I’m confused, what’s the difference?

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him”. - Philippians 2:13

When we were children, we were all asked the same question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” and we would all answer “when I grow up I’d like to be…”. When I was a young child I would answer “when I grow up I’d like to be a lawyer”. Looking back I didn’t really but I think it was just the first job I thought of. Then in my teens it changed to a social worker, I did actually want to do this. Then in my late teens it changed to marketing. By the way, I haven’t done any of those jobs! 

Some people know exactly what they want to do from the age of 5 and they end up doing that job until they retire. If you asked them they would say it was their purpose or calling in life. We hear these two terms thrown around a lot, especially in Christian circles. You hear people say “God has shown me my purpose” or more commonly “I need God to show me my calling”. You’ll sometimes also hear “I need God to tell me what my assignment in life is”. 

These three words, purpose, calling and assignment get thrown around interchangeably and I find people get confused by what they actually mean. So lets break them down in the Christian context…

Your purpose

I think this is one that people get the most confused about. A lot of people think their purpose is a particular task that they have to do for God or a job they should do for the Kingdom, like a pastor, worship leader or Sunday school teacher. As a result people overthink their purpose when it is really simple. As Christians our purpose in life is this:

1. Love God

2. Love people 

3. Make disciples

That’s it! It’s not about the job you do, or the qualifications you have. All Christians have the same purpose and ALL Christians can AND are meant to do this regardless of your age, race, gender, marital status or if you have a job or not. 

Loving God is pretty straightforward. However, some of you may struggle with the second command of loving people. When Jesus is talking about loving people He says you have to love people like you love yourself. So straightaway, you know that Jesus is saying that you have to love yourself. 

If you struggle to love yourself because of past trauma, low self esteem or any other reason. Then firstly, I would suggest being very open about this with God during your prayers. In your prayers also ask Him to open your heart, to allow Him to help you to start to like who you are and then to love who you are because God loves you. Secondly, I would suggest finding a therapist or a free support group to help you unpack and explore why you don’t like or love yourself. Remember God created therapists for a reason, they compliment our prayers.

If you struggle to love yourself and you don’t do these two things, then you love people like you love yourself… which is you not loving them! You are already failing to fulfil God’s purpose in your life. 

Also, the love of people that you don’t know well or at all, that Jesus is talking about is not the same love you have for your family, kids, husband or wife. That is familial love or romantic love. When Jesus says to love people, outside of family, He is talking about agape love. Agape love is VERY different to romantic or familial love. 

Agape love is the type of love Christians must have for everyone and I mean everyone outside of their friends and family. Agape means unconditional, selfless love when nothing is expected in return. This is the love that God has for all humanity, whether they love Him or hate Him. As Christians because we represent Christ on earth we have to love all of God’s creations the same way God does, even if they hate you.

I should stress that agape love does not mean loving people's sinful actions. We must have selfless love for the person God initially created but not for the sinful actions the person has decided to do. For example, if a person is really mean to you,  then they clearly have hate in their heart towards you and that is a sin. Therefore, you don’t love that they are mean to you because we can’t love what God hates and God hates sin. Same could be said if your husband cheats on you, adultery is a sin, so you can’t love his action of cheating because God hates that action. However God still loves the original essence of His creation before they decided to be mean to you or cheat on you. That is what you are loving, the original essence of the person- God’s creation, even if you don’t like them very much because of their actions.

We don’t need to be an influential person or a pastor in a church to make disciples. Jesus told ALL Christians to do it, no matter how many people you know. There isn’t a set place to find people or a set way to tell people about Jesus. God makes us all uniquely, so billions of people in the world will receive, and God willing, accept information about Jesus in a range of ways. All Jesus said is to go out and make disciples, so this doesn’t have to be in a church or a church event. This can be at your workplace, your sports team, on the road you live on, at your child’s school or at your local library, the list is endless. 

It might seem scary to do this but if you are living your life being bold and open about your faith, then curious people will naturally ask you questions. All you have to do is be available to sprinkle the seed, by answering their questions and encouraging them to seek Jesus, so God can water the seed. Remember as Christians we don’t convert anyone, only God does that, we just sprinkle the seeds. 

Helping people come to Christ doesn’t have to actually involve leaving your house. It could be through your social media or your WhatsApp Statuses, telling people about God and the gift of salvation through Christ. It can even be as simple as not hiding your Christian faith on your social media accounts and sharing posts and photos as you live your life bold in your faith. This may help your friends and family ask you questions about Jesus because you are living your life with God- the Father, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit at the centre of it. Or you could start a blog like me!

I’ve helped people learn more about God and Christianity face to face. Through the conventional way of preaching in church, to some of the more unconventional ways listed above like at work or through running workshops. I also use online, as you know by reading this! For me there is nothing better than knowing that hell has lost another one.  

“Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’“ - Matthew 22:37-39

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. - Matthew 28:19

Your calling

When God said He knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb and that He knows the number of hairs on all our heads, He meant it. God created us all uniquely to complete our callings for Him. This is important to stress that it isn’t a calling for you personally. Everything God wants us to do is ultimately for Him and His Kingdom. 

So what is a calling? Your calling is your lifelong identity in Christ. The identity that God assigned to you before you were born. God created your personality so that it would shape who you will be for the rest of your life. God also gave you certain gifts, whether you realise it or not. These gifts are to help you achieve your calling.

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord”. - 1 Corinthians 12:4-5

What you are called to do doesn’t change, it is your lifelong identity. However, how you do it might change throughout your life. It could be through your job, or your hobby, or volunteering or just being the right presence in people’s lives. 

If we look at Joseph in the Bible (Not Jesus’ earthly dad, the other Joseph), he clearly had a calling, which was to be a leader and be influential which would eventually save Egypt and his family from starvation. However if you know about Joseph’s life, you know that how he did this changed throughout his life. You can read more about Joseph here.

“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly”. - Romans 12:6-8

An example of what a calling is. If God has called you to help people, then this is what you will do for the rest of your life. However how you do it may change during your life. 

Another example is God calling you to fight injustice in society. This is what God will want you to do during your life. Again, how you fight injustice may change in your lifetime.

Personally for me, God has called me to teach. I know this because God revealed it to me in a strong vision during my prayer time. So I know I will do this during my life, however how I do this will change during my lifetime. I have taught people about God, trauma, overcoming trauma, improving emotional wellbeing or all four subjects at the same time! So far all the teaching I have done has been outside the traditional classroom. It’s been in church, in non-religious buildings, through small groups online, with adults, with children, through discipleship or workshops. In the future I could teach on different topics, in a different format, to 1 person or 200 people. The consistent thing is that I will be teaching and it will ultimately be for God’s will. That's what a calling is. 

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart”. - Jeremiah 1:5

“And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows”. - Luke 12:7

Your assignment

Now on to the final phrase that confuses people, your assignment. Your assignment compliments your calling. Like I said, your calling is the thing that God has planned for you to do for the rest of your life, it is part of your identity in Christ. Now your assignment is a particular task that you will do, for a certain period of time, that will help you achieve your calling. Your assignment could last for a few minutes, hours, weeks or years. 

Also God can give you a certain spiritual gift for a particular assignment and once you have completed that assignment you can lose that gift. Look at Mary for example, her gift of being able to conceive a baby without sexual intercourse happened once for an assignment and never happened again. 

Examples of assignments are:

• If you are called to fight injustice, then an assignment could be helping your neighbour contact the council because of anti-social behaviour from the local teens on the road. 

• If you are called to create, then an assignment could be running weekly art workshops for people dealing with loneliness

• If you are called to share the love of Jesus, then an assignment could be reading a couple of chapters of a children’s Bible to your child or grandchild at bedtime.  

All three examples are doing tasks that you are good at and also representing the light and goodness of Christ while doing it. 

If we go back to Joseph in the Bible, he had many assignments to make him achieve his calling. These were being thrown into slavery, being a steward for an official,  being sent to prison, being the prison cook, interpreting pharaoh's dreams and being promoted to the governor of Egypt (again, you can read about Joseph here). This shows that your assignments can be varied and not all assignments for your calling make you happy. They do develop your character though!

It’s important to remember that an assignment is a temporary role within your calling. Throughout your life you will have many assignments. It is important to understand this because people can get really upset when God decides that an assignment has come to an end. This is because the person has confused that particular assignment with their calling. The assignment has ended, not the calling. As the age old saying goes, when one door closes another door opens. The calling continues, just with a new assignment. 

“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps”. -  Proverbs 16:9 

How will I know?

If you have truly surrendered to Christ and you follow God’s purpose, then by default you will develop a relationship with God the Father, through Christ, which will help you discover your calling and assignments.

Talking to God when you pray, as well as making space and silence during your prayer time to… wait for it… actually wait for God’s answers will help you to discover His plans for you and your assignments. 

Also, because God has decided what your calling is, you will find that you keep ending up in situations where you feel a pull to certain topics, or you will have a strong passion to sort out a particular issue or you can’t shake an idea out of your mind no matter how hard you try. If you find this happening, then that is most likely the Holy Spirit, within you, guiding you to your calling and your assignments. 

I know it can be exciting trying to achieve your calling and assignments but also scary because you don’t want to make the wrong decisions and do the opposite of what God wants you to do. Just remember that as long as you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Saviour, that He died for your sins and rose from the dead. You surrender to God, listen to Him and repent of your sins daily to God the Father through Jesus. Then you will be ok because God will make sure you achieve your calling and assignments for Him no matter how long it takes or what happens along the way.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them”. - Romans: 8-28