When counseling young adults on a career path, I begin with learning their desires. Often, mom and dad push them toward a career mom and dad like. But Junior is unsure.
Each of us is unique.
Start with your name. The website HowManyOfMe.com, if given your first and your last name will reveal how many of your fellow Americans share your name. In my case, there are 13,097 people in the U.S. named John White.
At moment this is being written, there are 7,962,169,275 living people on this planet. Therefore, there are the same number of individually distinguishable sets of fingerprints that prove your uniqueness, even if you share a name with thousands of people. Even the genetic makeup of each person is unique.
For each of us, there is a unique purpose to which we are called. In the years of my youth, the word for a calling was a vocation. Vocation comes from the Latin word vocātiō which means, a summons. The root Latin verb is vocāre, to call.
I ask, “Who is calling you?” Why did you choose the career path you are on?
Let’s turn to the Bible.
“For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 Amplified version
Longing means strong, lasting desire. Ability means power or skill to do, make, or think; talent.
The last word to consider is grace. In the context of its use in the Bible, grace (Greek chairs = gift) means the gift of the power and the desire to do God’s will.
The Biblical word grace comes from the Greek word charis: gift (Strong’s Concordance, Greek dictionary, no. 5485).
In summary, God gives each of us both the desire to do His will and the power to get it done.
When we follow our calling, we are directed by the will of God and enabled by the power of God.
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 