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The Call
The Call continues to stand as a classic, reflective work on life's purpose. Best-selling author Os Guinness goes beyond our surface understanding of God's call and addresses the fact that God has a specific calling for our individual lives.
Why am I here? What is God's call in my life? How do I fit God's call with my own individuality? How should God's calling affect my career, my plans for the future, my concepts of success? Guinness now helps the reader discover answers to these questions, and more, through a corresponding workbook - perfect for individual or group study.
According to Guinness, "No idea short of God's call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose and fulfillment." With tens of thousands of readers to date, The Call is for all who desire a purposeful, intentional life of faith.
Also availbale in audio format, narrated by Os Guinness.
Why am I here? What is God's call in my life? How do I fit God's call with my own individuality? How should God's calling affect my career, my plans for the future, my concepts of success? Guinness now helps the reader discover answers to these questions, and more, through a corresponding workbook - perfect for individual or group study.
According to Guinness, "No idea short of God's call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose and fulfillment." With tens of thousands of readers to date, The Call is for all who desire a purposeful, intentional life of faith.
Also availbale in audio format, narrated by Os Guinness.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
720 people are currently reading
3,018 people want to read
About the author
Os Guinness
77 books345 followersOs Guinness (D.Phil., Oxford) is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including The American Hour, Time for Truth and The Case for Civility. A frequent speaker and prominent social critic, he was the founder of the Trinity Forum and has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. He lives near Washington, D.C.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
April 18, 2009
I have been reading "The Call" by Os Guinness; a 26 day devotional has taken me from Saturday, August 19, 2006 to Tuesday, November 20, 2008 to finish. I know it should have never taken me so long to read and yet it is a very thought provoking and challenging book.
The main point and question of this book is this... "Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life." In which in a nut shell living for Christ and serving him in whichever way he has called you to do. There is no division of the secular and spiritual work load here. As we see on this book, the spiritual work can be secular and the secular work can be spiritual - it all depends on why and for whom or to whom we are doing the work.
So many times throughout this book you must stop and grapple with what is written. This is not your normal daily devotional by which I mean it will cause you to question a lot of preconceived ideas and beliefs. You might just find your calling is not what you thought it was or what you wanted it to be.
I know a lot of people love the book "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren and it has helped a lot of people throughout the years. But if I was to choose between these two books I would have to choose Os Guinness' "The Call" hands down. In my humble opinion "The Call" is a more challenging call to discipleship and look at what the Christian life and what is meant by the "Call of Jesus" than the "Purpose Driven Life" even comes close to.
In closing the question stands... how are you to run the race well - if you don't know to which race you have been called to race? How are you to finish well - without the proper practice and training? This book will help you find you call and to help you follow His call - the call of Jesus.
The main point and question of this book is this... "Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life." In which in a nut shell living for Christ and serving him in whichever way he has called you to do. There is no division of the secular and spiritual work load here. As we see on this book, the spiritual work can be secular and the secular work can be spiritual - it all depends on why and for whom or to whom we are doing the work.
So many times throughout this book you must stop and grapple with what is written. This is not your normal daily devotional by which I mean it will cause you to question a lot of preconceived ideas and beliefs. You might just find your calling is not what you thought it was or what you wanted it to be.
I know a lot of people love the book "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren and it has helped a lot of people throughout the years. But if I was to choose between these two books I would have to choose Os Guinness' "The Call" hands down. In my humble opinion "The Call" is a more challenging call to discipleship and look at what the Christian life and what is meant by the "Call of Jesus" than the "Purpose Driven Life" even comes close to.
In closing the question stands... how are you to run the race well - if you don't know to which race you have been called to race? How are you to finish well - without the proper practice and training? This book will help you find you call and to help you follow His call - the call of Jesus.
January 18, 2019
You get more than you bargained for with this book. I picked up Guinness's book on a whim- to read more on decision making/career. And ended up getting a lesson on the fall of Western Civilization and how calling is the answer. Guinness is brimming with wisdom. Though written before Dreher's Benedict Option, I found it to be a helpful counterpoint. I agree w Dreher re prescription but Guinness is closer to the cure.
While ostensibly about Decision Making, The Call is actually about answering THE big question: “What is the good life?” while covering a lot of historical ground in tracing various ways mankind has sought to answer that question.
Guinness was particularly helpful for me in understanding the root cause of our modern anxiety: the terrible freedom of writing our own script.
Freedom from anxiety if found here:
"Unsure of ourselves, we are sure of God"
While ostensibly about Decision Making, The Call is actually about answering THE big question: “What is the good life?” while covering a lot of historical ground in tracing various ways mankind has sought to answer that question.
Guinness was particularly helpful for me in understanding the root cause of our modern anxiety: the terrible freedom of writing our own script.
Freedom from anxiety if found here:
"Unsure of ourselves, we are sure of God"
May 24, 2008
It is not uncommon to hear Christians refer to their vocational calling, or to hear of things like a Biblical work ethic, but surprisingly little has been written about what work individuals are called to in their lives. Os Guinness, an Irish social critic and Christian writer, who lives in northern Virginia, has written a wonderful book, more than accessible to general audiences, that explores meaning in life. In this case, meaning for Guinness is not something self-directed, but something one is called to from God, as a maker directs and leads his created beings.
This book, at nearly 250 pages, is probably best read a chapter a day or so; because it is as much a meditation on calling, as it is a directed narrative for the reader to study. The reason for this method becomes obvious, as Guinness wants the reader to join with him and more importantly, with the God who created them, in thinking and working out daily what it means to have meaning and calling in whatever the reader has, is and will do in life. As such, this most definitely is not a self-help book, or a list of things to do. It is a meditation on how to live and what the good life looks like. There is a tension between life as a Christian believer and as someone living in a world with different expectations, and Guinness encourages thought, that as people live with these tensions, that the remember their first calling.
Guinness chapters follow a pattern of a narrative of a historical story, even from his family's Guinness Irish heritage, where he then makes points that build on the story for the sake of the reader to ponder and act on their place in God's world. He is at his strongest when he encourages readers to develop an awareness of the difference between the certainty of a call and the mystery of calling in life; and he carefully evaluates the seeming tight line between a spiritual work and a day to day, secular work. Mystery, gratitude, patience and understanding the reader's place in the world are vital things that Guinness wants the reader to dwell on. If there is a major theme of the book, it is that the reader is to live and work for an audience of one in life, the God who made them; and because of that audience much of the meaning soon will follow.
