Real Life #3: “Did God Call Me? How to Discover My Purpose Without Becoming a Pastor” — Ending the Sacred-Secular Divide

by | Jan 14, 2026 | Relationships

Estimated reading time: 20-25 minutes

Series: Real Life: Maturity in Practice (Episode 3)

Keywords: christian purpose and calling, secular work is sacred, meaning of avodah, bezalel and the holy spirit, colossians 3:23, priesthood of all believers, jesus the carpenter, god’s calling.

Introduction: The Monday Morning Blues

It’s Sunday night. The service is over. Your heart is full; you can still feel the presence of God, impacted by the sermon and the worship songs. You feel like a “spiritual giant.” But then you drive home, lay your head on the pillow, and a mild anguish begins to creep in. Why? Because tomorrow is Monday.

Tomorrow you have to go back to that cubicle full of gossip. Tomorrow you have to go back to the construction site full of dust and swearing. Tomorrow you have to go back to the classroom with rebellious students. Tomorrow you have to go back to the pile of dirty dishes and diapers.

Many Christians live with a secret sense of failure or of being second-class believers. They look at the pastor in the pulpit, the missionaries in Africa, or the worship leaders on stage and think: “Those people are truly serving God. They have a purpose. Me? I’m just an accountant. I’m just a dentist. I’m just an Uber driver. I am spending 40 to 60 hours of my week doing things that will burn at the end of time.”

This mindset creates a “Spiritual Schizophrenia.” We divide life into two boxes:

  1. The Sacred Box: Sunday, prayer, Bible reading, evangelism. (Here God is present and smiling).
  2. The Secular Box: Work, college, paying bills, mowing the lawn. (Here God is absent or indifferent, and we do it only out of obligation).

If you feel this way, I have urgent news: You have been deceived. This division does not exist in the Bible. It is a heritage of Greek thought (Gnosticism), not Hebrew thought. God is no more interested in the pastor’s sermon than He is in the accountant’s spreadsheet. Today, we are going to open the Scriptures to discover that your “secular” job is not an obstacle to your calling; it is the vehicle of your calling. We will discover that the kitchen sink and the operating table are altars just as sacred as the church pulpit.

Get ready to redefine your Monday morning.

1. The First Worker: God Got His Hands Dirty (Genesis 1 and 2)

To understand the purpose of work, we need to go back to the beginning, before sin ruined everything. Many people think that work is a Curse. They think: “Adam sinned, and that’s why God punished him by making him work.” Wrong.

Open your Bible to Genesis 2:15, before the Fall (Genesis 3):

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

Work was invented by God in Paradise. Work is not a consequence of sin; work is a reflection of the Image of God. The first presentation God makes of Himself in the Bible is not as Father, nor as King, nor as Savior. In Genesis 1:1, God introduces Himself as a Worker.

  • “In the beginning, God created…” (Architect/Engineer).
  • He “separated the waters” (Chemist/Physicist).
  • He “planted a garden” (Gardener/Landscape Architect).
  • He shaped man from the clay (Artisan/Sculptor).

God is a God who works. Jesus said: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). If God works, then work is something divine. When you design a building, you are imitating the Great Architect. When you clean a house and bring order to chaos, you are imitating the God who organized the universe. When you write computer code, you are exercising the creativity you inherited from the Creator.

The Effect of Sin: Sin (Genesis 3) did not create work; it brought toil and thorns to work. Work became difficult, frustrating, and sweaty. But the essence of work remains sacred. Our goal, in Christ, is to redeem our view of work, returning to the Eden project: working as a form of cooperation with God.

2. The Carpenter of Nazareth: The Holiness of Sawdust

This is the definitive argument against the idea that “only pastors serve God.” Let’s look at the life of Jesus. He lived 33 years on earth. Of those 33 years, how many were dedicated to “Full-Time Ministry” (preaching, healing, discipling)? Only 3 years.

