I am reading a good book about vocation being your calling from God. I haven't finished it yet but I thought I would ask this anyway. I have done a LOT of things to make a paycheck in my life...from working on an oil drilling rig, Bar-B Que cook, to truck driver, bouncer, coaching and teaching, to publishing a weekly paper, managed a chemical plant for Ashland Chemical, to hospital pharmaceutical sales. I have been fairly successful in each endeavor.
and most recently after a layoff from pharma...out of necessity... or maybe blessing....I am a yard mower.

I just don't know what I was put here to do in terms of vocation. Yesterday I had an interview for a high paying pharma job and the guy interviewing me said he just didn't feel comfortable with hiring a guy who has job hopped so much. He asked how does a guy get to be 50 and still not know what his career match is? The interview went downhill from there.

He has a point...I am baffled. I once made 120,000 a year, this year I might make 13,000 but I am happier in terms of emotional health. Still this has been a radical change in our life. So my question is do you do what makes you happy or what provides best for your family? Which of those things glorifies God the most?

__________________
Richard H. King
Providence PCA
Lubbock, Texas
You know what my main problem is? I start things but rarely finish anyth...

Wasn't Moses 80 when he got his career calling? I have always believed one should do what makes them happy but I am like you and have moved from job to job and am now waiting on God to see what is next. I am also 50 and just haven't been able to settle on anyone thing. I am reading a good book called Designed for Dignity by Richard Pratt and it is helping me to find some peace on my journey. What book are you reading?


[Edited on 9-15-2005 by Swampguy]

__________________
Tim Smith
Baton Rouge, La
Church: http://sbrpres.org/

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
- Thomas Jefferson

I just started

God at Work:Your Christian Vocation in All of Life
by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.

I really like it. I will have to check out the one you mentioned.

I think its by pure providence a person finds a vocation that is both a calling and a way to pay bills.

I think for one to achieve this, their parents have to be prescient as to what the child likes and is good at and encourage them in that field.

In my church, this girl loved animals ever since she was a child, and now she got a scholarship to study Veterinary science and the Univ of London. That is what I call perfection; doing what you love and getting paid for it. Also Rock and Roll stars.

But for us normal peoople, we have to pursue the paycheck to pay the bills, whether we like the gig or not.

__________________
~Keon Garraway~ Brooklyn, NY Member of Franklin Square OPC

Love for God demonstrated by the love for our children in giving them a God centered education is the only hope for our country. by David Morrow
Pslam 71:20 [Thou], which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

I'm not sure I'd call my job a "calling" from God. If God has "called" me to my job, then do I no longer have liberty of conscience to move on to something else? I would say that my job selection is a matter of liberty. So long as what I do is not contrary to scripture, then I am free to choose whatever vocation I wish.

Nor do I question, "I wonder if God is calling me to do this or that?" If God had a "special call" for me, would He not have revealed it to me in the scriptures?


[Edited on 9-15-2005 by Dan....]

__________________
Dan Harris. -member of Westminster OPC, Indian Head Park, IL

Looking for piano lessons in the Plainfield, Shorewood, Joliet, IL area?
Contact: Mrs. Jennifer Harris. Visit web site here:
http://www.harrispianostudio.com

This is a question that I have wrestled with for many years already...and any of the resources that I've read about it have left me disappointed in my search for direction and understanding.

I don't understand how EVERYONE (who is Christian) doesn't deeply ponder what their purpose is in God's creation aside from basic Christian duties.

I know what I like but that doesn't always translate into earning a livelihood...and then (you) risk falling into the complaining spirit because of contrary Providences along the way.

It is really very frustrating. And there are few things worse than having to spend the majority of your time working at a job that you hate, that is not moving you in the direction that you want to go simply to pay the bills.

When I have found myself in those positions, it was hard not to escape depression and question whether I had missed the boat somewhere along the line.

