Primary and Secondary Calling

Have you ever had a book on your shelf for years that you intended to read but never got around to it? I've owned a copy of Os Guinness' book The Call for at least four years, and though it came highly recommended, it never made it to the top of my "to read next" list-- until this month. And now, having read it, it is my turn to highly recommend it to you. I'll excerpt a few passages here this week.

Os Guinness:

Our primary calling as followers of Christ is by him, to him, and for him. First and foremost we are called to Someone (God), not to something (such as motherhood, politics, or teaching) or to somewhere (such as the inner city or Outer Mongolia).

Our secondary calling, considering who God is as sovereign, is that everyone, everywhere, and in everything should think, speak, live, and act entirely for him. We can therefore properly say as a matter of secondary calling that we are called to homemaking or to the practice of law or to art history. But these and other things are always the secondary, never the primary calling. They are "callings" rather than the "calling." They are our personal answer to God's address, our response to God's summons. Secondary callings matter, but only because the primary calling matters most.

This vital distinction between primary and secondary calling carries with it two challenges-- first, to hold the two together and, second, to ensure that they are kept in the right order. In other words, if we understand calling, we must make sure that first things remain first and the primary calling always comes before the secondary calling. But we must also make sure that the primary calling leads without fail to the secondary calling.

Let me try to apply and simplify, at the risk of oversimplification. My own primary calling is to live as a disciple of Christ. This keeps my focus on Christ, not on my occupation. My secondary calling happens to be as a pastor-- it is what I do as my ministry/job. However, I will not truly understand or fulfill my secondary calling if I do not remember my primary calling as a disciple and keep it primary. But at the same time, I must not be a disciple that never gets around to doing something.