What did Jesus do in the other 18 years (from age 12 to 30)? He was a Tekton. The Greek word tekton (Mark 6:3) is translated as “carpenter,” but it means more of a “civil builder” or “craftsman.” He worked with wood, stone, and metal. Jesus had calluses on His hands. Jesus sweated. Jesus negotiated prices with clients. Jesus had to deliver doors and tables on time. Jesus probably hit his thumb with a hammer.

Think about the theology of this: The Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, spent 90% of His adult life making furniture and building roofs. If secular work were “less holy” or “a waste of time,” Jesus would have started preaching at age 12. But He waited. Why? To sanctify human labor. To show us that worship happens just as much in the carpentry shop sanding a board as it does in the synagogue reading the Torah. When Jesus made a table, He made it with excellence, because He did it for the Glory of the Father. The well-cut wood was His worship in that moment. If Jesus was holy holding a saw, you can be holy holding a scalpel, a broom, or a mouse.

3. The Hebrew Secret: Avodah (Work is Worship)

Our language (and our Western culture) creates divisions that do not exist in the mind of God. In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, there is a fascinating word: AVODAH.

Avodah appears hundreds of times in the Bible and has three possible translations, depending on the context, but the root is the same:

  1. Work (e.g., working in the field).
  2. Service (e.g., serving the king).
  3. Worship (e.g., liturgical worship to God).

For a biblical Jew, there was no difference between working in the field (avodah) and offering sacrifice in the temple (avodah). Everything was the same thing: a service rendered to God.

When you understand the Theology of Avodah, your life changes.

  • The musician playing on Sunday is doing Avodah.
  • The janitor cleaning the church bathroom on Monday is doing Avodah.
  • The entrepreneur creating jobs and treating employees fairly on Tuesday is doing Avodah.

God does not accept only the music; He accepts the cleaning and the honest management. Everything rises as a sweet aroma to His nostrils, if done with the right heart. Your work is your liturgy from Monday to Friday. Your workplace is your temple. Your clients or colleagues are your congregation to be served.

4. The Calling of Bezalel: The Anointing for Creativity and Technique

Many believers pray for “spiritual gifts” (tongues, prophecy, healing). And that is great. But did you know that the first person in the Bible described as “filled with the Spirit of God” was not a priest or a prophet? It was a craftsman named Bezalel.

Look at what God says in Exodus 31:1-5:

“See, I have chosen Bezalel… and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze…”

God filled a man with the Holy Spirit for what? To preach? No. To work with metal and wood. To be a jeweler, a carpenter, an artist.

This proves that technical skill (intelligence, know-how, talent) is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

  • When a surgeon operates with precision, it is the Holy Spirit empowering those hands (even if the doctor doesn’t know it).
  • When an engineer designs a safe bridge, it is God’s intelligence operating.
  • When a mother prepares a nutritious and creative meal, it is a gift from God.

You don’t need to quit your profession to “have the anointing.” You need to ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with “wisdom and understanding” to be the best professional in your field. The world will be impacted not only by your theology but by your excellence. Daniel converted King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon not because he preached all day, but because he had an “excellent spirit” and was ten times wiser than the other governors in matters of public administration (Daniel 1:20; 6:3).

5. Colossians 3: Who is Your Real Boss?

The greatest liberation for those working in a toxic secular environment lies in Colossians 3:23-24. Paul was writing to slaves (who had terrible jobs and cruel masters). Look at what he says:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

This changes everything. On Monday morning, when you sit at your desk, you are not working for “Mr. Smith” (your annoying boss). You are working for Jesus Christ. Jesus is your CEO. Jesus is your direct Supervisor.

  • If you work for Jesus, you don’t slack off when the boss leaves the room (because Jesus is watching).
  • If you work for Jesus, you don’t steal office supplies.
  • If you work for Jesus, you treat the client with love, even if the client is rude, because you are serving Christ in that person.

This shift in perspective (“I work for the King”) raises the quality of your work and gives you peace. Even if your earthly boss doesn’t recognize your effort, your Heavenly Boss is taking notes, and He pays the best rewards (inheritance).