For Guinness, the path of calling is God to meaning to call to callings, otherwise life is described as mere drudgery work, and empty in its results. As a work of meditation and thinking, the reader should be encouraged and challenged to evaluate their lives and occupations in light of their audience of one. This is not a definitive work on vocational callings, and it has little in the way of direct answers for life in the post modern world. But what it will do, is to encourage the reader to think of the first things of life and dwell in those, for the eventual sake of their individual callings. Fewer things probably occupy people more than what they are about in their work. Guinness calls the reader to consider a higher view of their occupations as callings, given meaning by a creator, who wants us to interact with him in the midst of what he made us for.
This book, at nearly 250 pages, is probably best read a chapter a day or so; because it is as much a meditation on calling, as it is a directed narrative for the reader to study. The reason for this method becomes obvious, as Guinness wants the reader to join with him and more importantly, with the God who created them, in thinking and working out daily what it means to have meaning and calling in whatever the reader has, is and will do in life. As such, this most definitely is not a self-help book, or a list of things to do. It is a meditation on how to live and what the good life looks like. There is a tension between life as a Christian believer and as someone living in a world with different expectations, and Guinness encourages thought, that as people live with these tensions, that the remember their first calling.
Guinness chapters follow a pattern of a narrative of a historical story, even from his family's Guinness Irish heritage, where he then makes points that build on the story for the sake of the reader to ponder and act on their place in God's world. He is at his strongest when he encourages readers to develop an awareness of the difference between the certainty of a call and the mystery of calling in life; and he carefully evaluates the seeming tight line between a spiritual work and a day to day, secular work. Mystery, gratitude, patience and understanding the reader's place in the world are vital things that Guinness wants the reader to dwell on. If there is a major theme of the book, it is that the reader is to live and work for an audience of one in life, the God who made them; and because of that audience much of the meaning soon will follow.
For Guinness, the path of calling is God to meaning to call to callings, otherwise life is described as mere drudgery work, and empty in its results. As a work of meditation and thinking, the reader should be encouraged and challenged to evaluate their lives and occupations in light of their audience of one. This is not a definitive work on vocational callings, and it has little in the way of direct answers for life in the post modern world. But what it will do, is to encourage the reader to think of the first things of life and dwell in those, for the eventual sake of their individual callings. Fewer things probably occupy people more than what they are about in their work. Guinness calls the reader to consider a higher view of their occupations as callings, given meaning by a creator, who wants us to interact with him in the midst of what he made us for.
May 23, 2015
Book title: The Call
Author: Os Guinness
Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 1998
Number of pages: 255
Listening to the Caller
“There can be no calling without a Caller.” writes Os Guinness. Are you connected to the Caller? I’m not asking if you are a Christian or if you have a “personal relationship” with Jesus. Guinness believes check both of these boxes and not be fully engaged with the Caller.
Many make the mistake thinking that the only way to get God to really love us is to go into "ministry" (i.e. become a pastor or a missionary). You’re doing work or going down a path that someone–maybe everyone–else has told you must go down. For many church, the prescribed path of dedicated Christian maturity is:
● make a profession of faith
● learn the basic tenets of the faith
● volunteer in the church
● go to Bible college
● become a leader in the church
● pursue full-time vocational ministry
● enter pastoral ministry
This is the prescribed progression of a life of sacrifice and faith. But this path was never prescribed by God. If this is the path you’re going down and you’re not connected to the Caller, you’ll live a life of frustration, futility, and emptiness.
Many folks think that if they simply live a moral life, they’ll walk in the call God has for their lives. Living a moral life is not where one finds purpose.
“The call of our Creator is “the ultimate why” for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence,” writes Guinness. “Nothing short of God’s call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose.”
Here’s how call is defined:
Primary call
A general call that God makes to all mankind. God wants to have an intimate relationship with each person. He provides a way for humans to know him through Jesus Christ.
Secondary call
How the primary call is manifested in a man's life is his secondary call. We tend to compartmentalize our work from our life with God. We divide into “secular” and “spiritual.” But this is not how God designed us. The secondary call is where the passion is, where a man flourishes in his giftedness as he serves others and God. The primary call is anemic without the secondary call. But so many people are stuck living colorless lives as believers.
The secondary call is meant to be an act of worship to the Lord. My daily work is how I connect with God and how I serve him.
Are you trying to figure it out? Are you wondering what God is going to in your life next. Don’t over-think and definitely don’t over-spiritualize it. Be cautious about who you get advice from especially if, in your church culture, people continuously over-spiritualize things with the subtle agenda of making others feel like they’re not measuring up (we church types are notorious for this). That’s the opposite of how God works in your life. You know this, but not very many people in your world will say this to you. This book does. It is one of the most affirming books I’ve ever read and the book I’ve recommended most this past year. Whether you’re in the Valley of Decision or not, get this book. Read it. Mark it up. Refer to it often.
Author: Os Guinness
Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 1998
Number of pages: 255
Listening to the Caller
“There can be no calling without a Caller.” writes Os Guinness. Are you connected to the Caller? I’m not asking if you are a Christian or if you have a “personal relationship” with Jesus. Guinness believes check both of these boxes and not be fully engaged with the Caller.
Many make the mistake thinking that the only way to get God to really love us is to go into "ministry" (i.e. become a pastor or a missionary). You’re doing work or going down a path that someone–maybe everyone–else has told you must go down. For many church, the prescribed path of dedicated Christian maturity is:
● make a profession of faith
● learn the basic tenets of the faith
● volunteer in the church
● go to Bible college
● become a leader in the church
● pursue full-time vocational ministry
● enter pastoral ministry
This is the prescribed progression of a life of sacrifice and faith. But this path was never prescribed by God. If this is the path you’re going down and you’re not connected to the Caller, you’ll live a life of frustration, futility, and emptiness.
Many folks think that if they simply live a moral life, they’ll walk in the call God has for their lives. Living a moral life is not where one finds purpose.
“The call of our Creator is “the ultimate why” for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence,” writes Guinness. “Nothing short of God’s call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose.”
Here’s how call is defined:
Primary call
A general call that God makes to all mankind. God wants to have an intimate relationship with each person. He provides a way for humans to know him through Jesus Christ.
