We Have Two Callings

Christians often speak about having a calling in life. But determining what that calling actually is can be difficult today, not least because of so many different--and often conflicting--teachings and ideas about how to find one’s calling. 

Jesus who clarified what life was all about when he taught the greatest commandments (see Matthew 22:36-40). The two great commandments are these: to love God with every part of your being, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is the purpose of life. When asked what was the most important thing to do in this life, Jesus didn’t say, “It’s a mystery,” or “You’re on your own,” or “Take what you can get,” or even “Follow your heart.” He said love. This means to pursue the love of God and the love of neighbor. All who follow Jesus have this calling. 

This led modern theologians like Karl Barth in the 20th century to teach that those who follow Jesus actually have two kinds of calling. We might say one large calling and then more specific callings underneath that. 

The first calling is the most important: this is the calling to follow Jesus. This is the calling to love God and neighbor like Jesus did. This calling comes to us when we say yes to Jesus. 

And then there are secondary callings. These are those vocations, duties, jobs, and responsibilities that we take on in life. Some of these callings will place limitations on our lives, they will set parameters about what we can do. These callings might rule out certain options we could otherwise pursue. This is as it should be. These secondary callings are those which must be lived out in obedience to the first calling to love God. 

What I find helpful about understanding calling in this way is that it helps relieve the pressure that many face today in having to find the “one perfect calling in life.” Many people go to Google searches or AI prompts for discovering one’s calling. There are endless podcast episodes about what career choices or career moves would allow a greater sense of calling. There’s a maddening amount of options on offer about which life to choose, which path to take, which duties to take on. Sometimes all of these choices can just make us stuck in cycles of doubt. 

Rather, when we remember our large calling in God, it takes the pressure off, because life is not about finding one “perfect”path for us. We have a large calling to follow God and then secondary callings throughout our lives. 

Our commitment to the larger calling of God allows us to see how other callings may change and shift in our lives. The secondary and specific callings in our lives when we are in our twenties may be different than when we are in our fifties or our eighties. New seasons and chapters of life may lead to new specific callings. 

What does following God’s calling look like in this season of your life? How has loving God and loving neighbor taken different forms in your life? Are there new possibilities that you are being invited into?

-Pastor Justin