Proverbs 28.6
“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.”
Ephesians 4.1
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”
Responding to the call of Christ is central to the Christian faith. Jesus does not summon us to follow him in a few, selective areas; rather, Jesus calls us to follow him in every dimension and every facet of life. The call of Jesus is unequivocal, direct, and absolute: Follow me. The call of Jesus permits no compromise, no hesitation, no ambivalence. Everything we do should be guided and directed by the love and lordship of Christ.
Jesus made it crystal clear in the gospels. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.” (Luke 9.23-24)
The truth is this: our identity and purpose can only be found in the God who created us, saved us, and calls us. Seeking identity and purpose any place else is doomed to failure. We belong to God. Sin separated us from Him, but in Christ we are returned to Him. The life for which He created us is found as we respond daily to the call of Jesus.
The Lord does not call us just to be saved. He calls us into deep, intimate relationship with Him; and He calls us to a way of living and working that reflects the reality of His presence in every dimension of our lives. Jesus first calls us to Himself and then calls us back into the world so that we might live and work to fulfill His purposes.
Os Guinness asserts that in responding to God’s call on our life, it is important to make a distinction between primary calling and secondary calling. The primary calling is to Him and for Him. It is Jesus’ summons to repent of sin, believe, and follow Him in every aspect of our lives. Guinness writes: “First and foremost we are called to Someone (God), not to something (such as motherhood, politics, or teaching) or to somewhere (such as the inner city or Outer Mongolia).”
The secondary calling is the activity that we choose to focus on in the world, the job that we choose and the daily work that we do. “We can therefore properly say as a matter of secondary calling that we are called to homemaking or to the practice of law or to art history,” Guinness writes. “But these and other things are always the secondary, never the primary calling. They are our personal answer to God’s address, our response to God’s summons. Secondary callings matter, but only because the primary calling matters most.”
The vital distinction between primary and secondary calling carries with it two challenges—first, to hold the two together and, second, to ensure that they are kept in the right order. In other words, if we understand calling, we must make sure that first things remain first and the primary calling always comes before the secondary calling. But we must also make sure that the primary calling leads without fail to the secondary calling.
More tomorrow …
