Being Christ-Like
Christ followers work FROM an identity rather than FOR an identity.
Reread that sentences. Say it out-loud. Got it?
It is so vital that we approach the vocational call we have from our identity in Christ or we risk a lifetime of struggle and misery.
So many, sadly, go to work FOR an identity. I want to BE a doctor. I AM an engineer. I want to BE successful. I AM rich from my job. I AM a parent. I AM a pastor.
Hey, I love doctors, and I’m glad we have engineers of all types. Being a parent is a beautiful and precious calling. The struggle, however, is the ‘to be’ verbs in all of those sentences. They suggest we ARE something of this world, a vocational mold, rather than who we are when made new by the Holy Spirit.
What if we tweaked the language a bit?
I am CALLED to serve as a pastor.
God has GIFTED me to love others through medicine.
My work IN ENGINEERING adds to economic and human flourishing.
My parenting IS for God’s glory.
Sure, some of you will say this is mere semantics. Yet, reorienting these sentences changes the emphasis, the meaning, and for some of us, a much needed approach to our work.
Our language shapes much of what we think, feel, and how we act.
What we see in those re-oriented sentences, and mindsets, are:
I am a child of God no matter the vocational call.
Serving God and loving my neighbor is the focus of all work, no matter the form it takes.
My identity is safer in God’s good graces than in my idealism of what a {contractor, attorney, plumber, salesman, etc} could be, or never has been for me.
Need a reminder on your identity?
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Colossians 3:3 - For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
John 1:12 - But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…
Do a quick self-inventor and answer this question:
Do you work from an identity or for an identity?