What we spend most of our time doing
Stay married, and stay out of debt. Those are the first two things Christians should do if they want to change America in their generation. But those are really the scaffolding for the next one, which has to do with what we spend most of our waking hours doing: work.
I’m referring to work in the broadest sense. Work in a career. Work as a parent. And work in a ministry.
And more specifically, I am referring to a “calling”—which is work the Lord has assigned to each of us to do.
Doing what we are called to do
There is profit in all labor (Proverbs 14:23), so even the work Christians do that they may not be called to do can effect change. It’s just that performing work we have been called to do is generally more effective in changing the world.
A person may be called to be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher. Or they may be called to be a stay-at-home mom, a ministry volunteer, or a little league coach. Callings encompass all the Lord wants done on earth to make it function the way He intended.
So, He creates us with abilities that enable us to perform well the work He’s called us to do (Ephesians 2:10). As my father used to say, “Right tool for the right job.” And people generally enjoy what they do well, so they spend more time doing it, and they get better at doing it.
The development of ability at a specific task is what we call craft.
The importance of craft connected to calling
Calling and craft are themes that can be found in the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Minas.
Jesus told the Parable of the Minas because the disciples mistakenly thought the kingdom of God would manifest on the earth immediately and through Jesus (Luke 19:11).
In both parables, Jesus taught that He would be going away but would distribute responsibility over His creation to His servants.
In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 15:14-30) the master distributed tasks according to his servants’ abilities, which speaks to the importance of craft. Both parables include the theme that the Kingdom will manifest gradually through Jesus-followers being responsible with the work He has given them to do.
Responsibility and Kingdom territory
In the end, those who were responsible in the work they were given were rewarded with more responsibility, while those who were not had responsibility taken away. From this we learn that responsibility flows to competence. Jesus gives responsibility over the earth according to how well His followers discharge responsibility.
A lawyer becomes proficient at winning trials, so he gets bigger, more important cases. A salesperson outsells other salespeople, and she is given responsibility over a bigger territory. A plumber is exceptionally efficient and effective in repairing customer plumbing problems, so customers begin asking for him by name. In each instance, ordinary work leads to more responsibility over the earth, whether that responsibility pertains to people, places, or things.
When we do well in our jobs, the world gives us more responsibility, not because it cares about our religion but because it cares about its own success. The world distributes its land to those who do the best job farming it. It gives the keys to the store to those who run it best. Calling with craft leads to more responsibility, and more responsibility means more of the earth for the kingdom of God.
Not just seven mountains
It is not about Christians capturing Seven Mountains of Influence; it’s about Christians combining craft with calling on the seventy thousand mountains.
All callings, whether the territory entrusted to us is large or small, are sacred because of Him who calls us. The Master will reward us based on what we do on the mountain where He has called us.
If millions of Christians did this in thousands of ordinary places, that alone would change America in a generation. GS
