“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.” — Proverbs 16:9
Christians talk a lot about calling. We say things like, “God is calling me to this major,” “I feel called to this career,” or “God is calling me to move here.” I have used that language plenty of times myself. Years ago, when I was preparing for ministry, I would have told you that God had called me to seminary and to become a pastor. And I do not necessarily think I was wrong. Seminary became an important part of my life, and I did spend several years serving in pastoral ministry.
But looking back, I think I may have been too specific. The problem is that we can easily take a particular direction in life and equate it with God’s calling. But once we do that, changing directions becomes much more complicated. If God called me to be a pastor, what does it mean if I eventually become a professor? Did I misunderstand God? Did I leave my calling? Was I simply wrong all along? Those questions bothered me for a long time because I had assumed that my calling and my career were basically the same thing.
Eventually, I started asking a different question: What was it about pastoral ministry that made me believe I was called to it in the first place? For me, the answer was not simply that I wanted to work for a church (ministry is a tough life, kids!) But I did want to teach Scripture. I wanted to help people understand Christianity more clearly. I wanted to help Christians think carefully about their faith and help others see that Christianity is intellectually credible and deeply satisfying. I wanted my life and work to serve the church and the kingdom of God.
Pastoral ministry gave me one way to do those things. But as it turned out, so does teaching philosophy. Today, I am no longer a pastor. My daily schedule, responsibilities, and setting look very different from what I imagined several years ago. But many of the things that originally drew me toward ministry are still there. I still teach. I still talk with people about difficult questions. I still spend much of my time thinking about Christianity and trying to help others understand it.
So did my calling change? I am increasingly convinced that calling is deeper than a particular job, major, or location. That does not mean those decisions are unimportant. Quite the opposite. Our work matters. The gifts we develop matter. The places we live and the people we serve matter. Vocation can be an important way that we respond to God’s call.
But vocation and calling are not necessarily the same thing. That distinction can be especially important in college, when it sometimes feels like we are supposed to figure out the rest of our lives before we graduate. We wonder which major is the right one, which internship will lead to the right job, or whether choosing one path means permanently closing another.
I am no longer convinced God asks us to approach our lives that way. Instead of trying to uncover a hidden blueprint for the next forty years, perhaps we should ask simpler—but harder—questions. What gifts has God given me? What do I care deeply about? What needs do I see around me? Where can I love God and neighbor well? What opportunities has God placed in front of me? What wisdom am I receiving from Scripture and from the Christians who know me best?
Those questions still require discernment. Sometimes they require risk. Sometimes we will make decisions that do not work out the way we hoped. Sometimes we may even discover that we were wrong about ourselves. But there is also freedom in realizing that we do not have to know exactly what we will be doing twenty years from now.
In 2019, I expected my calling to primarily take the form of pastoral ministry. In 2026, it looks quite different than I imagined. I suspect that twenty years from now it may look different again. And that is okay. We should make plans. We should pursue opportunities. We should take our decisions seriously. But perhaps the question is not simply, “What am I supposed to do with my life?” Maybe a better question is, “How can I faithfully use what God has given me, where he has placed me, for the sake of his kingdom?”
Then we can plan our way—and trust the Lord to determine our steps.
