Oxford Languages defines calling as “a strong urge toward a particular way of life or career.”
Almost everyone wants a calling, wants to know their calling, and wants to be able to live according to their calling. But people often have a hard time understanding what their calling is and what the connection is between job, career, and calling.
A quick Google search will show you a plethora of articles suggesting ways to figure out your calling, how to turn your job into your calling, or how to inspire you to pursue your calling. Young professionals may get caught up in figuring out what their calling is exactly, and seasoned professionals may feel like they’ve lost their sense of calling in their field.
Author and social critic Os Guinness defined calling as “the truth 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, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service.”
For the Christian, then, calling has less to do with what we do and more to do with how we do things. In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul reminded Christians of the freedom they have in Christ—freedom to do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Christians who are communicators are uniquely positioned to do their work—their jobs—for the glory of God.
Communicators are the face in front of the camera, the voice behind the microphone, and the writer behind the keyboard. But whole teams of people help these people do what they do. Communicators are also the producers, editors, photographers, videographers, schedulers—all of the people who make communicating the message possible. And whatever your task may be in this process, as a Christian, you have a calling to do it for the glory of God, for the advancement of his kingdom, for the proclamation of the gospel.
“I believe that the future is more in the hands of communicators than almost any generation before us,” Mark Jobe, President of Moody Bible Institute and Bold Steps Radio Host, said. “The audiences today have short attention spans. They’re bombarded, so it’s up to excellent communicators to be able to take the compelling message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and tell it in creative ways, in engaging ways, in relevant ways.”
Christian communicators have opportunities to share the message of the gospel in ways that others will never have the opportunity to. For the Christian, your purpose is clear—to worship the Lord and glorify him forever. As communicators, your opportunities are endless. Where you are is not an accident. How can you magnify the Lord where you are and in your work?
“I think that you have a tremendous calling upon your life to steward in a powerful way for this generation,” Jobe said.
It’s your calling. It’s your job. How will you steward it for the glory of God and advancement of his kingdom?
