March 5, 2007 | Seth Barnes | Reaching Your Destiny | 4 Comments | Views 3

Vocation

A thought from Frederick Buechner: “It comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God. There are all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest. …

By Seth Barnes

05 March 2007, 12:03 am

By Seth Barnes

05 March 2007, 12:03 am

A thought from Frederick Buechner:

“It comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God. There are all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than Society, say, or the Super-ego, 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 the 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 not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.

“Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Comments (4)

Black

March 5, 2007 at 10:04 am

Reply

When you find the will of God, which is very easy as you just find out what He is doing and jump in, you will not be bored! You are only bored if your boring!!!
Jess

March 5, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Reply

Is it really that simple? what if you know the Lord has you in a place for a season and you have jumped into what He is doing there but it is not doing the thing that is your deep gladness?
Jeff

March 5, 2007 at 2:43 pm

Reply

It seems that we either drop (a) or (b). I see lots of American “spiritualists” who are looking for something to make them happy. Plenty of good-willing people have turned to evangelicalism to experience God without getting a broken heart for the poor and dying. Yet, there are plenty of young people who are sticking out a circumstance for more than a season, letting their dreams die and watching their hearts bend to what society expects of a “good steward.”
fres

September 17, 2019 at 10:45 pm

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