Secondary call
How the primary call is manifested in a man's life is his secondary call. We tend to compartmentalize our work from our life with God. We divide into “secular” and “spiritual.” But this is not how God designed us. The secondary call is where the passion is, where a man flourishes in his giftedness as he serves others and God. The primary call is anemic without the secondary call. But so many people are stuck living colorless lives as believers.
The secondary call is meant to be an act of worship to the Lord. My daily work is how I connect with God and how I serve him.
Are you trying to figure it out? Are you wondering what God is going to in your life next. Don’t over-think and definitely don’t over-spiritualize it. Be cautious about who you get advice from especially if, in your church culture, people continuously over-spiritualize things with the subtle agenda of making others feel like they’re not measuring up (we church types are notorious for this). That’s the opposite of how God works in your life. You know this, but not very many people in your world will say this to you. This book does. It is one of the most affirming books I’ve ever read and the book I’ve recommended most this past year. Whether you’re in the Valley of Decision or not, get this book. Read it. Mark it up. Refer to it often.
Read
March 25, 2016If you're a fan of Os Guinness (or if you've never read him before), this is the one to read. Guinness himself says that over 25 years, "no book has burned within me longer or more fiercely than this one" (5).
What am I called to? This is one of the bigger questions of life. Guinness helps us digest this, dividing calling into two categories: Primary (the calling to Christ) and Secondary (that in which "everyone, everywhere, and in everything should think, speak, live, and act entirely for him").
Many books on Calling seem to say "follow Jesus" and leave it undeveloped (much to my frustration!). Guinness does not. While he frames Calling where it should be--within our call to someone--he also helps us digest the somewhat. Of course, we're all unique, so his answers aren't definitive, but they are clear and helpful nonetheless.
Linear, academic thinkers may struggle with this book, as Guinness begins nearly every chapter with a story illustration (he is a storyteller). But I found the stories refreshing and resonating. Guinness also has a way with words and gives us many tight nuggets of wisdom. Very easy to read.
This book gave me clearer focus of life, of my Call. I'd highly recommend it to young, old, and in between.
What am I called to? This is one of the bigger questions of life. Guinness helps us digest this, dividing calling into two categories: Primary (the calling to Christ) and Secondary (that in which "everyone, everywhere, and in everything should think, speak, live, and act entirely for him").
Many books on Calling seem to say "follow Jesus" and leave it undeveloped (much to my frustration!). Guinness does not. While he frames Calling where it should be--within our call to someone--he also helps us digest the somewhat. Of course, we're all unique, so his answers aren't definitive, but they are clear and helpful nonetheless.
Linear, academic thinkers may struggle with this book, as Guinness begins nearly every chapter with a story illustration (he is a storyteller). But I found the stories refreshing and resonating. Guinness also has a way with words and gives us many tight nuggets of wisdom. Very easy to read.
This book gave me clearer focus of life, of my Call. I'd highly recommend it to young, old, and in between.
July 2, 2023
This was recommended when I was a new believer (in 2000s) as one of those must read Christian books. I only recently found this e-book version a few years ago. I still would endorse the recommendation and add that it is remains relevant today.
I thoroughly appreciated the approach used here. There are clear definitions, especially with common words where we think the meaning is known but there have been nuances lost during to repetition. This includes what a call/vocation means, secularization, orthodox, pluralisation. So even with this setup reminiscent of academia, the book was easily digestible with many examples to reinforce the arguments made. I would recommend a slow pace to think on the many points presented. The author is quite versed in classical books and popular artists - so expect use of art, books and biographies of some famous artists.
This feels as if it would be timeless as it focused on call/vocation what it means in all areas of life and the pitfalls that have occurred, including the fall away currently being seen. This can be best seen as corrective and a great guide for being a follower of Christ.
I thoroughly appreciated the approach used here. There are clear definitions, especially with common words where we think the meaning is known but there have been nuances lost during to repetition. This includes what a call/vocation means, secularization, orthodox, pluralisation. So even with this setup reminiscent of academia, the book was easily digestible with many examples to reinforce the arguments made. I would recommend a slow pace to think on the many points presented. The author is quite versed in classical books and popular artists - so expect use of art, books and biographies of some famous artists.
This feels as if it would be timeless as it focused on call/vocation what it means in all areas of life and the pitfalls that have occurred, including the fall away currently being seen. This can be best seen as corrective and a great guide for being a follower of Christ.
July 18, 2016
Os is becoming a new favorite. I read this in conjunction with my quiet time over the past month and it might make the rotation from here on out. Guinness does a great job of honing in on what it means for all of us to follow the call of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. He outlines how to make our work meaningful without making work the meaning of our life. It's an important distinction and over the course of the book this mentality becomes very helpful. I recommend it highly!
December 7, 2020
Originally published in 1997, I first read this book in a class at Covenant Seminary. This new expanded and revised 20th anniversary edition includes a “Study Guide”, helpful for either personal or group use. The book is a series of short reflections on the many-sided wonder of God’s call. The thirty chapters are not academic or theoretical. Instead, they have been hammered out on the anvil of the author’s own experience.
Guinness encourages us to read the book slowly, always aware that we are in the presence of the One who calls us all, and always thinking things through in terms of our own life and our own calling in the world. He tells us that at some point every one of us confronts the question: How do I find and fulfill the central purpose of my life? Our passion is to know that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are here on earth. Deep in our hearts, we all want to find and fulfill a purpose bigger than ourselves. Guinness tells us that the book is for all who long to find and fulfill the purpose of their lives. He argues that this purpose can be found only when we discover the specific purpose for which we were created and to which we are called. He tells us that answering the call of our Creator is “the ultimate why” for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence. Apart from such a calling, all hope of discovering purpose will end in disappointment, and that nothing short of God’s call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose.
Guinness tells us that there is no calling unless there is a Caller. He writes of both primary and secondary callings. Our primary calling as followers of Christ is by him, to him, and for him. 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. He writes that 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.” He tells us that 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.
This is the best book on the topic of calling for the Christian that I have read, and I highly recommend it.
Here are 15 of my favorite quotes from the book:
1. Count the cost, consider the risks, and set out each day on a venture to multiply your gifts and opportunities, bring glory to God, and add value to our world.
2. When Jesus calls us to follow him, all that contradicts his call, all that contradicts his Lordship over all our lives, has to go.
3. Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) callings in response to God’s (primary) calling.
4. Neither work nor career can be fully satisfying without a deeper sense of calling—but “calling” itself is empty and indistinguishable from work unless there is Someone who calls.
