Perhaps most startling was I hadn’t realized the trail would end there.
Deep down, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. It was my calling. My dream. My passion. My purpose.
That was the problem: I had turned a passion into my purpose. The danger of allowing my passion to become my purpose meant I was more captivated with what I did instead of with Jesus.
If you had asked me if Jesus was my first love, I would have responded yes. But it wasn’t until the rug of my calling was pulled from under my feet that I could see He wasn’t. Instead, I had made my passion an idol.
Having lost what I thought I would do the rest of my life, I felt like a ship without an anchor. Mild depression loomed above my head like a dark storm cloud.
With shards of my dream still crunching underneath my feet, I struggled to make sense of what I was supposed to do now.
Somewhere along the way, a good gift designed to help me enjoy God sneakily crept into the role of my purpose undetected. And in doing so, my heart was obsessed with the gift instead of the Creator.
Our culture—both secular and Christian— often applauds this type of relentless pursuit above all else, but the Bible makes it clear our calling is not dependent upon what we do or where we live.
How Idolatry and Identity Impact Your Calling
“Though seeing many things, you do not obey. Though his ears are open, he does not listen.” – Isaiah 42:20 HCSB
One only needs to read the pages of the Old Testament to find this same pattern in the lives of the people of God. In Isaiah 42:18–25, Isaiah envisions the return of the Israelites from exile for their consistent turning away from God and toward false gods.
Whenever God’s people chase after idols, they forget who God is and who they are (Is 43:10). God reminds His children who they are in light of His character and connects their pursuit of idols to a rejection of Him and of this identity and purpose.
Just like the Israelites, we can fail to grasp the magnitude of who we were created to be and exchange it for far lesser things. We can sometimes treat our callings, gifts, or passions like the Israelites did theirs.
We can place our hope in something that cannot satisfy and divert our gaze away from the One we were made to worship.
We say, “If I get that job. If I get accepted into that college. If I move into that neighborhood. If I (fill in the blank).” We think if we get fulfillment from these purposes, we will be fully satisfied.
When we think our true ministry is around the corner or just beyond our reach or cannot imagine life without doing a certain thing, then our calling has become our purpose and an idol.
Read the rest of my piece on Living By Design.
“Though seeing many things, you do not obey. Though his ears are open, he does not listen.” – Isaiah 42:20 HCSB
One only needs to read the pages of the Old Testament to find this same pattern in the lives of the people of God. In Isaiah 42:18–25, Isaiah envisions the return of the Israelites from exile for their consistent turning away from God and toward false gods.
Whenever God’s people chase after idols, they forget who God is and who they are (Is 43:10). God reminds His children who they are in light of His character and connects their pursuit of idols to a rejection of Him and of this identity and purpose.
Just like the Israelites, we can fail to grasp the magnitude of who we were created to be and exchange it for far lesser things. We can sometimes treat our callings, gifts, or passions like the Israelites did theirs.
We can place our hope in something that cannot satisfy and divert our gaze away from the One we were made to worship.
We say, “If I get that job. If I get accepted into that college. If I move into that neighborhood. If I (fill in the blank).” We think if we get fulfillment from these purposes, we will be fully satisfied.
When we think our true ministry is around the corner or just beyond our reach or cannot imagine life without doing a certain thing, then our calling has become our purpose and an idol.
Read the rest of my piece on Living By Design.