Do you feel lost? You don’t know or even feel like you have a purpose in life and you’re constantly searching for your calling? Well, you’re not alone. Not alone at all.

In this day and age, everyone feels as though they need to find their perfect job. The job that is absolutely perfect for them, and once they find it, they’ll be happy.

Many people go to college in search of their perfect job and wind up in debt. Others find it and are still not happy.

As Christians, we start to feel as though we aren’t doing enough for God, like he’s angry with us.

If everyone starts to feel like they are not fulfilling their calling or purpose in life, it makes you wonder.

Does God really have a calling for us?

He Knows the Plans

When I begin to question the Lord’s plans for me, I am brought back to this verse, which we all know well.

Jeremiah 29:11 says this,

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

This scripture reminds me of two things. The first is that the Lord clearly has a plan for us and our lives. He clearly says it and the rest of scripture supports that.

The second thing is that our future will be prosperous. We will have hope, not evil. A future, not welfare. We can bank on those promises. But what the scripture doesn’t tell you is this: what that future will look like.

So, what does our calling really look like?

The Calling of a Believer

Would you be surprised to know that we all have the same calling? We don’t all have the same job, but we are supposed to do the same thing. In Matthew 22, we find a bunch of Pharisees questioning Jesus and one of them asks him this,

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:36).

If you read our post on the Law, then you know that we are no longer under the old law. However, the response that Jesus has still has prominence today. Jesus responds with this,

““You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

He gives us two clear commandments. Love God. Love your neighbor. That is the first thing we are to do, and we are to keep. He doesn’t tell us to preach, to teach, to lead, or to sell. He doesn’t tell us to go find a job. Not to find a perfect home.

While I believe that the Lord has called us all to a specific place and career, simply because he knows what’s best for us, I don’t believe that is his priority and it shouldn’t be ours.

Therefore, our number one, sure fire calling is ultimately just that. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Love the Lord

The Lord is just wonderful. Someone that is all powerful, yet gives his everything in Jesus for his people, cannot be anything but wonderful!

As we’ve discussed many times before, he is after deep relationship with people, which is very lucky for us. We get a divine relationship with the Living King. All he really wants is us.

But what does it really mean to love the Lord? I believe that in breaks down into this simple statement:

To turn away from that which offends him and to give your life for him and his people.

While that may sound like a lot, what we get in return and what we have already received makes is so worth it. Let me remind what we have through relationship with Jesus:

• Freedom
• Redemption
• Eternal life
• The fruits of the spirit
• Justification
• So much more

What he wants in return is this

• Us

Thats it. Therefore, the first step in our calling should be easy. Love the Lord.

Love Your Neighbor

This is the command that is much more difficult for us to follow. Jesus is perfect, it’s so easy to love a perfect person. But our neighbors are not always perfect, making it a bit harder to love them. Regardless, that is what we are called to do.

I think that we all have a good understanding of what it means to love our neighbor as oneself. It all comes to down to the golden rule.

““So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”‘ (Matthew 7:12).

We shouldn’t treat others the way they treat us, but the way we would want to be treated. This is so important.

As I have matured in my faith, I have begun to realize that the priority in life is God, then people. But the way that I had lived was far from that. I lived with me, then my life, then God, then almost anything else, then people. Thankfully, God changed my heart.

But as he changed my heart, I noticed something new about me. I didn’t just want to love God and his people, but my heart began to be stirred up. For instance, if I see someone that is leading, but not well, my heart burns for those people that being poorly led.

God had revealed to me, through people, what I was called to. Not necessarily an occupation, but a purpose that he had called me to what leadership. While I’m not in a position of leadership now, I know that God put that on the inside of my heart, and I needed people in my life to expose it.

A Living Sacrifice

Loving God and loving people really seem to be the first step in finding your calling, at least in my experience. That is because this next step is much more difficult if you don’t have the other two already down in your heart. The next step in finding your calling is to make yourself a living sacrifice.

