“We keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.”
One of the common misconceptions about finding God's calling is thinking that He has a singular purpose for each person. As if there will only ever be one thing we'll ever accomplish in our lives. But that's rarely the case. The truth is that God usually has many purposes for each person throughout the many stages and phases of their lives.
Our circumstances and opportunities will change throughout the years—depending on who's in our lives and where we find ourselves logistically. People will come in and out of our lives in beautiful cycles, and those relationships that have a ripple effect on various parts of our lives.
As we move through this world, we'll have lots of different experiences that will change who we are and where we go. And God can and will guide us through every step on the journey (Romans 11:29; Ephesians 1:18, 4:1, 4; 2 Timothy 1:9; 2 Peter 1:10).
Our Ultimate Purpose
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Jesus didn't want to only save us from eternal separation from God. He saved us so He could enlist us in a greater calling: to love others (John 13:34-35). Followers of Christ should "walk in the way of love" (Ephesians 5:2), making our lives a sacrificial act of worship for our Creator (Romans 12:1).
Notice how non-specific that purpose is? No matter where we are, who we're with, if we've gone to college or not, whatever job or career we have, whether we're single or married, or whatever our life circumstances, we can still choose to love others and love God. If we're choosing to follow Jesus, it's not a very hard ask to care for others and honor God (1 John 5:3-4).
Serve Where You Are
“We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
We were created to do good things—to put goodness into the world and shine God's light where there's darkness (Ephesians 2:10). No matter what our lives looks like, there's going to be a way for us to do God's work.
God may call you to a specific ministry, but that doesn't mean that's the only thing you'll ever do in your life. And there's no need to fear that you're "missing" the one opportunity that God brings you either. As long as you're alive, God will still have ways you can personally serve His Kingdom.
Most believers aren't called to one, ground-breaking calling, so doing a lot of different things over the course of our lives is completely normal. We'll have so many chances to exercise our spiritual calling in so many ways throughout our lives.
Trust in God's Timing
“Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”
Trust that God's timing is perfect. If He were to throw us into a situation before we were prepared, we'd probably get frustrated and wouldn't be equipped enough to serve Him very well. It takes time to develop the skills, gifts, connections, and life experiences we require to do certain things, so we need to be patient with God's timing (Romans 12:12).
Sometimes God holds us back from opportunities we want to jump into, taking time to build our practical skills (Luke 2:52), spiritual knowledge (2 Peter 3:18), and faith (James 2:22). When we're going through challenges in life and pushing through the hard things, we ought to maintain the perspective that those tough times help us mature and refine our souls, hearts, and minds (James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:7).
Finding Our Special Calling
“God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.”
While the call for every believer is to love God and love people, it's still true that God calls different people to do different things at different times in their lives. There are believers who serve as church leaders, musicians, missionaries of all kinds, and international evangelists. So how can we tell what our particular calling is at this moment in our lives?
One of the clues we have about how God has equipped us for service is by looking at our spiritual gifts (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 1 Corinthians 12:28). Spiritual gifts are like special talents given to each believer by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building and developing God's Kingdom.
There's no magical formula or quiz we can use to discover our spiritual gifts, but there are a few ways to understand how God has prepared us individually for good works:
Examine what kinds of spiritual service bring you joy (1 Corinthians 14:12).
Ask Christian friends or mentors what they've observed about your gifting and where they've seen you light up in excitement (Proverbs 19:20).
Serve in various ways through your local church and see what interests you most (Galatians 6:10).
Remember, our ultimate calling is to love God and love others, which means we obey God and take care of those in need. If we allow our focus to be on fulfilling the responsibilities He’s given us in the present moment, we can trust that God will use our efforts to impact the world for His glory.