- Foundations
- Beginning Again: God’s Mercies in the New Year
- What Are My Defaults as a Programmer?
- Vocation, Not Just Output
We live in a world that measures value by output.
From an early age, we are trained to ask questions like What do you do? and What have you achieved? We track progress through metrics, milestones, reviews, and results. In professional life especially, worth is often inferred from productivity. To be busy is to be valuable. To slow down is to risk falling behind.
This logic does not stop at the office door. Over time, it seeps into how we understand ourselves. We begin to internalise the idea that we matter because of what we produce — our work, our usefulness, our contribution.
And then, quietly, exhaustion sets in.
Christian faith offers a different starting point.
Before Jesus performs a single miracle, before he teaches publicly, before he calls disciples or heals the sick, he hears these words spoken over him:
This affirmation comes before output, not after it. It is not a reward for performance; it is a declaration of identity.
This order matters more than we often realise.
Identity Before Activity
In the Christian story, vocation flows from relationship, not achievement. We are not first defined by what we do, but by who we belong to. Activity follows identity, not the other way around.
When this order is reversed, work becomes a burden we were never meant to carry. Output becomes a substitute for worth. Success becomes fragile. Failure becomes devastating.
Many of us know this tension personally. Even work we enjoy can begin to feel oppressive when it carries the weight of self-justification. We chase competence, recognition, or impact not because we love the work, but because we fear being insignificant without it.
Vocation offers a gentler, truer framework.
The word itself comes from the Latin vocare — “to call”. Vocation is not simply employment. It is the way our lives respond to God’s call in the particular places we inhabit. It includes paid work, unpaid labour, caring responsibilities, creativity, service, and rest.
Importantly, vocation is not primarily about status. It is about faithfulness.
Work as Participation, Not Proof
Christian theology affirms work as meaningful. From the opening chapters of Genesis, human beings are invited to participate in God’s care for creation — to cultivate, tend, and steward. Work is not a punishment; it is a gift.
But work was never meant to bear the weight of identity.
When work becomes proof of worth, it distorts both the work and the worker. We begin to over-identify with outcomes. We struggle to rest. We find it difficult to accept limits. We fear failure not because it hurts, but because it threatens who we think we are.
Jesus consistently resists this logic. He withdraws from crowds. He refuses to perform on demand. He values people who have little to offer in terms of productivity or prestige.
In doing so, he reveals a truth that runs counter to our instincts: you are not loved because you are useful; you are useful because you are loved.
This distinction reshapes how we approach our work.
Faithfulness in Ordinary Places
One of the quiet temptations of vocational language is the idea that calling must be dramatic. We imagine vocation as something extraordinary — a radical career shift, a clear sense of destiny, a role that feels significant.
But most biblical callings are profoundly ordinary.
Farmers, fishermen, builders, administrators, parents, artisans — Scripture is full of people whose faithfulness unfolds in unglamorous contexts. Their vocation is not marked by visibility, but by perseverance.
This is good news for those whose work feels small, repetitive, or unnoticed.
Faithfulness does not require constant fulfilment. There are seasons when work is satisfying, and seasons when it is simply necessary. Vocation holds both without shame.
To live vocationally is not to enjoy every task, but to offer what we do — however imperfectly — as part of a larger story. It is to recognise that God is at work even when we feel bored, overlooked, or tired.
When Output Crowds Out Calling
There are warning signs when output begins to eclipse vocation.
- We struggle to stop working, even when rest is needed.
- We feel threatened by others’ success.
- We measure ourselves relentlessly against metrics.
- We interpret setbacks as personal failures rather than situational challenges.
These patterns are not signs of ambition; they are signs of misplaced weight.
The gospel does not remove responsibility or excellence from our work. It reframes them. Excellence becomes an expression of care rather than a defence of worth. Responsibility becomes service rather than self-protection.
When vocation is grounded in God’s call rather than our output, we gain freedom. Freedom to fail without despair. Freedom to change direction. Freedom to say no. Freedom to rest.
Rediscovering Vocation This Year
At the beginning of a new year, it is tempting to set goals that focus solely on achievement. Targets, promotions, outputs, milestones. These are not inherently wrong. But they are incomplete.
Alongside them, we might ask deeper questions:
- What kind of person am I becoming through my work?
- Where am I being invited to practise faithfulness rather than visibility?
- What would it look like to work from belonging rather than anxiety?
Vocation is rarely clarified all at once. It is discerned gradually, through attention, prayer, and honesty. It shifts over time. It adapts to circumstance.
And it is always held within grace.
God’s call does not expire because we are tired. It does not disappear when work feels confusing. It does not depend on perfect clarity. It meets us in the middle of real life and invites us to trust that faithfulness is enough.
As this year unfolds, you may produce much — or very little. Either way, your worth does not fluctuate with your output.
You are called. You are held. And you are invited to work, not to earn love, but to express it.
Prayer
Gracious God,
we confess how easily we measure ourselves by what we produce.
Free us from the burden of proving our worth through our work.
Help us to receive our calling as a gift,
and to practise faithfulness in ordinary places.
Teach us to work from belonging rather than anxiety,
and to trust that you are at work even when we cannot see it.
Amen.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright © Crossway.
