Discover How to Make Decisions Related to Your Career and Give Vocational Advice to Other Believers
Vocation is derived from the Latin word vox, which means “voice” or “vocal.” We think of vocation, then, as living one’s entire life in response to God’s voice or call. It’s more about who we are (identity) and whose we are (belonging) than about what we do.
If we want to be wise in our career choices, then, we must understand what it means to be called by God.
Many Christians experience a disconnect between our spiritual lives of worship and our ordinary lives of work. When we open ourselves to the worship of God in us, we experience joy and peace. But when we go to work, we often do not feel that it measures up against our spiritual worship. It feels like second best in comparison to what we were really made for.
Yet, in this video, Andy Crouch explains the intersection between our calling as Christians and our responsibility as human image-bearers.
When we are making decisions about what major to choose or what career to pursue, how do we know which is God’s will? Is one choice better than another? How can I make a decision?
In the video above, Sebastian Traeger offers six questions to help guide our career decisions:
Which of these, though, are must-haves? Do they all matter? What should our priorities be? How can we know if a job permits us to live a godly life?
Our passions do not make the best guides for our decisions. Yet we often persist in following our passion when it comes to career choices.
The passion-first mindset, which insists that first pursuing your passion will lead to a meaningful career, is fraught to problems. Is there a better way?
In this video, Bethany Jenkins discusses the problems with the passion-first mindset and offers a better alternative, a disciple’s mindset.
We are not only called to bear God’s image, we are also called to restore it where we see it broken or marred. We must actively seek out the places where his image has been lost, even when that means putting ourselves at risk. In every place we live and work, then, we must speak up for those who have no voices.
In this video, Chris Brooks shares his story of being a pastor in Detroit, as the city has struggled significantly. In Detroit, he says, “You can’t preach a gospel that doesn’t bring about holistic transformation,” which includes economic flourishing. “When you preach a gospel that doesn’t ultimate change someone’s life, then you’re vulnerable when another game shows up.”
To explore how economic flourishing matters to the effective preaching of the gospel, and how our callings can be a means to advance the gospel in a way that endures, watch this video.
