Embracing Your Unique CallingSample

Defining your vocational callings

I once had the privilege of interviewing David Shedd, a former CIA operative and fellow believer, about the role his faith played in pursuing a career in international intelligence. When I asked him for advice on discerning one’s vocational callings, he suggested reflecting on the following questions:

1. What are my innate skills? (What are you GOOD at?)

2. What am I curious about? (What do you LOVE?)

3. What skills and proficiencies have my mentors and friends recognized in me?  (What do others notice you’re both good at and love?)

As I thought about David’s questions, I began to understand just how nuanced our callings are. How unique. How special. After all, no two people have identical predispositions, innate curiosities, or the same set of trusted leaders speaking into them. Each of us is called to walk into our vocational calling the way only we can.  

Consider two biblical examples. Peter and his brother Andrew were Galilean fishermen, and both had been called to follow Jesus as “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19 ESV). Despite their similarities, their predispositions and giftings were different. Peter was more headstrong, more brash, what we might call a “born leader” in today’s vernacular. Andrew, on the other hand, seemed to be quieter, less obtrusive, and he was always bringing people to Jesus. 

Peter and Andrew were gifted uniquely, and while called to the same life purpose—to lead people to Christ—they took different vocational routes. After his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus called Peter to lead the early church, and church tradition says Andrew became a missionary in the region of the Black Sea.

You and I are called to the same—to lead people to Christ, to be fishers of men and women. That’s our faith calling. It will never change. 

However, our vocational callings and vocational seasons will. God will use our unique abilities—whether that’s curiosity, creativity, or in Peter’s case, leadership—and he will ask us to use those gifts WHEREVER we are placed, in whatever vocational season, to show people the love of Christ. 

I encourage you to meditate on what you’re good at, what you love, and what others notice you’re good at and love . . . then use those gifts and talents wherever you’re called, in whatever vocational season, knowing there’s only one you. Your particular vocational callings will be unlike anyone else’s. They will be as unique as the three billion-plus character code of your DNA.