Exodus 35:30–36:1; Jeremiah 1:4–8; Colossians 3:16–17

Bible Studies for Life
Associate Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

HAVE YOU FOUND YOUR PLACE?
Exodus 35:30–36:1; Jeremiah 1:4–8; Colossians 3:16–17
Because Christians instinctively want to follow God’s will for their lives and know that His will applies to the totality of their lives, they are naturally anxious to know how His will might relate to their vocational lives. The three texts selected for this week’s lesson focus our attention on three dimensions of our experience of finding our personal “place” within God’s will for His world.

As we think about the relation of God’s calling to our careers, we should keep in mind that the way an educated class in a prosperous nation may entertain this question is quite different from how the vast majority of people in the world today, and indeed throughout human history, must necessarily think about how their work relates to His will.  To ask “What career does God want me to choose?” is to ask a question rooted in a very privileged place in life that is experienced by a very small number of people, mainly in North America and Europe (and by no means by all who live in those places). Most people must spend their lives doing whatever work is available where they are that will enable them to care for their families. Inasmuch as alternative modes of existence are limited and it is always God’s will for people to provide for their families and meet the needs of others as they are able, that work is part of His will for their lives. We should remember that it is a rare privilege to be able to choose our work, and we should learn from those who cannot that God’s will for our lives always involves our work but also transcends our chosen profession.

Created for Creativity (Ex. 35:30–36:1)
Part of finding our place within God’s will has to do with discerning the sort of person He has created us to be. God has created each of us in the image of the creator God to have a capacity for creativity — for contributing something to the world that shares in the care God has for it. In this passage, Bezalel and Oholiab were master craftsmen whose artistic skill and knowledge — and ability to instruct others in their craft — were given to them by God and used by Him for the specific short-term purpose of constructing a place of worship for His people.

As we use the skills and knowledge God has given us for the betterment of the world, we find our place in His will. Just as Bezalel and Oholiab likely had careers practicing their trade before and after their contributions to the construction of the tabernacle, so we may exercise the unique set of skills and knowledge God has entrusted to us in the pursuit of what are wrongly called “secular” careers. In doing so, we are doing what He created us to do. And like Bezalel and Oholiab, sometimes God also may call us to place those skills and knowledge in the service of some aspect of the ministry of the church. Both ways of practicing our God-given capacity for creativity participate in His work in the world.

Called to Specific Ministries (Jer. 1:4–8)
God calls all people to participate in His work in the world through the use of their God-given gifts. As with the prophet Jeremiah, this is rooted in the mystery of God’s creative intent for individual people. Yet such forms of ministry are not merely the exercise of natural gifts, God-given though they may be. God equips, guides and strengthens those whom He calls to places of leadership and service in the church — and this divine work is not only on behalf of those who are paid for their contributions to the ministry of the church. God does this also for all who are called and commissioned to do the ministry of the church by virtue of their baptism.

God’s Will in the Mundane (Col. 3:16–17)
Whether we find a sense of fulfillment in our employment and whether we are called to vocational forms of Christian ministry, our daily lives are full of opportunities to do “whatever” it is that we do “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Every routine responsibility, however mundane or menial it might seem, is an opportunity to participate in God’s work in the world — and that is our place.