5. If there is no Caller, there are no callings—only work.
6. A sense of calling should precede a choice of job and career, and the main way to discover calling is along the line of what we are each created and gifted to be. Instead of, “You are what you do,” calling says: “Do what you are.”
7. To find work that perfectly fits our callings is not a right, but a blessing.
8. To follow the call of God is therefore to live before the heart of God. It is to live life coram deo (before the heart of God) and thus to shift our awareness of audiences to the point where only the last and highest—God—counts.
9. For those who live life as a journey and see faith as a journey, calling has an obvious implication. It reminds us that we are all at different stages on the way and none of us alive has yet arrived.
10. Having heard God’s call and responded, our task is to seek to listen to God’s call, to follow God’s call and way of life, and to act on behalf of God’s great purposes of justice and freedom in righting the wrongs of the world.
11. Careers that express calling are as fulfilling as careers that contradict calling are frustrating.
12. There is no sacred vs. secular, higher vs. lower, perfect vs. permitted, contemplation vs. action where calling is concerned. Calling equalizes even the distinctions between clergy and laypeople. It is a matter of “everyone, everywhere, and in everything” living life in response to God’s summons.
13. Calling is central to the challenge and privilege of finishing well in life.
14. We may retire from our jobs, but there is no retiring from our individual callings.
15. We must be sure that our sense of calling is deeper, wider, higher, and longer than the best and highest of the tasks we undertake.
Guinness encourages us to read the book slowly, always aware that we are in the presence of the One who calls us all, and always thinking things through in terms of our own life and our own calling in the world. He tells us that at some point every one of us confronts the question: How do I find and fulfill the central purpose of my life? Our passion is to know that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are here on earth. Deep in our hearts, we all want to find and fulfill a purpose bigger than ourselves. Guinness tells us that the book is for all who long to find and fulfill the purpose of their lives. He argues that this purpose can be found only when we discover the specific purpose for which we were created and to which we are called. He tells us that answering the call of our Creator is “the ultimate why” for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence. Apart from such a calling, all hope of discovering purpose will end in disappointment, and that nothing short of God’s call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose.
Guinness tells us that there is no calling unless there is a Caller. He writes of both primary and secondary callings. Our primary calling as followers of Christ is by him, to him, and for him. 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. He writes that 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.” He tells us that 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.
This is the best book on the topic of calling for the Christian that I have read, and I highly recommend it.
Here are 15 of my favorite quotes from the book:
1. Count the cost, consider the risks, and set out each day on a venture to multiply your gifts and opportunities, bring glory to God, and add value to our world.
2. When Jesus calls us to follow him, all that contradicts his call, all that contradicts his Lordship over all our lives, has to go.
3. Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) callings in response to God’s (primary) calling.
4. Neither work nor career can be fully satisfying without a deeper sense of calling—but “calling” itself is empty and indistinguishable from work unless there is Someone who calls.
5. If there is no Caller, there are no callings—only work.
6. A sense of calling should precede a choice of job and career, and the main way to discover calling is along the line of what we are each created and gifted to be. Instead of, “You are what you do,” calling says: “Do what you are.”
7. To find work that perfectly fits our callings is not a right, but a blessing.
8. To follow the call of God is therefore to live before the heart of God. It is to live life coram deo (before the heart of God) and thus to shift our awareness of audiences to the point where only the last and highest—God—counts.
9. For those who live life as a journey and see faith as a journey, calling has an obvious implication. It reminds us that we are all at different stages on the way and none of us alive has yet arrived.
10. Having heard God’s call and responded, our task is to seek to listen to God’s call, to follow God’s call and way of life, and to act on behalf of God’s great purposes of justice and freedom in righting the wrongs of the world.
11. Careers that express calling are as fulfilling as careers that contradict calling are frustrating.
12. There is no sacred vs. secular, higher vs. lower, perfect vs. permitted, contemplation vs. action where calling is concerned. Calling equalizes even the distinctions between clergy and laypeople. It is a matter of “everyone, everywhere, and in everything” living life in response to God’s summons.
13. Calling is central to the challenge and privilege of finishing well in life.
14. We may retire from our jobs, but there is no retiring from our individual callings.
15. We must be sure that our sense of calling is deeper, wider, higher, and longer than the best and highest of the tasks we undertake.
August 31, 2020
Like many of Guinness’s books this one too pulls from literature to assess the life of the Christian in an increasingly non-Christian world. When many “Christian” books are seeking to give advice to young believers (20-25 year olds) about what they need to do to have a successful and fulfilled life, this book is a breath of fresh air. Guinness isn’t trying to give the best five tips on how to have a happy life, and in fact at one point he tells Christians to live a foolish life. “The Call” is a book that points believers back to the cross and reminds them that their calling isn’t in a job, but is in the fact that they have been called by God and are His alone.
I give it three stars cause the pop culture stories either didn’t relate to me or I just found them uninteresting. However, I must admit that it was enjoyable to see how Guinness works as a writer as he connected the stories back to a biblical theme.
I give it three stars cause the pop culture stories either didn’t relate to me or I just found them uninteresting. However, I must admit that it was enjoyable to see how Guinness works as a writer as he connected the stories back to a biblical theme.
November 30, 2023
similar to renovation of the heart by dallas willard, the call by os guinness was an incredible book that had to be taken in small doses. i would finish each chapter, or even just a few pages, and need to put the book down and think about all the implications of what i read!
like delicious chocolate, this book is too rich to consume all in a short amount of time, yet so rich that i wanted to return to the book again and again for more.
like delicious chocolate, this book is too rich to consume all in a short amount of time, yet so rich that i wanted to return to the book again and again for more.
February 23, 2020
Thought-provoking reflections on God's calling on our lives.
I used The Call as a daily devotion, finding in each reflection, points to prayerfully consider. Highly recommended for disciples of Jesus; particularly ministry leaders.
I used The Call as a daily devotion, finding in each reflection, points to prayerfully consider. Highly recommended for disciples of Jesus; particularly ministry leaders.
June 18, 2022
An excellent collection of thoughts on calling, vocation, and a what it means to live faithfully before an audience of One.
May 23, 2015
As the title suggests, this book is about finding and following our calling in life. But it is just as much a book that scrutinizes the modern philosophies that surround us (both outside and inside the church). Do not read this book unless you are willing to be challenged in your thinking, and stretched to accept a higher standard.
