It’s always enjoyable to listen to the wisdom and teaching of David Breidenbach. But this week, I felt like it hit home in many ways. I have been so focused on “vocation” this past year as I started a new job: fighting the desire to have my job become part of my identity, fighting to not focus on the rewards of money, commissions, or doing better than my coworkers. But the reminder that our vocation can be a valuable and effective response of our salvation was a refreshing sound to my perspective. Our job is not just a job. The work we do, whether enjoyable or toiling, can be a direct reflection of God’s grace that he bestowed on us. As I reflected about this, I thought through how this can be put into practice. How can I allow my job or vocation to be a beacon of light to the world as opposed to an idol in my life? How can I create space in my day to refocus and recenter my purpose and my calling? It has been difficult for me to step further away from full time ministry over the last four years. Even as a Youth Pastor, I allowed that vocation to be an idol and a strong piece of my identity. But I should not have even justified that to myself because it was ministry that needed to be re-prioritized in my heart. Now having a non-ministry focused vocation, I find it easier to parse apart what is vocation and what is spiritual. But the practical piece of this truth is that they should not be separate. I can glorify God with how I interact with teachers and with students. I can glorify God by praying for those I interact with. I can spend time and effort to influence my coworkers that there is more to life and this job than money and success. I can love others well when they are hurting or when they are low. I can show others that my God and my family come first by the way I manage my schedule. These seem, at times, small and obsolete, but they change my perspective of myself and my purpose throughout the day. As David confessed, “I am far from perfect”. I can easily agree. Not every day has that focus or drive. But through God’s grace and the truth of promises in the Gospel, we can navigate the divide between who we are in Christ (holy, righteous, founded in the eternal) and the world. We live a constant contradiction of self when we are alive in Christ. We have been born again without changing bodies. This paradox allows us to live differently and love differently. It allows us to focus on things beyond ourselves and beyond our vocation. So today, I will focus on my Heavenly Father. Today I will shine light to those I speak with. It is not a sprint, but a marathon. And those who know me as a yearbook salesman will start to see that there is more to me than knowing book specs and yearbook technologies. Whatever you do for a vocation - you can do this, too. May God bless us as we break down the idols of jobs and false identities, and guide us into the spiritual realm of God as we walk these streets.

~ Jeremy Warren