Have you ever felt called to something you didn’t want to do? Maybe it felt beneath the gifts you’ve been given. Maybe it was unappealing in every way. Maybe it sounded fun at first, but once you arrived, it wasn’t what you expected.
I wonder if “calling” has become its own kind of idol in our culture—not because calling is bad, but because we can start to treat it like a badge of importance. We can believe we must discover it as quickly as possible, or assume it has to look glamorous to truly be from God.
I wonder what Jeremiah thought when God called him to speak to the remnant of God’s people—people who had no desire to listen. I wonder what went through Sarah’s mind when she laughed at God’s promise that she would become a mother in her old age. I wonder how the disciples felt when a man told them they would no longer fish for fish, but for people.
Maybe we should be less concerned with the specifics of our calling and more consumed with our identity in Christ and who we are becoming in the light of his presence.
We were made to be image-bearers of Christ: to reflect him to the world and to become more like him as the Spirit transforms us. We were made to abide in the vine and produce the fruit of the Spirit. We were made to be children of the Father—abundantly loved by him. Being someone who is deeply loved by God and is being formed into the image of his Son matters far more than figuring out a “calling.”
Maybe your calling is simply the vehicle through which you love God, love others, and make disciples.
Whether it’s on a stage, stacking chairs, cooking food, wiping the messy hands of children, entering numbers into spreadsheets, or building houses—your identity remains the same. What you’ve been called to do is simply the place where you work out what God has purposed in you.
So, my friend, love him where you are today—in the mundane and the miraculous—because he has purposed you to be there. And if you’re not sure what faithfulness looks like right now, try starting with one simple question: “Who can I love well today in what’s right in front of me?”