This is not about finding some mysterious life-goal that makes it all worthwhile. It is about facing daily the need to seek God will all our heart, mind and strength.
This is not about finding some mysterious life-goal that makes it all worthwhile. It is about facing daily the need to seek God will all our heart, mind and strength.
February 27, 2015
This is not a book of specifics that is going to tell you exactly what steps to take or how to find out what your calling in life is. Instead, it is a book about how to live your life with purpose - how to be "filled-up" on the inside rather than always going about with a huge, gnawing emptiness and a relentless searching for the next best thing that will never satisfy.
September 19, 2015
"Trebuie să ne asigurăm că vom fi conștienți de chemarea noastră într-un mod mai profund, mai înalt, mai larg și mai lung decât cea mai bună și cea mai înaltă sarcină de care ne ocupăm." - Os Guinness
August 11, 2021
Excellent as ever from Os. He critiques a variety of 'catholic' and 'protestant' distortions of calling, with the former temptation to mark off the 'religious' life as that of the clergy and tied to the church infrastructure. The latter run the risk of theologizing secularism.
Dr Guinness lays out the good news of the Gospel versus our small-minded focus on recent history and shallow ways of thinking. Such as how we pit generations against one another, play the 'victim' and think in terms of 'progress' without any clearly identifiable ultimate purpose or lasting peace.
Our vocations are a 'call and a charge' and take their cue from figures in Biblical and church history. A call to high adventure in diverse places. This understanding of our purpose is tied to God's providential guidance over history and sweeps us up into the adventure of the Jesus way. This is the central story of reality and a lot more compelling than the banal existentialisms of materialistic moderns or world-denying austerity of other worldviews. Os repeats the important point that the way of Christ strikes a healthy balance between this life and the next, and the individual and the community.
Sadly, we often do not appreciate the true and holy character of vocation in Christ, which is holy and enjoyable work for our good and God's glory. Like Chesterton, he realises that anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Plus, Guinness argues that even drudgery can be lifted up for the glory of God. But not just for oneself or other men and women. We must perform for an 'audience of one'. This is not performance, as inordinate pressure however, and a refreshing alternative to the resentful poison on Karl Marx and his heirs. It is for our glory as well as God's. Os's book is marked by a moving Christian humanism here and elsewhere.
Os commends a martyrdom that is not self-loathing or triumphalist. 'White martyrdom' is the way for us all- we must die to our own selfishness, quest for worldly power, etc. Then we will be renewed in Christ.
Dr Guinness lays out the good news of the Gospel versus our small-minded focus on recent history and shallow ways of thinking. Such as how we pit generations against one another, play the 'victim' and think in terms of 'progress' without any clearly identifiable ultimate purpose or lasting peace.
Our vocations are a 'call and a charge' and take their cue from figures in Biblical and church history. A call to high adventure in diverse places. This understanding of our purpose is tied to God's providential guidance over history and sweeps us up into the adventure of the Jesus way. This is the central story of reality and a lot more compelling than the banal existentialisms of materialistic moderns or world-denying austerity of other worldviews. Os repeats the important point that the way of Christ strikes a healthy balance between this life and the next, and the individual and the community.
Sadly, we often do not appreciate the true and holy character of vocation in Christ, which is holy and enjoyable work for our good and God's glory. Like Chesterton, he realises that anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Plus, Guinness argues that even drudgery can be lifted up for the glory of God. But not just for oneself or other men and women. We must perform for an 'audience of one'. This is not performance, as inordinate pressure however, and a refreshing alternative to the resentful poison on Karl Marx and his heirs. It is for our glory as well as God's. Os's book is marked by a moving Christian humanism here and elsewhere.
Os commends a martyrdom that is not self-loathing or triumphalist. 'White martyrdom' is the way for us all- we must die to our own selfishness, quest for worldly power, etc. Then we will be renewed in Christ.
October 22, 2018
✔️Just finished reading this book for the second time. It is amazing what we learn and the details we notice when reading a book for a second time. The Call talks about one of the things people question the most, “what is my calling”, “what is my purpose in life”. Each chapters makes you think about different aspects of “the call”, of who is calling you to become what, among other things. Everyone wonders what’s their purpose in life, what’s their vocation, and this book helps you understand a little bit more about what is a purpose, a calling, of who created you and why. And I love how at the end of each chapter it invites you to follow Jesus and to answer His call.
Read
September 24, 2020One of the most in depth and helpful books on finding purpose for Christians. The most valuable lesson I received from this book was the understanding that not all of us have a capital "C" calling, but all of us are called, and the importance of that in our walk. Os Guinness is a brilliant guy his ability to explain is phenomenal. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to find purpose in their daily life. OS Guinness is in my top 5 favorite authors. "Impossible People" is also an excellent read. One caveat is that this book is not for speed readers. The author packs a lot into a sentence quite frequently.
January 28, 2021
I can agree that there are nuggets of truths in this book. Sigh...I must admit that I was immediately turned off to anything Os Guinness had to say, because this book is horribly and blindly too Eurocentric. In my opinion, he conveniently omits the collective un-Christlike actions of European and American (conservative) Christians. What he labels as Puritan "dynamic faith to prosperity calling", I label as wayward Christians who strayed away from Christ. Again, there are usable truths in this book, but you must mindfully find them.
June 9, 2024
Exceptional read; deep concepts written concisely and in terms the modern reader can understanding; a fully comprehensive book that dives into the various implications of having a calling professed by God but also what calling is not; how do we avoid the pitfalls of saying that our calling is the same thing as what we do?; he also uses many illustrations from pockets and corners of history that I had never heard before, giving rise to a very interesting, well-rounded, and meaningful book; highly recommend
July 13, 2016
I think our church will give this book to graduating seniors in the future--a great book for anyone seeking to find his/her way, her calling, at any age or stage of life. I read some of it to prep for preaching Mark 1.16-20, the call of the first disciples.
==================
QUOTES:
Calling
is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with the special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service (4)
==========
You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.