Romans 12:1-2 says this,

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

We’re told to present our bodies and lives as a sacrifice, as worship, but also, that we would discern the perfect will of God. This is critical. Not only in the search for your calling, but in our Christian walks entirely.

In the end, God’s will for our lives is what we are called to pursue, and God’s will can only be done by laying our lives down completely. That is why it is so critical to truly love God and his people.

When we give ourselves completely to the Lord, he is going to ask us to do some things that we aren’t going to want to. Without a love for God, there’s a good chance we won’t really do what he asks of us. Without a love for his people, it’s going to be even more difficult to see purpose in what you’re doing and find passion in it.

Although it may seem difficult, maybe it is difficult, it is the most rewarding thing in the world. As scripture shows us countless times, God rewards the faithful and blesses those who stay true to him. Regardless, he has already blessed us with eternal life, which we could never put a price on.

Your Calling is like Deep Waters

I want to put an image in your head. Imagine you’re at sea. Far away from shore. You’re out there, alone, for days and finally you spot someone at shore. You call out to them, but they know nothing about the sea. They don’t know anything about boats or anything. What they do know, is that someone out there does. Someone can save you and all they have to do is make a call. That is what your distinct calling is.

Proverbs 20:5 says this,

“The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.”

We know that the Lord designed us with a purpose, whether it’s big or small, but only through him are we able to find it. He is able to draw out that purpose for us but recognize that it’s in your heart all along.

It’s in your heart, and he will draw it out. He alone can do it, and he does it in a few ways. The way that I have seen the Lord draw my own calling and purpose out is in these three ways.

• Through relationship with the Lord, he has revealed and spoken to me what he wants from me.
• Through other people, he has revealed to me the fire that is in my heart for leadership and teaching.
• And through continuing laying my life on the altar, he has led me to take steps to become the man that he wants to fulfill my call.

He’s continually drawing out the purpose, leading me to places I wouldn’t normally go, and taking things out of my life that he doesn’t want. But, letting the Lord guide my steps, and beginning to live and by faith has been the most fulfilling time I’ve had.

Practical Application

The most practical advice I could give is to grow in those three areas. Loving God, loving people, and making yourself a sacrifice for the Lord and the kingdom of God. Here are a few tips that I could give.

• Spend time in prayer. Prayer is the best way to spend time with the Lord and it can be done whenever and wherever. Recognize that the Holy Spirit is there and wants to hear from you. Growing in relationship with God through prayer and his word is the best thing you could do.

• Put yourself out there! If you’re not in church or community with believers, find some! We are not called to live life alone and the church is the best place to find community. Once you get a good community or you already have one, be vulnerable and start to love people!

• Challenge yourself and do something that you wouldn’t really want to do. We already know we’re going to have do hard things, let’s start now! Whether it’s going to small groups, or serving in the church, make a small sacrifice for God and people!

• Bonus tip! Learn about your spiritual gifts! God has gifted us with certain spiritual gifts that we are specifically strong in. There are spiritual gift tests online like this one! Or ask someone that you trust in the faith! Whether that’s a pastor or mentor, or even a strong spiritual friend, someone that knows you well, will often be able to tell you.

Final Thoughts

The most important thing to remember when finding and pursuing your calling is to remember that we can’t do it alone.

The Israelites couldn’t make it out of Egypt alone.

They couldn’t take and enter the promised land alone.

David couldn’t defeat Goliath alone.

Paul couldn’t have spread the Gospel like he did alone.

How can we expect ourselves to do anything in God’s will alone? We simply can’t.

Being completely vulnerable, I have recently had trouble trying to bear the weight of my world alone. I’ve tried to live life in my own strength, and it has been killing me. Luckily, the Lord has beckoned me back. Therefore, I can say that we can longer live life by works or in our own strength, but only with the Lord’s assistance.

Join me in letting the Lord guide and lead our lives and our futures!