We can’t have healthy, Jesus-based discussions on identity and vocation, roles and purposes, until we admit what it is that Jesus has really called us to do.

There is a myth we cling to that blinds us to who we are: “People get their worth and identity from their job.”

And the church, which should be the place where we are continually reminded who we really are and what we were made to do, too often goes along with the myth, or fails to adequately offer up a counter response.

“The church can and must be a source of value formation within the community…should be a significant source of inspiration and perspiration working for life and shalom.” (WWP)

When we say that what we do every day defines who we are, we lose sight of who we really are and what we were created to do.

Working for the transformation of people and societies requires more than simply throwing the healthy habits of prayer and Bible onto our every day life.  In simplifying it so drastically, we miss the depth of what Jesus is inviting us into.

“True transformation occurs when people know their identity and their vocation and live in just and peaceful relationships:…relationship with God, self, community, ‘other, and the environment.” (WWP)

My husband is a civil engineer.  I am a writer and teacher.  Is that who we are, or just what we do? 

We need to change how we talk about our identity and vocation.

As people rooted in the narrative of the Bible and the way of Jesus, we should be the people changing how we speak about what it means to be human.

Culture is not going to change for us.

The media, and our schools with their vocational tracks, college and their new purpose of being about careers instead of educating and forming people, are not going to do it

It has to be us.  Jesus isn’t just someone to know, or know about.  He is something to enter in.

Christian transformation starts with the core of who we are – our identity – and what we do with it – our vocation.

If we can’t invite people into their true identity and purpose, they will find secondary purposes.  Only by being established in the life of Jesus will we be able to counter the myth society continues to believe our purpose is.

Our identity is not rooted in our individuality, and our vocation can’t occur in isolation.

So, how can we rephrase how we approach our roles and professions?

We have to start with what Jesus tells us.  Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul.  Love others.  Seek first the kingdom.

So first, what are some activities I do?

I help raise and educate my kids.  I write.  I make art.  I cook.  I drink coffee.  I go to church, bible study, community group.  I read, I learn.

How do I pursue my vocation through these roles?

I write, but I am not a writer.  I try and love others through words.

I cook, but I am not a chef.  I try and love people by making good food and being hospitable.

I go to church for community and friendship.  To know and love others.

Now, with a professional role.

My husband talks to people, works with clients, designs useful things, is the face of a company, solves problems and finds creative solutions.

The certificate in his office may say civil engineer, but that doesn’t accurately describe who he is or what he does.  In all of these things, he is trying to love others and work for the kingdom.

He happens to be doing that in the sphere of a specific company.  But the company, and his role in it, and the money they give him does not define who he is or what he does. 

Just as my sphere of the home and the lack of money involved does not define who I am or what I do.

I am not a writer/chef/teacher.  I am a right-brained, global thinker who tries to understand the world and the people in it through creative means.

My husband is not a civil engineer.  He is a left-brained concrete thinker, who does engineering work to help create a better world.

He loves others by providing them with practical needs to improve their lives.  I love others by listening to and learning from them.

We need everyone using their talents to love God and love others.  

We need both of these things, and many, many others, to make the world go round.  We all have the same vocation, but the way it gets worked out will be as unique as we are.

“God’s story is about more than saving souls.  The biblical account has a more holistic view of salvation, seeking the restoration by grace alone of our relationships with God, with each other, and with God’s creation.” (WWP)

Our purpose is love.

Our purpose is not just to do our job or provide for our family or be a good parent or spouse or person.  We are not just after morality or financial success or decent citizenry.  We are after love.

When we intertwine these concepts, and say, I am a writer, I am a banker, a lawyer, an engineer – there is nothing different in us about that.  Anyone can be a banker.  Anyone could be a factory worker.  There is nothing Jesus-y about a ‘secular’ vocation.  (If we are incarnating our role, they stop being secular.) 

So when we claim what we do is who we are, we forget who it is that we are called to be, and also what we were created to do.  We render ourselves unable to incarnate our role if we are unaware of our need for it.

The church has to be the one to offer a new vision for what it means to be human, to respond to our vocation.

We cannot reduce the transforming life Jesus brings to activities of the mind.  As a body of people seeking Jesus, we have to do better than this.

We are not called to a self-focused life.

We are called to a servant’s life of love.

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  – Buechner

 

 

What about you?  How can you rephrase what you do and who you are?  What are some of your activities in a day?  How can you love God and others through them?

 

 

 

Check out the other posts in this series:

Identity and Vocation Defined

Being an Image of God

What Does Christian Vocation Look Like?