What Is Your Vocation?

The Voice of Zion April 2026 - Round the Table --

Youth from the Cokato, Minn., congregation contributed these reflections and questions.

In the life of a believer, the word calling or vocation can sometimes sound large or distant, as if it refers only to life’s biggest decisions – career, family, or positions of responsibility. Yet the Christian understanding of calling is both simpler and deeper. Before anything else, God calls us to be His own: to believe the gospel, to live as His children, and to walk in faith and a good conscience. From this most precious calling flow the many smaller callings that fill our daily lives.

God places each person into particular circumstances – into families, friendships, congregations, schools, and communities. Within these places He gives gifts, experiences, and opportunities to serve. Some callings are visible and public, while others are quiet and unseen, yet all are meaningful in God’s kingdom. We can trust that the same heavenly Father who gives gifts also guides our path. We may make plans and wonder about the future, but we rest in the confidence that God knows what we need and leads His children with wisdom and care.

Our Gifts, Our Calling

Collected by the Cokato Youth Committee

Everyone has gifts. Some gifts are visible, others are not. As people, we categorize and value gifts according to our human reason, admiring some while belittling others. But all gifts are needed to serve God’s purpose. Every gift is needed in God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God has always had sufficient gifts because God knows what we need. 

A calling is the blend of the gifts we have received and the experiences we have developed. It includes our education, training, job, career, skills, interests, experiences and hobbies. As believers, a calling includes the things we have been asked to do by the congregation. Thus, everyone’s calling is different. 

A calling may seem to be something we decide ourselves, something that we stumble upon, or even something that has been laid out before us. But no matter how our calling comes, our calling is the result of God’s hand at work, even when we are unaware. We can securely leave concerns about the future to our heavenly Father. Our most important calling is that God has called us to be His children: to keep faith and good conscience.  

We often try to look into the future. This can make us excited, or it can cause doubt and worry. It is good to plan. But our plans often differ from God’s plan. We can look forward to what God will provide for us. We plan, but God decides. It is important to strive to be content with this. We need regular reminders to trust that God will guide His children in the days of tomorrow. For a child of God, the future walks hand in hand with trust. We endeavor in prayer, and in the confidence of God’s grace.

What do Young Ones Say?

• “I would say that calling, gifts, and the future are topics often discussed at haps. Within my friend group we talk about our futures and what God has planned for us. Some wonder what it will look like if they get married, have children, or what their careers will be. I think it is important to trust that God has a plan for us. This is a good topic to discuss while hanging out with our peers. Around the haps age, new God-given gifts start appearing. We may be called to share our gifts for different needs. I think it’s important that we use the gifts God has given, such as playing the piano for haps. The tasks don’t have to be huge. If you are called to use your gifts, big or small, it may be difficult, but God doesn’t give us gifts we can’t handle. I think it’s important to be a willing worker in God’s kingdom.”

• “When I think of a calling, especially as a young person, I think the most important thing to understand is that God calls us to preciously believe and to be a light to the world. God gives gifts to everyone, and it is important to use the gifts that God gave, but not to boast about them. At haps, we often talk about our futures, things like work, marriage, where we will live, or even where we are going for lunch today. It’s important to remember that only God knows our future, and that we accept what God gives as it comes.”

What Does the Bible Say?

Despite living a life of heavy trial, Prophet Jeremiah encourages believers to hope for the future, reminding of God’s good care and blessing, and that He promises to guide and protect His children on the way to heaven:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11, NIV)

Apostle Paul counsels his young coworker, Timothy, and believers today, of God’s benevolence and grace, and that God’s plan for each person has existed since the dawn of creation:

He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time (2 Tim. 1:9, NIV)

From prison in Rome, Apostle Paul exhorts God’s children to live a life that honors our highest calling, the call to faith:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (Eph. 4:1, NIV)

Apostle Paul explains that the Holy Spirit distributes and employs gifts in God’s kingdom to serve His purpose:

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. (1 Cor. 12:4–6, NIV)

Peter urges all believers to freely serve with the gifts we have been given: 

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. (1 Pet. 4:10,11, NIV)