We hear ministers and missionaries talk about a calling –
“God called me into the ministry.”
“I sensed God calling me to missions.”
“The Lord called me into church work.”
There is truth to this, but there is also a danger here of misconstruing the truth – the danger of making those who are not church staff members feel that their occupation is somehow not on the same level in God’s eyes. And nothing could be further from the truth. God is calling you, too!
It is true that God calls some to be church staff ministers. But scripture indicates that every one of us is called to be a minister – and only a few will be on a church staff. However, there will be many School Teacher “ministers,” and many health care “ministers,” and many business-world “ministers.”
We church staff ministers developed a bad habit of calling our occupation a “vocation,” thereby implying that everyone else just has an occupation. But here is the truth – for every single believer, you have a vocation as minister. There is a difference between our occupation and our vocation. Our occupation is the job we do that gets us a paycheck this month. And that occupation can change, and probably will change, throughout your life. But our vocation as Christians is to be the same for each and every one of us – to be a minister no matter our occupation. We are to use our relationship with God to point others in the direction of Jesus Christ so that they can come to a right relationship with Him and grow in their spiritual maturity.
I don’t want your mindset to end at “I am a Christian and I should not be ashamed of that fact at work and should live out a Christian example at the office or the plant or the school.” That’s not a bad place to start, but I want us to go further. I am talking about an entire reprocessing of our understanding of life itself and why we are here.
According to the Bible, life is about being a minister of God’s gospel message. Period. Everything else in our lives is to be used to share this message with those around us.
So if your occupation is in the health care field as a doctor or nurse, your vocation should be a Christian minister sharing the message of God and His love to others and while you are at it be as good of a doctor as you can be and use that position to share Christ’s love with patients.
Life for a teacher is to be a Christian minister sharing the message of God and His love to others and while you are at it be as good of a teacher as you can and use that position to share Christ’s love with students and fellow teachers.
Life for a business person is to be a Christian minister sharing the message of God and His love to others and while you are at it be as good of a business person as you can and use that position to share Christ’s love with your clients and fellow workers.
Your vocation is as a minister of the gospel no matter where you are with your occupation. My vocation is to minister, presently through my church staff position. But what if my position changes? What if I go to work in another field? Well, my occupation would change, but my vocation would not. It remains the same – minister of the gospel.
Life for each of us is to be a Christian minister. You are to use the occupation that God presently has you in to fulfill your vocation of sharing Christ’s love with those you are in contact with every day. Start thinking in terms of being the minister for your workplace – for that is what you are. You have been placed by God in your specific field to minister to those around you. Are you lifting those around you up in prayer? As their minister, you should be. Are you sharing with them how to know Christ? As their minister, you should be. Are you helping believers around you know how to grow in spiritual maturity? As their minister, you should be.
As you go to your occupation today, consider how you will live out your vocation as a minister to those around you!