Secondary Calling

Key Bible Verses: Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: '… You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Mark 12:29-31) Dig Deeper: Mark 12:28-34; Matthew 28:18-20

A code of ethics governs every good profession. Physicians are guided by the Hippocratic Oath, which mandates that they foster healing and life. A doctor who performs abortions therefore stands in violation of this oath. Plumbers may not have a specific oath they are sworn to uphold, but they must still work ethically. They cannot, for instance, mislead their customers into thinking small problems are larger than they really are, in order to charge more.

When we see such professions as Christian callings, then we have to ask: "If I do this, this way, am I fulfilling the commandment to love my neighbor?" In terms of vocation, every Christian has a primary obligation to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. This is "job one." There are secondary callings we may be called to—being accountants, doctors, lawyers, businesspeople, etc. But they are indeed secondary.

Unlike some of the secondary vocations, the primary one lasts throughout a Christian's life. There never comes a time when he is not commanded to love God and neighbor with his whole heart, and to do his best to fulfill the Great Commission. Christians should never feel they have no purpose, even if their original secondary calling or vocation has been completed.

—Ben Witherington III in Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor

My Response: How am I doing at "job one"?

Thought to Apply:

Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.—MOTHER TERESA (missionary to India )

Adapted from Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor (Eerdmans, 2011) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

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