Vocation

“A job is worthy of our efforts if it harmonizes with God’s original mandate that humans steward the earth in submission to him (Gen. 1:28). Legitimate work must serve God by serving people.” - TGC

“It is God’s call on our lives—our whole lives—that makes me see the idea of retirement as a myth. Now more than ever, I believe we are in a time where we are being stirred to action to use the gifts God has placed in us, no matter what stage of life we are in.” - IFWE

“The fact that some, and maybe most, of my clients have committed some wrong isn’t a barrier to them receiving my help; it’s the starting point for why they need it.” - TGC

“Tim Keller writes, ‘A job is a vocation only if someone else calls you to do it and you do it for them rather than for yourself.’ Vocational calling isn’t found within; we receive it from another.” - TGC

“A humble man, his point was that work often seemed like a necessary evil…. But is this how we should think of our jobs, as meaningless?” - Ligonier

“God calls people to be accountants, medical doctors, and farmers too…. why could God not call a man to be a schoolteacher for twenty years and then redirect him into pastoral ministry?” - P&D

“We don’t tend to think of work as good, but rather as difficult, frustrating, and exhausting…. The goodness of work is enshrined in the pattern of creation.” - Ligonier

“’Raise your hand if you’re going into full-time ministry…. You all should be raising your hands.’ He was charging the business majors, biology majors, communications, and education majors, among others, to view their future work—whatever it was to be—as ministry” - IFWE

“Not only did Jesus make good tables, but his toil was not in vain. If Jesus’ work for twenty years was not in vain, then how does that change the way we evaluate our own lives or those of others?” - IFWE

“one’s vocation is not so much the job itself as the end that the job ought to serve. If one does one’s job to that end, then one’s vocation can be found in it.” - Acton