(Augustine, Confessions, Book 1)
==========
There is no calling unless there is a Caller. (20)
===========
Many of the categories people offer to explain or heal us today are too general. . . Thus Marxists interpret us by categories of class, Freudians by childhood neuroses, feminists by gender and pop-commentators of all sorts by generational profiles – – such as the "silent generation," the "baby boomers," the "Generation Xers." And so it goes. In each case the perspectives may be relatively true or false, helpful or unhelpful, but they do not address the deepest questions: Who am I? Why am I alive? (20-21)
===============
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). (31)
=============
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. (31)
=======
The works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone… Indeed, the menial housework of a man servant or maidservant is often more acceptable to God then all the fastings and other works of a monk or priest, because the monk or priest lacks faith. (Luther, "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church," 33-34)
============
Our Savior Christ was a Carpenter. His apostles were fishermen. St. Paul was a tent maker. (Bishop Thomas Becon, 34)
===========
The gospel is a constellation of truths that simply cannot and will not be worsted. (59)
===========
God normally calls us along the line of our giftedness, but the purpose of giftedness is stewardship and service, not selfishness. (45)
============
If "vocation" is ever distinguished from "calling" and used to refer to the clergy, it is a sure sign of the Catholic distortion; if "vocation" is distinguished from "calling" and used to refer to employment and occupation, it be traced the presence of the Protestant distortion. (48)
=============
We must remember that distinction between "a later special calling" and "our original, ordinary calling." . . Special calling refers to those tasks and missions laid on individuals through a direct, specific, supernatural communication from God. Ordinary calling, on the other hand, is the believer's sense of life-purpose and life-task in response to God's primary call, "Follow me." (48-49)
==========
There is not a single instance in the New Testament of God's special call to anyone into a paid occupation or into the role of a religious professional. (49)
============
To find work that perfectly fits our callings is not a right, but a blessing. (50)
========
For most people in most societies, there is no happy match between work and calling. Work is a necessity for survival. (50)
================
The response of the disciples is an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in Jesus. (Bonhoeffer, 65)
=========
They did not consider his claims, make up their minds, and then decide whether to follow – – they simply heard and obeyed. (65)
=============
Envy:
Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the one vice that its perpetrators never enjoy and rarely confess.
================
The New Testament knows no monasteries or monks, only spiritually disciplined disciples in a demanding, every day world.
===========
Whereas normal life puffs up our sense of self-importance and locks us into patterns of thought and behavior dependent on others, solitude liberates us from these entanglements by carving out a space from which we can see ourselves and our situation before the Audience of One.
=========
The problem with Western Christians is not that they aren't where they should be but that they aren't what they should be where they are.
================
To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with the dungfork in his hand, a woman with a sloppail, give him glory too. He is so great that all things give him glory if you mean they should.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
============
Will not find one single line to justify the politics of anxiety and resentment that has characterize parts of their stand in public life recently.
============
We may retire from our jobs, but there is no retiring from our individual callings.
========
We have let our occupation become so intertwined with our vocation not losing the occupation means losing the sense of location too.
==================
QUOTES:
Calling
is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with the special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service (4)
==========
You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.
(Augustine, Confessions, Book 1)
==========
There is no calling unless there is a Caller. (20)
===========
Many of the categories people offer to explain or heal us today are too general. . . Thus Marxists interpret us by categories of class, Freudians by childhood neuroses, feminists by gender and pop-commentators of all sorts by generational profiles – – such as the "silent generation," the "baby boomers," the "Generation Xers." And so it goes. In each case the perspectives may be relatively true or false, helpful or unhelpful, but they do not address the deepest questions: Who am I? Why am I alive? (20-21)
===============
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). (31)
=============
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. (31)
=======
The works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone… Indeed, the menial housework of a man servant or maidservant is often more acceptable to God then all the fastings and other works of a monk or priest, because the monk or priest lacks faith. (Luther, "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church," 33-34)
============
Our Savior Christ was a Carpenter. His apostles were fishermen. St. Paul was a tent maker. (Bishop Thomas Becon, 34)
===========
The gospel is a constellation of truths that simply cannot and will not be worsted. (59)
===========
God normally calls us along the line of our giftedness, but the purpose of giftedness is stewardship and service, not selfishness. (45)
============
If "vocation" is ever distinguished from "calling" and used to refer to the clergy, it is a sure sign of the Catholic distortion; if "vocation" is distinguished from "calling" and used to refer to employment and occupation, it be traced the presence of the Protestant distortion. (48)
=============
We must remember that distinction between "a later special calling" and "our original, ordinary calling." . . Special calling refers to those tasks and missions laid on individuals through a direct, specific, supernatural communication from God. Ordinary calling, on the other hand, is the believer's sense of life-purpose and life-task in response to God's primary call, "Follow me." (48-49)
==========
There is not a single instance in the New Testament of God's special call to anyone into a paid occupation or into the role of a religious professional. (49)
============
To find work that perfectly fits our callings is not a right, but a blessing. (50)
========
For most people in most societies, there is no happy match between work and calling. Work is a necessity for survival. (50)
================
The response of the disciples is an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in Jesus. (Bonhoeffer, 65)
=========
They did not consider his claims, make up their minds, and then decide whether to follow – – they simply heard and obeyed. (65)
=============
Envy:
Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the one vice that its perpetrators never enjoy and rarely confess.
================
The New Testament knows no monasteries or monks, only spiritually disciplined disciples in a demanding, every day world.
===========
Whereas normal life puffs up our sense of self-importance and locks us into patterns of thought and behavior dependent on others, solitude liberates us from these entanglements by carving out a space from which we can see ourselves and our situation before the Audience of One.
=========
The problem with Western Christians is not that they aren't where they should be but that they aren't what they should be where they are.
================
To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with the dungfork in his hand, a woman with a sloppail, give him glory too. He is so great that all things give him glory if you mean they should.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
============
Will not find one single line to justify the politics of anxiety and resentment that has characterize parts of their stand in public life recently.
============
We may retire from our jobs, but there is no retiring from our individual callings.
========
We have let our occupation become so intertwined with our vocation not losing the occupation means losing the sense of location too.
October 20, 2021
I read this for my Vocation of Ministry class in seminary. I had a difficult time engaging with Guinness’ writing because he told stories at the beginning of each chapter that felt only vaguely connected to his main point.
He had good things to say about calling and helping to understand what it means to be called by God, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of his writing style.
He had good things to say about calling and helping to understand what it means to be called by God, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of his writing style.
May 20, 2020
The Guinness family doesn’t just make great beer, they also make fantastic, faith building reading material.
August 21, 2021
Guinness clarified the meaning of “calling” for me in a really helpful way; calling, in its truest sense, isn’t merely a lifework or profession - those will always come and go - it is obedience and faithfulness to the Caller.
