Skip to Main Content

Reflections on Vocation

November 22, 2021 - 5 minute read


Dr. David Loy speaking

Lutherans use the word “vocation” to refer to our various social roles.

I am married, so husband is one of my vocations. I am also a father, a son, a brother, a neighbor, a professor, and so forth. Each of these roles is a vocation into which God has placed me. Yet the word “voca- tion” comes from the Latin word vocare, to call. So my vocations are not simply roles into which God has placed me, but arenas in which he calls me to love my neighbor as he first loved me in Christ.

But how does God call us to love our neighbors? He certainly uses the Bible to do so. However, he also calls us in another way. Think for a moment about an infant. The vast majority of human beings take care of the infants they bear. They feed them, bathe them, and change their diapers. I would venture to guess that a majority of the people in the world do so without having read the Bible. In fact, they remain faithful in marriage (as they understand it), support their families, make and sustain friendships, contribute to the political life of their communities, give to those in need, and help the injured—all without hearing God’s call in the Bible to love their neighbors.

This suggests that God calls us to love our neighbors not only through the Bible but also through the needs of the people we encounter in our various roles in life. The suffering of others evokes compassion within us, and the needs of others move us to action. And by “us” I mean us human beings, not simply Christians.

Why is this? One explanation is that God himself is moved to compassion and action by our human need and suffering. It was for us and for our salvation that the second person of the Trinity came down from heaven and was incarnate as man and was crucified. It was for the hungry and the grieving and the demon-oppressed that our Lord Jesus exercised his divine power during his earthly ministry. And it is this loving, compassionate God who created us in the first place. This loving, compassionate God created Adam and Eve to care for one another—in fact, to enact his love toward one another.

It stands to reason, then, that we who were created by this loving and compassionate God to enact his love toward one another should be moved by the needs of others. It is true that our reactions are marred by sin because of the fall, but most human beings are still moved to compassion and action by human needs and suffering. Sensitivity to the needs of others is part of our created nature.

Reflections on Vocation image

In fact, God’s call in the Bible to love our neighbor is rather general. God did not give us a procedure manual with step-by-step instructions for navigating every situation we might encounter in each of our vocations. Instead, he gave us the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. With that forgiveness, he sets us free—free to love the specific individuals we encounter in ways appropriate to their unique circumstances and our own. Even Christians, who hear an explicit call from God in the Bible to love our neighbors, are still moved to action by the needs and suffering of our fellow human beings.

This means that all of us, whether Christian or not, hear God’s call to our various roles in life through the needs and suffering of our fellow human beings. Moreover, God blesses our work in these vocations whether we are Christian or not, for he uses our work to accomplish his providential purposes in the world. Through the work of both Christian and non-Christian parents, God cares for children and raises them. Through the work of Christian and non-Christian accountants, God gives companies the financial information they need to maintain sustainable business operations and pay their employees, vendors, and suppliers. Through the work of both Christian and non-Christian nurses, God provides healing and care for the sick and dying.

God uses our ordinary work to bring about a certain kind of flourishing in the world. Just as he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike, so he also uses the work of Christians and non-Christians alike so that all people can enjoy the fruits of this beautiful world he created for us.

As the creation narrative in Genesis makes clear, God created the natural world in part to provide food and meaningful labor for us. Even after the fall, he continued to bless the labor of Adam and Eve and their descendants so that we human beings could enjoy the fruits of the earth and the benefits of society. Even after the flood, he declared that “seedtime and harvest” would not cease so that our physical needs are met (Genesis 8:22 ESV). And Jesus blessed the wedding at Cana, a sign of his blessing not only on marriage but on all the social structures in which God meets our physical, emotional, and social needs through other human beings.

Luther even argued in the Large Catechism that Satan tries to under- mine human social and political structures not just to counteract the preaching of the Gospel, but also to deprive human beings of the other blessings God gives through stable societies (LC, Lord’s Prayer, Third Petition, lines 80-81). God’s left-hand reign in this world aims at human flourishing—physical, social, and emotional—and he accomplishes it through both Christians and non-Christians alike.

This belief lies at the root of Concordia University Irvine’s mission: “Concordia University Irvine, guided by the Great Commission of Christ Jesus and the Lutheran Confessions, empowers students through the liberal arts and professional studies for lives of learning, service and leadership.” We admit all qualified students, not just Christians, because all people are called by the needs and suffering of our fellow human beings to love their neighbors. We prepare all students because God uses all people to help their fellow human beings flourish physically, socially, and emotionally.

But at Concordia University Irvine we also understand something that secular universities do not: God also wants people to flourish spiritually through faith in Christ. For this reason, even as we prepare all students to follow God’s call to love their fellow human beings, we also share the good news that God loves each of them so much that he gave his Son Jesus to give them eternal life. Everyone is called to love, just as every- one was first loved by Christ.

Rev. Dr. David Loy is the Associate Dean of Christ College, Director of the FaithWorks Center, and Professor of Philosophy, Theology and Ethics at Concordia University Irvine. This article is based on Loy’s 2021 Trembath lecture.

Back to top