Career Versus Calling

What is the difference between a career and a calling? Well, first of all, a calling is from God and its ultimate goal is God. Not all careers are callings, but they can be. A career, such as medicine, engineering, finance, and public safety can be a calling from God just as ordained ministry can be. How can you tell the difference?

In a Career you...In a Calling you...
...seek to be successful....seek to be valuable.
...look out for yourself....look after others.
...ask how to get from "here" to "there" (focus on destination)....ask whether going "there" is worth it. (focus on the journey).
...seek to make money....seek to make a difference rather than money.
...seek to be powerful....seek to lift up and protect the powerless.
...are detached from your deepest longings....heed your deepest longings.
...expend maximum input and achieve minimal results....achieve maximum results with minimal input (not always true, but usually is).
...experience more stress than fun....have lots of fun even when stressed.
...have a compartmentalized life....live an integrated life.
...live a life alien to your identity....live a life congruent with your identity.
...enjoy lots of pleasure (money, power, etc.); not much happiness....experience true happiness even when things may be unpleasant.
...believe you are the center of the universe....know that God is the center of the universe.

Some of the material in this table is based on Chapter 9 in "The Passion for the Possible" by William Sloane Coffin and on Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics". The table itself is from "The College Chaplain: A Practical Guide to Campus Ministry" by Stephen L. White (The Pilgrim Press, 2005).