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Re: not letting them define us



> Dan Temmesfeld said;
> >work is really
> >just a way to afford rent, food, clothing, etc.
 
> Shannon Lewis response;
> I guess I hold much more to the Puritan's view of world -- your work 
> 
> is your calling and is done as an act of worship to God.  If God is 
> God and God is sovereign, then all of the circumstances of your life 
> 
> ultimate reflect his hand at work, either as a first cause or a 
> secondary cause;  either permissively or as part of his over-arching 
> 
> plan of what He plans on doing with you.  

Kelvin complicates things;

I don't think the two viewpoints are mutually exclusive.  Not only am I
not defined by my job, I also don't see it as God's ultimate calling on
my life.  When I look at the gifts, talents, passions, etc. that he has
given me (and I think that is step one to figuring out what our calling
is) I am convinced that His calling for me has nothing to do with where I
work.  It has everything to do with what I spend the rest of my time
doing.
I think it helps to keep two things in mind (said in my most didactic
tone of voice...)

#1 - I think it's part of our 20th+ century mindset to think that the
thing God has placed us here to do - our most important task -
necessarily has to be our vocation.  Didn't work that way with Paul,
didn't work that way with my Father, and is not currently working that
way with me.  I think part of my frustration comes from the pressure to
buy that line of thinking.  If I'm not doing my hearts desire (ministry)
vocationally, then I'm not succeeding, ergo - I'm not fulfilling my
calling, ergo - I'm a failure.  That doesn't hold water for me.  The
ministry and work that I do outside of my 9 to 5 does in a sense define
me.  If fulfills me and gives me hope that my life will have been for
something.  Hopefully, 15-20 years down the road, some 35 year old will
remember something they learned from me or saw in me when they were a
teenager.

#2 - God has placed me in my current job for a reason.  It may or may not
be as some sort of precursor to some ultimate career.  It might just in
fact be to meet my physical need (food, shelter, etc.) or even to provide
for me and allow me to do the things that are so important to me.  But
even then, it is His provision.

Cripes!  I did it again...sorry...

Kelvin
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