‘Calling’ is one of those words we throw around in Christian circles that is loaded with emotion, ambiguity and sometimes guilt. ?Some of us get to feel ‘called’ to our work, others maybe just ‘land a job’ it seems.
Josie Gunn addresses this issue in Workplace Myth #4 over at Threads. ?
In preparation for an upcoming sermon on Daniel, I’ve been reading “Job Shadowing Daniel – walking the talk at work” by Larry Peabody. ?It’s a top read!
In Chapter 1 entitled?Calling: Working in the World Wholeheartedly, Peabody tackles this question of calling by comparing the ‘callings’ of Daniel and Jeremiah. ?’How does Daniel get his job?’ he asks. ?Did he have a sense of calling? ?How does he compare to his contemporary, Jeremiah, whose call is clear and spectacular (Jer. 1:4-19)?
Daniel simply ends up in Babylon as a teenager recruited to serve in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar. ?Peabody ?comments that, in comparison to Jeremiah’s call, ‘… Daniel’s place seems to have come about as an accident of war. ?It looks as if Daniel has not been placed but displaced.”
And then he asks the question, “Suppose Daniel had said to himself, ‘Jeremiah heard God’s voice call him; I heard no voice. ?Jeremiah’s call made him a prophet; my circumstances made me into a bureaucrat. I guess God hasn’t called me into ministry.”
He concludes with three helpful insights from the life of Daniel for those called to ‘secular’ work:
- Trust God to place you where he wants you – God is sovereign
- Transform your job into full-time service – Daniel served?God full-time while doing his government work.
- Recognise the value of your unique place in the work world – “Daniel served God ‘continually’ in his government job, he accomplished things Jeremiah could never have done in his speaking and writing ministry back in the Holy Land.”
?May you be aware of God’s calling today as you minister his love and grace in your workplace, wherever that may be.
Murray Wright
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