“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called….” ~Ephesians 4:1
We have a calling. Within that calling, we have callings or vocations. (“Vocation” is derived from the Latin, voco, “I call,” so “calling” and “vocation” are the same thing.) Paul has a focus for what he says in Ephesians 4:1: he is aiming for the unity of the church, especially with regards to the Jew and Gentile being united into the one body of Christ. Consequently, he aims at character qualities that promote unity: humility, gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, and eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He then focuses on the seven ones (“one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” etc.). The calling of which he speaks is God’s call upon us as Christians.
What is “a call” or “a calling?” Marcus Barth describes Paul’s use of calling as “an act of creation and election; through this act non-being becomes being, not-beloved becomes beloved (Ephesians, ABC, 1:151) … further, it is “an appointment to a position of honor” describing the honorary place and function with which God has entrusted the saints. (Ibid., 2:427). God’s callings are what he has appointed you to do.
All Christians have the general call as “Christian” and are to act in the ways Paul describes, but we all do so with particular callings within our general calling. For instance, just a few sentences down, Paul speaks of how Christ ascended and gave gifts to the church to build the body. Not everyone in the church is an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, or a doctor/teacher. Later, Paul addresses wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters, all of which are particular callings within the general calling of being a Christian. We each fulfill our general calling as Christians by fulfilling our specific callings, using the gifts God gave us.
Each of us has a variety of callings. You are called to be a male, not a female (or vice versa). This is the appointment God gave you. You fulfill your calling as a Christian as a male, doing what males are supposed to do, or you fulfill your calling as a female, doing what females are supposed to do. You have other callings or vocations as well. You are, for example, a husband, a father, a pastor, a son, an elder, a business owner, an employee, and a friend. You have a calling to take care of yourself as well as care for others.
All of these callings in your life are attended by particular responsibilities. Whatever God has appointed you to do is a responsibility. He has entrusted you with what belongs to him and expects you to be a good steward of it.
One problem we all tend to have is becoming hyper-focused on one or two of these callings. We become hyper-focused because we are reactive, and the pendulum swings too far the other way. The rage du jour consumes us so that we always get caught up in the latest fight. If Feminism is destroying the church (which it is), people will become hyper-patriarchal (which is Feminism’s ugly fraternal twin brother). If there is an overemphasis on “time with the family,” the reaction might be to spend all your time at the place where you earn money. If you grew up never caring for your body, you might become obsessed with diet and exercise. We tend toward overreaction, so we neglect certain callings while pouring ourselves into one or two of the other callings.
This can also happen if we don’t believe we are as competent in one area of our life as we are in others. Instead of training ourselves to improve in the weak area, we focus on that one calling where we are exceptional to the neglect of others.
What we need is vocational harmony, for all of our callings to work together to accomplish the mission God gave us. We cannot neglect being a good husband while pouring all our energy into being a pastor or elder. Paul ties being a good husband in with the qualification of being a good pastor. You can do both. You must do both. It will require learning how to say “No” to demanding people who believe everything is an emergency or saying “No” to yourself when you want to spend time with your wife when you should be doing pastoral work.
We can’t neatly divide these callings into “time spent.” Sometimes, one calling may require a little more time on a given day or week than at other times. The calling is to be faithful in all of your particular callings.
One challenge we encounter, especially with some type A personalities, is that they will use the excuse of hyper-focusing on something as the definition of being “productive.”
“God calls us to be productive.” Yes, he does. But what is productivity? How is it biblically defined? Was God being productive on the first Sabbath day when he rested? Were his people productive when they obeyed the command? Is it productive to work so hard at your job that you neglect personal health issues so that you become sickly, putting burdens on your family and limiting your capacity to earn for them? Is it productive to play with your children? Is it productive to go on a date with your wife?
Productivity is not defined solely by the free market economy. That is only one aspect of it … it is an important aspect, but it is only one aspect. Pastors sometimes think they are only productive if they constantly answer calls, read books, counsel, write, or some other part of our calling. Those activities are a part of our productivity, but they are not the sum total of it. If you lose your family, you lose your calling as a pastor. Is it productive, then, to neglect your family?
Harmonizing your vocations or callings takes wisdom and effort. You have to be conscious about it, set proper boundaries around your time and space, and ensure that all the areas of the garden God has given you are well-tended.
If I may play off of what Paul writes, walk worthy of the callings to which you have been called so that you will walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
