Early in school, most of us were asked the seemingly simple question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And as time went by, we increasingly became forced to develop senses of purpose and calling, and how that translates into an occupation capable of paying the bills, and what it means for our identity as people.
In today’s podcast, I explore how we are asking the wrong questions, and confuse our purpose with our occupation. I also show how we need to be asking better questions. Instead of asking “What’s my calling, what’s my purpose, and what’s my ministry?” we need to ask “What’s God’s calling, God’s purposes, and how can I participate in them?”
Starting with Romans 8:28-29, I show how no matter what myriad of occupations we may hold in our lifetime, occupations which may fluctuate dramatically and be wildly different than anything we set out to be as children, that ultimately, all of us God has called to be “conformed to the image of His Son.”
And from there we need to learn to distinguish between purpose and occupation. For our purposes are eternal, and will never change. However, our occupation is always contextual, and may change from age to age depending on our stage of life, our skills and our talents, and what the market may ultimately have need of from someone who has our unique talent and skill-set.