The author has a deep knowledge of history and the thinkers who have shaped it. I loved the way he drew out the stories of historical characters, both Christian and non-Christian, and showed how their thinking of calling shaped their lives.
The author has a deep knowledge of history and the thinkers who have shaped it. I loved the way he drew out the stories of historical characters, both Christian and non-Christian, and showed how their thinking of calling shaped their lives.
September 4, 2022
Perhaps 3.5 stars…it could have been shorter and one illustration in particular I found distasteful (I understand the point he was trying to make). But some good things to ponder.
October 17, 2023
Definitely a book that will knock on your sense of culture (in a good way). A book that the Church could very much use even among the laity right now, the world needs the light & this book can help us avoid the pitfalls so many fall into trying to spread it.
August 27, 2020
“‘What are you?’ I could only answer, ‘God knows.’” - Chesterton
An encouraging and challenging book to reorient “success” and “calling” away from what the world says to what Jesus says is true.
An encouraging and challenging book to reorient “success” and “calling” away from what the world says to what Jesus says is true.
July 1, 2023
I had to read this 26 day devotional in 5 days which is why I gave it such a low rating. It’s probably better if read a chapter a day. lol
December 20, 2024
Amazing book. So thought provoking and complex, yet simple at the same time. Any book that can contain the word indefatigable and discuss Count Helmuth Carl Bernhard von Moltke, yet still be applicable to our daily lives is impressive to me!
December 1, 2021
This book grew on me as I continued to read and reflect on it. As I paused at the end of chapters and reviewed my notes later, I couldn't help but be impressed at the importance of the message of the book, the relevance for the framework of calling in our modern world, and the examples/stories the author pulls in to illustrate the points. The author does an impressive job bringing in quotes/examples from a wide array of authors (theologians and others) and historical figures - one can learn quite a lot about quite a lot just from these. It helps the author has a slightly whimsical quality to his writing which makes his words more memorable. The author also provides useful prompts for reflection/discussion at the end of each chapter that work both for the individual or group.
All of this is focused around a main point: that as Christians we are Called; called to live our lives entirely to Christ; and that too often in the modern world our faith does not have the centrality it should. The theme of calling provides a a true and useful framework to engage with faith and the living out of our faith, and helps explore the many competing philosophies and pressures we face in life. The book provides numerous opportunities to consider the frequent philosophical challenges we face - even if we dont often pause to consider them.
Here are some of the may points that must stuck with me:
Regarding the title and theme of the book, "calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service."
On competing/common philosophies of the modern world (including rampant individualization/self-actualization): "As C.S. Lewis pointed out, 'The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become.' The alterative is the real disaster. 'The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call 'Myself' becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop.' Only when we respond to Christ and follow his call do we become our real selves and come to have personalities of our own...So when it comes to identity, modern people have things completely back to front: Professing to be unsure of God, they pretend to be sure of themselves. Followers of Christ put things the other way around: Unsure of ourselves, we are sure of God."
When considering work/other endeavors in the world, or drawing distinctions between spiritual calling/activities and secular: "If all that a believer does grows out of faith and is done for the glory of God, then all dualistic distinctions are demolished. There is no higher/lower, sacred/secular, perfect/permitted, contemplative/active, or first class/second class. Calling is the premise of Christian existence itself. Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) calling in response to God's (primary) calling." (The author also clearly discusses how in the modern world we have also sometimes over emphasized vocation as a good/virtue in and of itself and neglected its connection to the primary calling: "We must resolutely refuse to play the word games that pretend calling means anything with a Caller."
"God normally calls us along the line of our giftedness, but the purpose of giftedness is stewardship and service, not selfishness."
"Commitment to our corporate calling means that we must honor the purpose and interest of the church of Christ in all our individual callings. One way in which we fail to do this is through the error of "particularism" - the idea that there is only one particular Christian way to do a thing and, of course, that our way is "the Christian way." The fallacy of particularism stems from the fact that God has not spoken definitively to us about everything. Obviously he did not intend to. It is an error for Christians to make relative what God has made absolute. But it is equally an error for Christians to make absolute what God has left relative...This point means there is no one Christian form of politics any more than there is one Christian form of poetry, raising a family, running an economy, or planning a retirement. Many ways are definitely not Christian, but no one way alone is."
"Calling reminds Christians ceaselessly that, far from having arrived, a Christian is someone who in this life is always on the road as 'a follower of Christ' and a follower of the 'the Way'."
"Critics and enemies of the church are no more objective and fair than any other critics and enemies. But what is troubling is a recurring motif in their accusations: Only rarely and with a special spite is 'Christianity' indicted for being too Christlike; far more commonly it is convicted of being not Christ-like enough."..."Clearly there is a direct link between the profession of faith, the practice of faith, and the plausibility of faith. Practice what you preach and you commend your faith; don't and you contradict it. 'By this all men will know you are my disciples,' Jesus said, 'if you love one another.' Or as Erasmus reminded his contemporaries a millennium and a half later in a more corrupt generation, 'if we would bring the Turks to Christianity, we must first be Christians."
"Do we feel the wonder of being called? It is all a gift and all a grace...only grace can dissolve the hard, solitary, vaunting "I" of the sin of pride in each of us. But the good news is that it does."
"Traditionally envy was regarded as the second worst and second most prevalent of the seven deadly sins. Like pride, it is a sin of the spirit...its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the one vice that is perpetrators never enjoy and rarely confess."
"What privatized faith lacks, in one word, is totality. People may say and sing that 'Jesus is Lord,' but what they demonstrate is something else...the problem with Western Christians is not that they aren't where they should be but they aren't what they should be where they are."
Three pitfalls for faith in the public life: Privatization, Politicization, and Pillarization.
"TS Eliot wrote: 'Can a lifetime represent a single motive."...In any and all situations, both today and tomorrow, God's call to us is the unchanging and ultimate whence, what, why, and whither of our lives. Calling is a 'yes' to God that carries a 'no' to the chaos of modern demands. Calling is the key to tracing the story line of our lives and unriddling the meaning of our existence in the modern world."
"In a speech...Albert Einstein delivered 'My Credo.' 'I am often worried,' he said, 'at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings, and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them,' But most of us forget all that, and ever deeper debts, becasue we are modern. All we have is our entitlement...What does it mean to repay in life?...By its very character, the modern world answers: You owe nothing. BY its very character, the Christian gospel answers: You owe everything. Thus a further dimension of calling appears - calling is a reminder for followers of Christ that nothing in life should be taken for granted; everything in life must be received with gratitude."
