A Job or a Calling?

About a year ago I was privileged to speak to journalists in Ukraine for the Novomedia Forum. My topic was, “Journalism: A Job or a Calling.” It is always good to define your terms. Thomas Addington and Stephen Graves, in their book,

A Case for Calling, said:

Calling is 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.

Even the American Heritage Dictionary definition has an element of the spiritual in its explanation of a calling:

An inner urge or a strong impulse, especially one believed to be divinely inspired.

Maybe this old illustration will help you.

A man was walking through the city and came upon three men working with bricks and mortar on a wall. He asked the first man, “What are you doing?” The man replied, “I’m getting $15 an hour to stack these bricks up.”

He posed the same question to the second man he encountered. “What are you doing?”

The second brick layer said, “I’m building a wall. In fact, I’m building several walls. I’m quite good at building walls.”

To the third man, he asked “What are you doing?”

The third man stopped his brick work, and began to look up, gazing to the sky. He said, “I am building a great cathedral, who’s spire will reach to the heavens…and this cathedral will honor and glorify God!”

A job…a career…a calling. 

So with that insight, what difference would it make in your day to day job if you were to see your efforts as more than a job or a career? What does it look like to have a calling…not just a job? Compare these:

A Job: You write your story

A Calling: You write, rewrite, and rewrite your story

A Job: You show up for work at the last minute, and leave at the earliest moment

A Calling: You show up before expected and stay as long as it takes

A Job: When editing a story, you say, “That’s good enough”

A Calling: When editing a story, you work on until it is perfect…and then look at it again to see if you can make it better

A Job: You do research and read background material when you have to do it

A Calling: You continually read and research on your topic

A Job: You think of a good story as bringing an award…or a raise

A Calling: You think of a good story as making a difference in someone’s life

A Job: You think a good story should bring YOU honor

A Calling: You think a good story should bring glory to others…maybe even to God

So…are you laboring in a job, or do you have a calling from the Lord?