About 50 years ago I was sitting in the First Mexican Baptist Church of Corpus Christi, Texas, attending a series of revival services. It was April of 1974 and my pastor, Dr. Rudy Sanchez, invited Rev. Antonio Anaya, a missionary to Spain as our guest speaker. On Thursday evening Rev. Anaya spoke of a calling to vocational ministry. I spent all week reflecting of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. All I knew at that point in my life was that following Jesus meant to obey him and trust him. I began to sense there had to be more to being a disciple of Jesus. The invitation came to respond to a vocational call to ministry. I wondered if this was the stirring in my heart. I went forward and told my pastor I was answering a call to vocational ministry. I learned that this calling required trust, obedience, and faith to go wherever the Lord would lead me.
In graduate school I learned that more important than a calling was the one calling me, Jesus of Nazareth, the master, redeemer, and savior of my soul. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, he wrote, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (“Ephesians 4:1). He is writing to the whole church, not just to the pastor. I learned that all followers of Jesus are called to live a life pleasing to God. I took Latin in high school and learned the word for calling is “vocatio,” from where we derive the word “vocation.” In Spanish the word is “Vocacion,” which means one’s work or profession. In Colossians 3:23 Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.” In Ephesians 2:11 Paul wrote, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Our vocation rises from our salvation and connects to God’s redemptive plan. Your work has eternal impact and significance.
Honestly, over the past 50 years, I don’t recall being focused on a career of any kind. What seemed much more important to me was my calling to serve and desire to serve my master and please him in all aspects of my life, including my vocation. Wherever he would lead me, I would go. Whatever I was called or invited to do, I purposed in my heart to do my very best. I learned about my skills, abilities, and tried to improve on them. I learned every follower of Jesus has a life assignment, a mission to discern and follow. I learned that life mission as a follower of Jesus is to serve him in obedience, and willingness. Our work takes on deeper dimensions and means much more than what meets the eye considering eternity. Your vocation, as a follower of Jesus, connects to God’s redemptive plan in history. I have come to believe that if you follow your calling to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body, and in your vocation, your career will take care of itself. You don’t have to stress over it, control it, or make it happen. Rather, pursue Jesus and he will use your passion, your mission, your skills, and your abilities for his good pleasure in his redemptive purpose, and he will provide all you need and beyond your wildest imagination. He is capable to place you in just the right role to fulfill his purpose for you in redemptive history. This has been my experience. Focus on your career and you get so much less. Focus on your calling and the one who called you will take care of your career and lead you way past anything you could ever imagine. Will you trust Jesus to do this for you? Will you trust and obey him in the new year?
Comments