Listen to Your Call
When we talk about life mission, what we’re really talking about is your vocation. Not in the watered-down sense the world uses the term. The word vocation comes from the Latin word "vocatio," or "vocare," which means “summons” or “invitation.” The dynamic behind vocation is that God calls us to Himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do and everything we have is invested with a special devotion to Him, as if we’re living our life out as a response to His summons and service.
We’ve lost the depth of that idea. Think of how we use the term vocation. We talk of “vocational education” and “vocational counseling,” and when we say those things, we mean little more than job training and job placement. The heart of our calling, however, is not to something, but rather to Someone. The idea behind calling is that whatever our occupation may be, it is to be elevated to an expression of worship, as that which could be pleasing to God, if performed with excellence and integrity and heartfelt devotion.
A real estate agent, then, is to represent her clients to the greater glory of God as a committed servant. A software developer’s labor is to be infused with a sense of piety. A teacher should see himself on the front lines of what God is trying to do in this world.
But this is rare.
It’s as if we have reduced being a Christian doctor, or a Christian lawyer, to what is done outside of office hours in some form of “official” ministry setting—instead of seeing the practice of medicine or law as a ministry unto God.
But what, exactly, are you to pour yourself into in this way? If the idea of vocation is “calling,” then there really is something there to listen to—something to follow. And God will tell you, just not in the way you might think.
Countless lives never pursue, much less fulfill, their calling because they are waiting on clarity instead of acting on trust. They are waiting for the specificity of what God wants them to do, rather than the assurance that He will be with them and bring specificity as they journey together in relationship. They are wanting a road map, when He is wanting to come along as a personal guide.
That’s the nature of answering God’s call and joining in what He is doing in this world. It’s not waiting on a detailed road map of what you are to do and when you are to do it. It’s getting a sense of His call on your life and being faithful with it—and seeking to please Him with it, honor Him with it, use it for Him as much as you possibly can.
Which means that the most profound “vocational” question is not the one we spend the most time on, which is “What should I do with my life?” Instead, it is the more foundational and demanding, “Who am I?” and “How can I best serve God in light of who I am?”
I came late in my life to the work of Rainer Maria Rilke, drinking deeply from his well of poetry and reflection. A young man once wrote to ask Rilke if he should become a poet and included a few lines of verse. Rilke responded:
You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work.... I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now…. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse.
If you are an artist, you should pursue art.
If you are a teacher, you should teach.
If you are a leader, you should lead.
If you are a singer, you should sing.
If you are a children’s worker, you should work with children.
If you are a scientist, you should pursue science.
How? That is what will make up much of your life journey. Don’t worry about clarity. Instead, be faithful to who God made you to be, and seek to honor Him with it. Let it become your all-consuming passion.
This is a foreign language to our day, which only reveals our lost sense of calling. Such convictions explain why I was so disturbed when I spent a week speaking to hundreds of college students from across several states at a camp in the mountains of Virginia. As I would linger and talk to the students over meals, I would ask them about their lives, and specifically what they planned to do with their majors. Most had no idea. And the thought of their major reflecting any sense of calling could not have been more alien to their thinking.
I remember asking a junior, “Why are you majoring in mechanical engineering?”
He said, “I don’t know. I guess because I know I can get a job.”
I instantly knew that if I had asked him, “Why do you want to get a job?” he would have said, “So I can make money.”
And if I were to have asked him why he wanted to make money, he would have said, “So I can buy things, do things—so that I can live.”
And if I were to have asked him why he wanted to live, he would have said, “So I can be happy.”
And if I were to have asked him why he wanted to be happy, he would have said, “That’s what life is about.”
No, it is not. What life is about is who God made you to be, what He has called you to be and the journey of trust over a lifetime that brings clarity in the end.
God desires nothing more than to infuse our hearts and minds with a sense of meaning and purpose, and to call us to the front lines of what He is doing on this planet in light of His divine plan for our place and role. If we don’t answer this call, we’ll fill our lives with what will feel significant: racing through our schedules, building a portfolio, climbing a ladder.
But it won’t be greatness. It won’t be fulfillment. It won’t be destiny. We will be seduced into thinking it is, but it isn’t. And as a result, the world will stay the same…
… when we could have left the one unique mark God created us to leave.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Nick Fewings
Sources
Excerpt from James Emery White, A Traveler’s Guide to the Kingdom, order the eBook from Church & Culture HERE.
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook, and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.
Originally published August 10, 2026.
