John Calvin on Vocation

Today - July 10th, 2009 - marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, one of the greatest theologians in the history of the church.    You might recognize his unique contribution in shaping the doctrines of the church but are you also aware of how his views have helped shape our understanding of work and vocation?  

Together with Martin Luther, John Calvin shared a high view of what it means to receive and fulfill one's vocation in life.   Here's a sample of what he wrote on the topic  -

"...the Lord commands every one of us, in all actions of life to regard his vocation.... to prevent universal confusion being produced by our folly and temerity, he has appointed to all their particular duties in different spheres of life. And that no one might rashly transgress the limits prescribed, he has styled such spheres of life vocations, or callings. "

According to Calvin, every one of us is assigned vocations by the sovereign God.   These vocations are to be taken seriously and represent specific responsibilities in different areas of our lives.  He viewed them as so important as to liken a person's vocation as a post assigned by the Lord for the course of his life.   For a person to not discharge the duties of  his/her post in a responsible manner was to be unfaithful to the calling of God upon his/her life.    Further, to receive these callings from God is actually a blessing from God, to direct us and to grant us purpose.

"Every individual's line of life, therefore, is, as it were, a post assigned him by the Lord, that he may not wander about in uncertainty all his days."

Calvin also wrote about how pursuing our vocation in God will lead to a satisfying and joyful life.  When the obstacles and troubles of this life are seen in light of our vocation(s), we will be better able to cope with them.   Furthermore, no task or career will seem insignificant or irrelevant.

"It will also be no small alleviation of his cares, labours, troubles, and other burdens, when a man knows that in all these things he has God for his guide. The magistrate will execute his office with greater pleasure, the father of a family will confine himself to his duty with more satisfaction, and all, in their respective spheres of life, will bear and surmount the inconveniences, cares, disappointments, and anxieties which befall them, when they shall be persuaded that every individual has his burden laid upon him by God. Hence also will arise peculiar consolation, since there will be no employment so mean and sordid (provided we follow our vocation) as not to appear truly respectable, and be deemed h'ghly important in the sight of God"

 

Do you see your vocation(s) as a gift from God?   

Are you faithful in fulfilling the post assigned to you in this life?

How will seeing your work in light of a calling from God change your perspective?

Quote of the Week

"When does our toil become vain? When we detach our work from trust in God. When we seek to wrest control from God and take our lives entirely and exclusively into our own hands... It is the Lord who must be in all our labors or they are pointless"

Anthony Selvaggio, A Proverbs Driven Life, p.59-60

Personal Accountability Cannot Save Us

Over the past few weeks, Mark Sanford has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. First, he was missing...then, his adulterous relationship was exposed. It was followed by a public apology and Sanford's assertion that his adultery is really a "love story". Mark Sanford is in a load of trouble, not least because he doesn't actually see the error of his ways. He needs to be concerned, not for his political career but for the state of his soul and the well-being of his family...but that's really not the point of this blog post.

Instead, let's discuss what has caught the attention of many - the substance of his apology where he invoked Christian "language" and compared himself to King David.

“I remain committed to rebuilding the trust that has been committed to me over the next 18 months, and it is my hope that I am able to follow the example set by David in the Bible — who after his fall from grace humbly refocused on the work at hand. By doing so, I will ultimately better serve in every area of my life, and I am committed to doing so.”

The editors of New York Times noted this in a commentary entitled God and Mark Sanford. They asked five "experts" including Chuck Colson and LaShawn Barber to comment on Mark Sanford's confession/apology. It's worth checking out the different points of view.

But I found one of the most unintentionally insightful comments to come from Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who does not subscribe to the Christian faith. Here's what he said -

"The paradox of American evangelicals is that they are Christian on the one hand and political conservatives on the other with utterly opposing views of redemption. Christians believe that no one is blameless and all must therefore ride the coattails of a perfect being into heaven. But conservatives espouse the gospel of personal accountability. The state cannot save them. Man must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow and not by welfare alone."

It's an interesting comment because I think many Christians actually subscribe to this "gospel of personal responsibility". We may erroneously believe that if we own up to our mistakes, put accountability controls in place and try harder next time, we'll be ok. In other words, when it comes to our moral state, we might think that personal accountability can save us....but it cannot. To be sure, accountability is good thing - taking responsibility for our moral failings is foundational to true repentance. And, being accountable to others is wise.

But what we really need is a Savior, not just accountability and earnest confession. Our moral failings are first and foremost against God and apart from the person of Jesus Christ, we have no means of relating to a holy God. True repentance must be directed to Him and it must rest of what Christ has done on our behalf by bearing our sins.

Our weaknesses are greater than can be addressed by personal accountability or accountability groups. We need a Savior every single day to protect and keep us. That's why I love these words from the hymn, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" -

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

The real gospel doesn't just feature sin and personal responsibility, it highlights a Savior who has come to save and keep us. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Quote of the Week

There is a kind of creation that only God can do.  For God to bring something into being required nothing other than his eternal, loving reality as a starting point.   We, on the other hand, always start in the middle of things, working with raw materials given to us by God and by the generations before us.

Andy Crouch, Culture Making, p. 104

No King is Saved By His Great Army

The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.

Psalm 33:16-17

Trials and obstacles are part and parcel of living in this fallen world. These days it can seem like bad news is lurking just round the corner - widespread financial collapse, rising unemployment, H1N1 virus, turmoil in the Middle East, etc... Maybe your concerns are much closer to home - perhaps you're concerned about holding on to your job or you have mounting personal debt or you're dealing with a chronic illness in your family.

In times like these, it's easy to locate our confidence in the wrong place. Perhaps Psalm 33 was written in response to such mounting pressure. If you're fighting a battle, it makes all the sense in the world to put your confidence in the size and abilities of your army. It wouldn't seem altogether unreasonable to hope in the battle tested assets that might secure victory.

Yet, the Psalmist reminds himself and us of the folly of such thinking. Despite conventional wisdom, no king is saved by such things. He looked beyond the means of salvation to the source of salvation - the LORD, the eternal God who is able and willing to rescue those who fear Him.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.

Psalm 33:18-19

When you encounter the next trial or challenge - whether at work or at home, whether great or small, where do you plan to locate your hope?

Quote of the Week

"...Christians make a difference in this world by being different from this world; they don't make a difference by being the same."

Tullian Tchividjian,   Unfashionable, p. 9