Does every person need a specific divine calling to do their job?

I believe that every person who is a Christian and is seeking to serve God in whatever they are doing is fulfilling a calling in the service of God.

The idea of calling relative to the ministry and to other activities of life can sometimes be turned into a very mystic kind of thing. That is, in order to be a minister you have to have some kind of tingly feeling, or experience of a voice, or other sorts of things. That is not what classically Reformed theology has taught, yet there is certainly a teaching that God draws people to the ministry in a special way.

Those who are not drawn to the ministry ought to see their work as a service to God and, in that sense, a calling from God. That doesn’t necessarily mean the high school student should sit around wondering, “Am I called to be a janitor? Am I called to be an auto mechanic? Am I called to be an insurance salesman?” I don’t think you should wait passively for the Lord to whisper the answer to that question. We ought to be active in the service of the Lord.

Most of the time the Lord is calling us to do what we’re interested in and good at. I remember years ago hearing a very distinguished professor who said that a great American failing is to ask constantly, “What do I want to do?” while we ought to ask more frequently, “What am I good at?” If you do what you’re good at, you’re much more likely to be happy than if you do something you want to do but aren’t any good at.

This transcript is from a live Ask Ligonier event with W. Robert Godfrey and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.