[Edited on 9-15-2005 by SmokingFlax]

__________________
Christopher
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
Ecclesiastes (12:13)
Church Affiliation: Faith Presbyterian OPC

I have much to say to this as soon as time allows!

__________________
Adam Leavelle
Westminster OPC
Roaring Spring Pa.

http://www.myspace.com/aleavelle
"Speak wisdom to a fool and he'll think you have no sense at all"

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I'd concur with this myself. At an SBC church I used to go to there was a terrible book revered by many called "Experiencing God" by Blackaby. The outworking of this charismatic type theology was that people became distraught because they couldn't decide which house to buy, which car to buy. Which one did God want them to buy? Would God be upset with them if they got the wrong one? Then they'd all of a sudden get a "feel" for which one they should get and got it. I see a parallel here. If I don't like my job, I feel I have liberty to move to another one if the opportunity presents itself. If I go down the road of pressing too hard as to whether I'm "called" to do this job, or another job, I'll be put in the same spiritual prison that the people I just mentioned were in. They were tormented unnecessarily rather than praising God that he has given us multiple option and asking him to sanctify our intellect so that we might make the best decision possible knowing that neither is against His will. Hope that makes sense...

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Ron Grove
Glencullen Baptist Church (1689 LBC)
Portland, OR

Hi Ron, whenever we read the Bible, I think we see men being called to specific vocations, and given specific talents to fulfill these vocations. How would it be for someone to do contrary to their vocation. e.g. I did a career test, and found out certain qualities about myself. Should I pursue what this test reveals or simply choose without knowledge of my abilities and skills?

Here is an example of my career profile from Princetonreview.com


Interest is Blue
People with blue Interests like job responsibilities and occupations that involve creative, humanistic, thoughtful, and quiet types of activities. Blue Interests include abstracting, theorizing, designing, writing, reflecting, and originating, which often lead to work in editing, teaching, composing, inventing, mediating, clergy, and writing.

Style is Red
People with red styles prefer to perform their job responsibilities in a manner that is action-oriented and practical. They prefer to work where things happen quickly and results are seen immediately. People with red styles tend to be straightforward, assertive, logical, personable, authoritative, friendly, direct, and resourceful, and usually thrive in a self-structured, high-pressured, hierarchical, production-oriented, competitive environment. You will want to choose a work environment or career path in which your style is welcomed and produces results.


[Edited on 9-15-2005 by Slippery]

Excellent book Richard! Changed a lot of my thinking, you are in for a true Gospel feeding.

L

__________________
Larry Hughes
Geologist
Tates Creek PCA
Lexington, KY
PCA

Galatians 4:29, "But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also."

Who's choosing a job without looking at their abilities and skills? And who's hiring people without considering their abilities and skills?

My primary point was that we have a degree of liberty in this area. If we're really unhappy in a job then we are fine in seeking another one. Sometimes it isn't the work, but the environment. There's too many variables involved in this to make it an either or with respect to money or job satisfacton. Sometimes it may be best to bite the bullet and just make the best of a bad situation so that you can earn the better money. Sometimes it isn't. Not to the point that you're depressed or anthing, let's be a little realistic.

It is also, as you will find when you read, the primary way one loves one's neighbor & serves. Like I said you are in for a treat.

L

I can see your points (Ron). But it still (to my way of thinking) doesn't really address the issue of vocation. Perhaps, as you mentioned earlier, this is due to my being influenced by charismatic teaching (like Blackaby, etc.).

How long, after all, does one "bite the bullet" ... 5 years, 10 years, 20?

I don't think anyone would doubt that we have a lot of liberty here, yet on the other hand there is within myself a very deep need or "hunger for significance" beyond simple pragmatism or, worse yet, nihilism or absurdist existentialism that will surely result without a conviction of purpose.

I'm operating on the assumption that all men have this within themselves.

