Your God-given design is a gift from your Creator, and it gives you essential clues about what God wants you to do in the world. Elizabeth O’Connor said, “We ask to know the will of God without guessing that his will is written into our very beings. We perceive that will when we discern our gifts.”¹ You may already be aware of some dimensions of your design; other parts may be latent or undeveloped abilities and interests that are yet to be discovered.

God has given us gifts so that we can use them to benefit others, and to bring recognition and honor to him.² He does not call us to seek self-fulfillment, but rather to find fulfillment through seeking to serve. Frederick Buechner illuminates what makes work (whether paid or volunteer) a vocational calling:

Vocation: it comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a [person] is called to by God. There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Superego, or Self-Interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.

. . . The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet [emphasis added].³

Discovering the skills you love using (“your deep gladness”) and the particular needs (the “world’s deep hunger”) you are enthusiastic about serving directs you toward your vocational calling. Enthusiasm comes form the Greek words en, meaning ‘within,” and theos, “god.” We experience enthusiasm when the God-given design inside us connects with needs in the world. Your enthusiasm about meeting particular needs can be an important indicator of the real you, and of your vocational calling.

Modupe discovered how to connect her deep gladness with the world’s deep hunger by opening a bookstore in her hometown in Nigeria. Formerly an administrative manager in a bank, she now offers books and resources that encourage self-development. “It was an area that was not being served at all where I live,” she says. “I have really enjoyed God’s favor in the business. More important, I am doing what I naturally enjoy. Being able to match my customers’ needs with particular resources is a very pleasurable part of my work.”

Becoming Need-Focused
Our human nature encourages us to focus on our own needs. God, however, calls us to direct our attention to the needs of others. Needs come in all shapes and sizes. Every job meets some type of need.

“Need,” as used here, refers not only to fundamental human needs for sufficient food, clean water, safe shelter, adequate health care, and so forth, but also to other things people lack that they desire or find useful, such as a need for a good education or recreational activities. Need can also refer to something required by animals or other living things. Veterinarians, for example, alleviate suffering and meet other needs of pets and livestock.

A key part of finding your vocational calling is discovering which types of needs you enjoy meeting. We experience a greater sense of purpose in our work and volunteer activities when we care deeply about the needs that we are serving.

All Work Can Be Sacred
God cares about all of the needs in this world. He doesn’t separate life into sacred and secular categories. The Bible does not support a two-tier view of work, with “full-time Christian service” being in the upper tier and everything else below it.

Christians frequently wrestle with this issue when making career decisions. People who have an intense desire to serve God often think the best place to do so is within a church or Christian organization. On the other side, pastors who feel mismatched with their jobs and are thinking of leaving the professional ministry may feel extremely conflicted as to whether a position outside of the church is a lesser calling.

We can do God’s work in the pulpit or in the factory. We are called to be full-time Christians wherever we are and in whatever we do. God calls some of us to work in churches, mission agencies, and Christian organizations. He calls others of us to work in the marketplace.

Andy Stanley emphasizes the importance of our serving in nonreligious contexts: “The truth is that our secular pursuits have more kingdom potential than our religious ones. For it is in the realm of our secular pursuits that secular people are watching. . . . It is there that God desires to demonstrate his power through those who are willing to be used in such a way. . . . [E]very role, relationship, and responsibility carries divine potential.”⁴

1.      O’Connor, E. Eighth Day of Creation. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1971, p. 15.
2.      1 Peter 4:10.
3.      Buechner, F. Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993, p.95.
4.      Stanley, A. Visioneering. Sisters, Oreg.: Multnomah, 1999, pp. 225-226.

Excerpt from Kevin & Kay Marie Brennfleck, Live Your Calling  (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2005).  Endnotes renumbered for clarity.  Content distributed by WorkLife.org > Used for non-profit teaching purposes only.