An Authentic Calling

Identity, giftedness, and occupation are ingredients of a calling. But how do we know when a call is really of God and not something we created on our own? The call of God is always consistent with God’s saving purpose. Is this an authentic call? If this pilgrimage means that we are to share in the saving work of God that began with Noah, that we are to share in the saving work of Christ described in the New Testament, then the call is authentic indeed. The distinctive mark of a calling is not the nature of the work but the purpose of the worker.

The most remarkable sentence in the Bible is found in the Genesis story of Abraham and Sarah. God called Abram to go from Haran “to a land that I will show you.” I’ve been to Haran. It was a terrifying move God was asking of Abram and Sarai. The ruins indicate that Haran was a large and sophisticated city on the edge of a desert. God’s call to Abram and Sarai went against their identity as a wealthy urban couple. That call to a new occupation in an unknown place was outrageous. That call to live a gypsy life in the desert was unthinkable.

Abraham and Sarah were the first people to understand that there was one God; they were the first to be called by this God, called to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Abraham and Sarah represent a new beginning for all of us in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We are indeed blessed by those first pioneers. In a sense our call is part of their call, to go “to the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). The most remarkable sentence in the Bible begins this way, “So Abram went…” (Gen. 12:4). As a result, we are all blessed and called to be a blessing.

Source: Called for Life: Finding Meaning in Retirement, by Paul C. Clayton

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