I'll look forward to hearing your input. My wife and I were also houseparents (like you) at a children's home during the 4 years I was a teacher/coach. We loved it but when my first son was born we opted to move on. (He is now 24 years old) It is some of the most challenging and yet rewarding stuff we have ever done.

Well where did the "puritan work ethic" or the idea of a "Calvinist work ethic" come from? It seems they must have seen it as a service to man and a way to glorify God.

Larry,

I'm assuming that the book you are referring to is the mentioned earlier by Gene Veith???

I just read one of his books on the arts (State of teh Arts)...it was not bad -similar to Schaeffer. I'll have to pick this up also.

I understand your "hunger for significance". I really do. I felt that significance in the Army and have never felt it since leaving. I felt I was doing something that was genuinely doing good for many people. I knew what I was doing in Signals Intelligence was saving lives. I've missed that feeling quite a bit, too. But leaving the Army was the best thing to do reagardless of that loss.

When I got out I tried to go into my love, languages. But the jobs were terrible and I couldn't afford the years of schooling required to become a foreign language teacher. I satisfy this need as a hobby of mine second only to my first passion, theology. Now that we have a new son, I look forward to teaching him the languages by reading to him and talking to him in them. Many books are already purchased to that end. I work as a network administrator. I could care less about computers, but I gain my satisfaction by providing employees good service with a smile. It may sound stupid, but that's all that keeps me from doing something else. I find enough satisfaction in that corner of my work that I can keep going without trouble even though I just assume I never saw a computer again.

I wish you the best in finding something that satisfies your hunger. I just caution you not to let it become a spiritual prison in and of itself. Christian contentment with what the Lord has provided us in the present is important. And that doesn't negate the quest for something better.

Christopher,

Yes, sorry about that.

larry

A good read on that combats the ideology of finding God's "special will" (i.e., "how can I be sure that ______ is God's will for me?" or, "I feel God is calling me to....") is Garry Friesen's Decision Making and the Will of God.

There is the revealed will of God (The Holy Scriptures) and the decretive will of God (whatever comes to pass); but to add a third category, that God has a "special will" that I need to "figure out" undermines the sufficiency of the scriptures.



[Edited on 9-16-2005 by Dan....]

Who said that we shouldn't have a good work ethic? What I am questioning is that if I consider my employment as a "calling from God" would it not imply that I am not free to do otherwise?

I've been in R&D at the largest privately held Software company in the world for almost 21 years. Among other things, God has gracioiusly allowed me to design and develop two proprietary file systems that are used by several million people directly or indirectly. It definitely feels like a calling. My life has seen seasons of darkness during some of these years, but God has always been ever faithful in my "craft". I "feel His pleasure" when I code!

Hears the sound of Vangelis...

__________________
Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"Let your Morning Thoughts, and your last Evening Thoughts, be what shall become of you to all Eternity." -- Matthew Poole

... na Riverdance, Jake & Elwood, Sam&Dave, The Isley Bros., or Bach

To study the history of the Protestant/Puritan work ethic I would recommend reading Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

For the Biblical understanding of vocation, I can think of no better writers on the subject than Martin Luther and John Calvin. Richard Steele's The Religious Tradesman is also helpful.

I haven't read it yet but God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life looks good to me.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. (Col. 3.17, 23-24)

I believe Biblical teaching is that we are to seek the will of God in everything that we do, certainly including specific decisions on our vocations. And, yes, we seek His will through prayerful study of the Scriptures; I believe no one here would deny that we are to be led by the Scriptures in all we do. And the Scriptures certainly have much to say as to our values and priorities and lifestyle, which when properly applied will I believe give us much specific guidance as to what work we should do. So I am a bit uncomfortable with the sort of thinking which says "if the Scripture has not forbidden it, it is in our liberty to do it." (I am not characterising the views of anyone on the Puritanboard here, this is just an attitude I have come across among certain people and writings).

I believe the following paragraph written by R.L. Dabney is very relevant to this discussion. It is from his essay titled