Calling is a foundational principle of life. As humans, we are one large family. As a family, we have callings that we all share. These are our common callings. Besides our common callings, we have unique and specific individual callings. A good way to think about this is that as citizens of the same country, we have certain obligations that we are all called to keep as citizens of the country. Those obligations apply equally to each of us. Yet we have our own lives and individual callings. Some are called to be teachers, lawyers, builders, etc while others are cooks, cleaners, domestic workers, etc. Regardless of our individual and unique calling, we all have the same common callings or obligations to our country.
We all share the 5 common callings shown below. These callings urge us to fulfill one sovereign call, the call to love. To love in all 4 dimensions of our being. To love with our strength (body), mind (thoughts/emotions), spirit (heart/will) and with our social connections (relationships). I’ve arranged them to spell the acrostic, S.E.R.V.E, to remind us that we are all called to serve in these five ways.
S-Sanctification (Soul Growth)
We are called to soul growth or sanctification. This is the calling to grow to become all we are created to be. It encompasses both understanding and growth.
As I have discussed in other articles on this site, the soul or total person composes of 4 aspects: Body, mind, spirit, and social connections.
Related Article: Body, Mind, Spirit, and Social Connections: 4 Dimensions of Health.
Because the human being is 4-dimensional, sanctification is also 4-dimensional.
Some authors use the terms sanctification and spiritual growth synonymously. I prefer the term Soul Growth to the term spiritual growth as a synonym for sanctification because the soul emphasizes that we need to grow spiritually, psychologically (mentally and emotionally), physically, and socially. Spiritual growth is only one of four dimensions that we are called to grow in. Another good way to view sanctification is to view it as soul transformation.
In the spirituality of Jesus Christ, spiritual growth occurs through studentship to Christ. i.e. In other words, Christians are called to the shepherding or studentship of Christ for the sanctification of our souls. This is a calling to simulate Christ and to study and imitate Christ. In other words, to be students of Christ. This is the call to discipleship. Through a process of gradual growth, the Christian’s soul is transformed into the likeness of the soul of Christ.
E-Exaltation
Our second calling is that of exaltation or worship. This is a calling to live for something or someone greater than oneself. Our hearts yearn to live for a purpose or cause that is greater than ourselves. In the Christian doctrine, this higher purpose is to live to glorify or worship God. to living to worship God. Christians are called to exalt and worship God with our lives. This worship or exaltation isn’t simply the lifting of hands but a lifestyle of worship.
R-Relationship
Our third calling is to a relationship. Dr. Daniel P. Sulmasy MD, Ph.D., author of the Rebirth of the Clinic once said, “A human person is a being in relationship—biologically, psychologically, socially, and transcendently.” We are called to relationships in all 4 dimensions–spiritually, psychologically, physically, and socially.
V-Vocation
We are called to vocational service (ministry). Vocation comes from “Latin vocātiō, vocātiōn-, a calling, from vocātus, past participle of vocāre, to call.” We are designed for calling-driven service. Vocation is the unique way we contribute our gifts and talents to love and serve others. To find your vocation, I recommend using my D.E.S.I.G.N. approach.
E-Evangelism
Evangelism comes from the medieval Latin word evangelismus, which means “a spreading of the Gospel.” Evangelismus came from the Late Latin word evangelium “good news, gospel,” which itself came from the Greek word euangelion. The word evangelist is popular in business circles today. It was popularized by Guy Kawasaki, a former Apple evangelist, during the marketing of the Macintosh computer. Today, Guy Kawasak is an evangelist for Canva. The word evangelist is so popular in business circles today that you find on job adds for company evangelists on job boards.
The word evangelism simply means good news. An evangelist is a person who proclaims that good news to others. In the setting of a company, it’s the good news that a product exists that can meet people’s needs. The proclaimer’s aim is to get people to buy the product and by so doing meet their needs.
But our call to evangelism is not limited to marketing tangible products. This is a call to proclaim physical, social, psychological, and spiritual good news (help) to others. This is the call to spread the good news that helps to serve the interests of the total person or soul. If we find soul food or help whether it is physical, social, spiritual, or psychological, we are to spread the good news so that as many people as possible can be helped. Evangelism is a crucial aspect of our entire calling because that is how we spread the light all over the world so that help can reach everyone everywhere who needs it. Evangelism often takes us on missions to other cultures that are suffering and poor (physically, mentally, spiritually, or socially) as we seek to bring solutions that help meet the needs of their total lives.
We are called to:
- Proclaim good news to the poor.
- Proclaim freedom for the prisoners / proclaim liberty to the captives,
- Open the prison to those who are bound
- Proclaim recovery of sight for the blind.
- Bind up the brokenhearted,
- Set the oppressed free,
- Comfort all who mourn
- Give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.
- Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
This good news, you may notice is proclaimed both in words and in deeds. Unfortunately, our good news instead of being holistic and four-dimensional is often one dimensional. Religious and spiritual people like to focus on spiritual good news. The social activists among us focus on social good news. Physicians focus on the physical body and psychologists focus on the mind.
Recommended Spiritual Resources
The Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20)
A.W. Tozer. The purpose of man: Designed to worship.
Rick Warren. The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message and Mission
Rick Warren. The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
David Wheeler and Vernon Whaley. The Great Commission to Worship: Biblical Principles for Worship-Based Evangelism
