7 Bible Verses About Your Calling in Life
When God calls you to follow him, he offers something more powerful than a plan. Today we’ll explore seven Bible verses about your calling in life and apply these truths to our lives. Let’s begin by turning to God’s Word for insight into his calling.
7 Bible Verses About Your Calling in Life
Scripture offers a great deal of insight into God’s calling. Here are seven Bible verses about your calling in life.
Bible Verses About Your Calling in Life
1. Matthew 6:34 (NASB)
So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Your calling is to give your best effort as you undertake what God has set before you today.
What is God calling you to do today? Is he asking you to get out of bed and go to work or school? Will this be another day spent caring for your family?
You can find God’s will for tomorrow by giving your best effort in today’s work. This work might not feel like the sweet spot of your calling in life, but God will use it to prepare your heart for what lies ahead.
Simply put, when you do what you know God is calling you to do today, he will give you the direction you need for tomorrow.
I’ve been known to hurry ahead of God, to take 20 steps when God only asked me to take two. (Join me here for details.) I’ve been known to turn a nudge from God into a full-blown 30-step action plan and dive in without looking back. This leads to the second truth . . .
2. Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
As you seek his calling, God is asking you to trust him.
Do the work he has placed in front of you today. Trust that as you work hard today, he will make the path in front of you clear one step at a time.
You might be looking for a five-year plan from God. Most likely, he won’t lay out a long-range plan. However, he will show you how to love and serve him today.
3. John 14:15
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Simply put, God is calling you to obey him today. Each step of obedience leads to the next open door.
God won’t tell you what to do next until you obey what he has already told you.
A few years ago, I had a big decision to make. I was hashing it out with a friend, and she said something like this: “It sounds like you already know what God is leading you to do. God hasn’t gone silent. He already told you what to do, and now he’s waiting for you to do it.”
Sometimes God graciously confirms our decisions and sends miraculous signs. More often, he waits for us to do what he already asked us to do.
Have you been putting off a step of obedience? Until you obey God in this area, he won’t show you what step to take next.
4. James 1:5
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and [a]without reproach, and it will be given to him.
God will call you to step out in wisdom.
At times, I’ve tried to determine God’s calling by asking for miraculous signs. As I’ve grown in faith, I’ve learned that God rarely gives me these signs. Instead, he gives wisdom.
More often than not, a simple, three-word question will lead to the best answer when it comes to finding direction. The question is this: “Is it wise?”
God gave us common sense when making decisions. Ask God for wisdom. Talk to wise people. God always leads us in wisdom.
5. Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Your calling from God will align with Scripture.
God will lead you as you encounter him in his written Word.
Make Bible reading a part of your everyday routine, and God will use this practice to help you answer the question, “What does God want me to do with my life?”
God will never lead you to do something that does not align with Scripture. For this reason, spend time in the Word. Connect with God and learn who he is. In the process, he will align your heart with his heart and give you his vision.
6. Luke 10:27
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
Ultimately, God is more concerned about how you live than what you spend your time doing to earn a living.
He has called you to love him and love others. Whether you are working at your first job in the local grocery store or running a huge global business, God has called you to live a life of loving him and loving others. Fulfill these two commands, and you will honor God with your calling.
7. Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
God has given you unique passions, talents, and interests. He wants you to use these interests to help others.
What do you love doing more than anything else? What fills you with life and makes you feel purposeful?
Ask God to show you how to use this passion to help others. He wants to lead you down a path that is wholly fulfilling, a path that brings him glory. Keep seeking this path and trust that he will show you the way in his perfect timing.
Practical Applications of These Bible Verses About Your Calling in Life
I now invite you to join our family in the woods on a cool spring morning. We’ll apply these Bible verses to our lives.
We go to the woods on a spring morning as birdsong rises and falls from the spruce tree behind our house. When we reach the valley, the little one dips his brand-new net into sulfuric black swamp mud, and I resist the urge to tell him to keep his net clean. Ridiculous, I tell myself. Nets were made to be dirtied.
He’s indulging in his twentieth dip when something catches my eye.
Dozens of tiny green plants emerge from a patch of bare earth beside me.
These tiny white beacons are among the first signs of spring.
I listen to the spring peepers chirp about love and life, and this season of new beginnings reminds me of God’s calling for my life: The highest calling on my life is to go lower for the sake of love.
The highest calling on my life is to go lower for the sake of love. #calledbyGod #calling Share on XWhen God Calls You, He Often Leads You Lower
The month of March annually reminds me of this truth as the world is painted with life from the earth to the sky: from the lowest place first. Growth happens in the hidden darkness of obscurity.
The morning after our trek into the woods, I read the following words:
“Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.” Psalm 138:6
It’s one of those mornings when it feels like these words have been whispered directly to my heart from heaven: God attends to the lowly.
The original language tells us that he regards the lowly. He sees them. He knows them.
The lowly aren’t the ones the world most often regards, sees, and knows. They aren’t the people who are exalted by worldly standards. The word for lowly here is shaphal, which translates as abased, humble, low, lower, lowest, lowly.
Lowly, like these tiny flowers emerging from dark soil.
God’s Calling Most Often Starts Small
In a few weeks, the tallest maples in this forest will display lush summer foliage. In the same way, there might come a day when God calls us to go to the masses and serve him in a way that is seen by the whole world. Until then, let’s not lose heart: small beginnings matter.
Quiet and humble work matters deeply. It matters to the people you serve. It matters to God, and it builds your character.
These hard days are valuable days. These sleepless nights are doing work in your heart. These gutting-it-out weeks of just putting one foot in front of the other a thousand times without a soul in the world acknowledging your effort are of vital importance.
Perhaps you’re wrestling with your calling today. If so, let’s soak in a few Truths for when God calls you to follow him:
God won’t call you to prove yourself; instead, he’ll call you to humbly love others.
God isn’t calling you to prove you’re smart, wise, or spiritual. He isn’t calling you to win every argument with your spouse or your boss. God isn’t calling you to parent perfectly or serve flawlessly.
He is calling you to love others as well as you can. Here. Now. Like this. Imperfectly. Whole-heartedly.
God won’t call you to be noticed; instead, he will call you to serve humbly.
I’ll never forget watching the memorial service for the late President George Bush. One of the speakers reminded us of a truism held dear by the President: We are to use our power to help others.
The gifts God offers us are not for showing off, making names for ourselves, or building our own empires.
Our gifts are to be used to help others. This is how we give God glory by bending lower.
When God calls you, he asks for your dependence.
The humble recognize their deep and constant need for God’s hand and God’s help in their lives. This is what it means to be lowly.
We acknowledge the deep need for One who will lead and guide us. We remain dependent upon him in a world where independence is praised. The lowly stay close to God. They lean in. They draw near.
God isn’t calling you to do this life on your own. He is calling you to stay close to him, lean on him, and follow him into hard places where you absolutely could not make it without him.
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