"So we are on a journey and we are truly travelers, with all the attendant costs, risks, and dangers of the journey. Never in life can we say we have arrived. But we know why we have lost our original home and, more importantly, we know the home to which we are going."
"In so living, we find the fullest meaning of our lives in answering the call.
We seek our identity solely in our naming by the Caller
We pursue excellence defined by 'My utmost for His highest.'...
We look for final approval only from one audience - the Audience of one.
We break down every false barrier between the sacred and the secular in to a seamless web of faith and love in action.
And we work for no other accomplishment or legacy than the Caller's own 'Well done.'
The menial and humdrum we elevate because of the one for whom it's ultimately done.
The dangerous and sacrificial we bear as a privilege of high calling.
The siren sounds of ease, success, and popularity we shun for a trustworthier voice.
We know that, primarily, we are called not to somewhere or some thing but to Someone.
That there is no true calling without the Caller."
All of this is focused around a main point: that as Christians we are Called; called to live our lives entirely to Christ; and that too often in the modern world our faith does not have the centrality it should. The theme of calling provides a a true and useful framework to engage with faith and the living out of our faith, and helps explore the many competing philosophies and pressures we face in life. The book provides numerous opportunities to consider the frequent philosophical challenges we face - even if we dont often pause to consider them.
Here are some of the may points that must stuck with me:
Regarding the title and theme of the book, "calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service."
On competing/common philosophies of the modern world (including rampant individualization/self-actualization): "As C.S. Lewis pointed out, 'The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become.' The alterative is the real disaster. 'The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call 'Myself' becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop.' Only when we respond to Christ and follow his call do we become our real selves and come to have personalities of our own...So when it comes to identity, modern people have things completely back to front: Professing to be unsure of God, they pretend to be sure of themselves. Followers of Christ put things the other way around: Unsure of ourselves, we are sure of God."
When considering work/other endeavors in the world, or drawing distinctions between spiritual calling/activities and secular: "If all that a believer does grows out of faith and is done for the glory of God, then all dualistic distinctions are demolished. There is no higher/lower, sacred/secular, perfect/permitted, contemplative/active, or first class/second class. Calling is the premise of Christian existence itself. Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) calling in response to God's (primary) calling." (The author also clearly discusses how in the modern world we have also sometimes over emphasized vocation as a good/virtue in and of itself and neglected its connection to the primary calling: "We must resolutely refuse to play the word games that pretend calling means anything with a Caller."
"God normally calls us along the line of our giftedness, but the purpose of giftedness is stewardship and service, not selfishness."
"Commitment to our corporate calling means that we must honor the purpose and interest of the church of Christ in all our individual callings. One way in which we fail to do this is through the error of "particularism" - the idea that there is only one particular Christian way to do a thing and, of course, that our way is "the Christian way." The fallacy of particularism stems from the fact that God has not spoken definitively to us about everything. Obviously he did not intend to. It is an error for Christians to make relative what God has made absolute. But it is equally an error for Christians to make absolute what God has left relative...This point means there is no one Christian form of politics any more than there is one Christian form of poetry, raising a family, running an economy, or planning a retirement. Many ways are definitely not Christian, but no one way alone is."
"Calling reminds Christians ceaselessly that, far from having arrived, a Christian is someone who in this life is always on the road as 'a follower of Christ' and a follower of the 'the Way'."
"Critics and enemies of the church are no more objective and fair than any other critics and enemies. But what is troubling is a recurring motif in their accusations: Only rarely and with a special spite is 'Christianity' indicted for being too Christlike; far more commonly it is convicted of being not Christ-like enough."..."Clearly there is a direct link between the profession of faith, the practice of faith, and the plausibility of faith. Practice what you preach and you commend your faith; don't and you contradict it. 'By this all men will know you are my disciples,' Jesus said, 'if you love one another.' Or as Erasmus reminded his contemporaries a millennium and a half later in a more corrupt generation, 'if we would bring the Turks to Christianity, we must first be Christians."
"Do we feel the wonder of being called? It is all a gift and all a grace...only grace can dissolve the hard, solitary, vaunting "I" of the sin of pride in each of us. But the good news is that it does."
"Traditionally envy was regarded as the second worst and second most prevalent of the seven deadly sins. Like pride, it is a sin of the spirit...its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the one vice that is perpetrators never enjoy and rarely confess."
"What privatized faith lacks, in one word, is totality. People may say and sing that 'Jesus is Lord,' but what they demonstrate is something else...the problem with Western Christians is not that they aren't where they should be but they aren't what they should be where they are."
Three pitfalls for faith in the public life: Privatization, Politicization, and Pillarization.
"TS Eliot wrote: 'Can a lifetime represent a single motive."...In any and all situations, both today and tomorrow, God's call to us is the unchanging and ultimate whence, what, why, and whither of our lives. Calling is a 'yes' to God that carries a 'no' to the chaos of modern demands. Calling is the key to tracing the story line of our lives and unriddling the meaning of our existence in the modern world."
"In a speech...Albert Einstein delivered 'My Credo.' 'I am often worried,' he said, 'at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings, and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them,' But most of us forget all that, and ever deeper debts, becasue we are modern. All we have is our entitlement...What does it mean to repay in life?...By its very character, the modern world answers: You owe nothing. BY its very character, the Christian gospel answers: You owe everything. Thus a further dimension of calling appears - calling is a reminder for followers of Christ that nothing in life should be taken for granted; everything in life must be received with gratitude."
"So we are on a journey and we are truly travelers, with all the attendant costs, risks, and dangers of the journey. Never in life can we say we have arrived. But we know why we have lost our original home and, more importantly, we know the home to which we are going."
"In so living, we find the fullest meaning of our lives in answering the call.
We seek our identity solely in our naming by the Caller
We pursue excellence defined by 'My utmost for His highest.'...
We look for final approval only from one audience - the Audience of one.
We break down every false barrier between the sacred and the secular in to a seamless web of faith and love in action.
And we work for no other accomplishment or legacy than the Caller's own 'Well done.'
The menial and humdrum we elevate because of the one for whom it's ultimately done.
The dangerous and sacrificial we bear as a privilege of high calling.
The siren sounds of ease, success, and popularity we shun for a trustworthier voice.
We know that, primarily, we are called not to somewhere or some thing but to Someone.
That there is no true calling without the Caller."
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