiny and worth nothing. You think it’s the best thing for you-your way-but it ends in death. Death of your God-given purpose. Death for God’s best for you.
God’s desire for my life is like the real pearl:
This is the real thing, beautiful and unique and rare. The kind of thing that only God can create. Your calling. Unlike anyone else’s.
God has a plan and a calling for your life. But it isn’t going to look like you think it should. And it will lead you to far better adventures than you could have come up with on your own.
[Tweet “All too often we spend all of our time clinging to our cheap, plastic pearls when God is holding, in open hand, the real thing.”]
Are you willing to let go of your desires in order to take hold of His?
Are you Willing to take God out of the box you have put him in and let Him have free reign in your life.
Are you willing to give up on your dreams and take hold of God’s reality?
Next week we’ll explore two types of callings on our lives. Stay tuned to discover more about how to find your calling.
T.J. is the Founder and Executive Director of Working Women of Faith, a non-profit organization that exists to equip and encourage women of faith to live out their calling in the workplace to the glory of God.