In his book, Rising to the Call, Os Guinness outlines what he believes to be a Christian’s view of calling and being called. Having read only a few pages of his book, I quickly became ill at ease with the direction in which he was steering his discussion, because it sounded dangerously subjective in a way I believe is untrue to the Biblical standard. However, he very quickly addressed my doubts and defined ‘Calling’ in a way that I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with. There are two types of calling, according to Guinness; Primary, and Secondary. Primary Calling is the fundamental calling by God to an individual to follow and serve Him. Secondary Calling refers to the specific calling to an individual regarding their work and station in life. All Christians are called by the same Primary Calling, which is to serve and follow God, but not all Christians are called to the same occupation in their Secondary Calling, because all Christians are gifted in different ways.
Having defined ‘calling’ in this way, Guinness goes on to propose the idea that the greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service to Him.
At first glance, this rather blunt statement appears contradictory. After all, if we are called to serve Jesus, how can our service to him hinder us in our relationship with him? However, I believe a more critical analysis of this idea in light of Guinness’ definition of ‘calling’ gives a better understanding of what he means. The primary and secondary callings are meant to be united to one another. Separation or exclusive emphasis placed on one or the other is unhealthy and unchristian. Thus, the devotion to Jesus (rooted in the primary calling) and the work involved in serving him (rooted in the secondary calling) cannot be separated in a healthy way. When our service to Jesus overshadows our devotion to him, we are starving ourselves of purpose. A personal, faith-filled relationship with Christ is our purpose, and our work is the way in which we live that out. However, we are easily distracted by short-term duties (service to Christ) and long term purposes (devotion to Christ). When our service is alienated from our purpose, it is demoted from work (that is ‘work’ in the Biblical definition) to drudgery and empty ritual. What was once our tool for honoring God becomes a hindrance to our devotion to him.
This can be exhibited in many different ways. ‘Going through the motions’ is a popular way to express the lifestyle that does all the ‘Christian’ things (go to church, read your Bible, etc.) but without a real faith and relationship with Christ. In our work and in our studies as college students, this can look like both obsession and negligence in relation to our workload, both of which forget the reason for which we are even working and studying in the first place. Although we may say we are studying (or working, attending church, etc) for Christ, if we let the ties between our primary calling and secondary callings fall apart, we cut ourselves off from our driving force. As a severed power line blacks out a city or syphoned fuel supply halts a car in its tracks, so the abandonment of our primary calling leaves us stranded in a baseless routine of work, study, and obligation that quickly disintegrates into a meaningless cycle. This, I think, is what Guinness meant when he said that our service to Christ could become our greatest hindrance to our devotion to God.
This can be exhibited in many different ways. ‘Going through the motions’ is a popular way to express the lifestyle that does all the ‘Christian’ things (go to church, read your Bible, etc.) but without a real faith and relationship with Christ. In our work and in our studies as college students, this can look like both obsession and negligence in relation to our workload, both of which forget the reason for which we are even working and studying in the first place. Although we may say we are studying (or working, attending church, etc) for Christ, if we let the ties between our primary calling and secondary callings fall apart, we cut ourselves off from our driving force. As a severed power line blacks out a city or syphoned fuel supply halts a car in its tracks, so the abandonment of our primary calling leaves us stranded in a baseless routine of work, study, and obligation that quickly disintegrates into a meaningless cycle. This, I think, is what Guinness meant when he said that our service to Christ could become our greatest hindrance to our devotion to God.
However, if we, as college students and as Christians, choose instead to proactively seek to unify the primary and secondary callings rather than separate them, I believe we will experience the inverse of what Guinness warns against in his book. Where separation brings hindrance, emptiness, and discontent, unity brings strength, fulfillment, and peace – not only for the individual, but, through the single primary call common to all Christians, to the Christian body as a whole.
Final thoughts:
Concerning secondary calling, are there any types of callings that are a waste of time, or superfluous?
Can people who have no faith in Christ, but have faith in something else (Buddhism, Islam, etc) live just as fulfilling lives as Christians?
Concerning secondary calling, are there any types of callings that are a waste of time, or superfluous?
Can people who have no faith in Christ, but have faith in something else (Buddhism, Islam, etc) live just as fulfilling lives as Christians?
Excellent thoughts! You expressed your ideas well. I have a couple of questions for you, though. What specifically made you "ill at ease" with the Os Guinness book? Also, what do you mean by getting distracted by "long term purposes (devotion to Christ)"?
ReplyDeleteI thought that your questions were very interesting too, and I do not think that either question has a black and white answer to it.