6. The Myth of the “Specific Calling”: How Do I Discover My Purpose?

“Okay, I get that my work is important. But what is MY specific purpose? How do I know what God wants me to do?”

Many young people are paralyzed waiting for a voice from heaven, an angel, or a prophetic dream to choose a major or a career. Can God speak like that? Yes. But generally, He speaks through The Way He Designed You.

Theologian Frederick Buechner has a beautiful definition of vocation:

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

To discover your purpose, look at three things:

  1. Passion (What do you love?): What do you do that makes you lose track of time? What makes your eyes light up? God wouldn’t give you a purpose that you hate. He places “the desire” in our hearts (Philippians 2:13).
  2. Skill (What do you do well?): What are the “talents” God gave you (Matthew 25)? If you sing poorly, your purpose is probably not to be a singer, no matter how much you like it. God equips those He calls.
  3. Need (What does the world need?): Where is there pain in the world that you can heal?
    • If you love justice and the world has injustice -> Maybe your calling is Law.
    • If you love caring and the world has disease -> Maybe your calling is Medicine or Nursing.
    • If you love organization and the world has chaos -> Maybe your calling is Administration or Logistics.

Your purpose is at the intersection of these three things. Don’t look for a “title” (Apostle, Pastor). Look for a “service.” Where can you serve best with the tools God has already given you?

7. Secret Agents of the Kingdom: The Universal Priesthood

The Protestant Reformation (with Luther and Calvin) rescued a forgotten doctrine: the Priesthood of All Believers (1 Peter 2:9). There is no special caste of “priests” (clergy/pastors) who have direct access to God while the people stand outside. We are all priests.

  • The pastor is a priest who works inside the church equipping the saints.
  • You are a priest who works outside the church, in the “mission field.”

Think about it: The pastor has limited access to unbelievers. Most people who walk into a church are already Christians or are looking for God. But you… you are infiltrated where the pastor cannot go. You have lunch with atheists. You have coffee with depressed people. You negotiate with corrupt people. You are in “Babylon.” You are God’s secret agent, disguised as an engineer, a teacher, a delivery driver.

Your mission is not to turn the office into a church (holding services during working hours). That would be unethical and disruptive. Your mission is to be Christ in that place.

  • It is being the most ethical employee.
  • It is being the shoulder to cry on for someone weeping in the breakroom.
  • It is having a word of wisdom during the company crisis.
  • And, when they ask “why do you have such peace?”, then yes, you give the reason for your hope: Jesus (1 Peter 3:15).

This is organic evangelism. This is being the Salt of the Earth.

Conclusion: Holy Monday

Stop living divided. Stop thinking that you are “wasting time” when you are not at church. Tomorrow morning, when the alarm goes off, don’t grumble. Rise up like a priest preparing to enter the temple. Put on your work clothes as if they were priestly garments. Pray: “Lord, here I am. Send me to this office. May my spreadsheets glorify Your name. May my lessons shape minds for You. May my cleaning bring Your Kingdom of order.”

God loves your work. He smiles when you create, build, solve, and serve. You don’t need to leave everything to serve God. You just need to surrender everything you do to Him.

Your altar is waiting. Have a great and holy Monday.

Hearing Him Org — Doing everything for the Glory of God, from Sunday to Monday.

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Now that you understand that your work is sacred, how about learning how to manage the fruits of that work (money) biblically? Many Christians earn money with purpose but spend it without purpose. Our next step will be to talk about Financial Life and Relationships.

In the meantime, strengthen your foundation with our daily devotional: 👉 Download the Hearing Him App

Biblical References Used

  • Genesis 2:15 (God puts man to work and take care of the garden).
  • John 5:17 (My Father is always at his work, and I too am working).
  • Mark 6:3 (Jesus, the carpenter/Tekton).
  • Exodus 31:1-5 (The calling of Bezalel and the filling of the Spirit for art).
  • Colossians 3:23-24 (Working for the Lord and not for men).
  • 1 Peter 2:9 (Royal priesthood, holy nation).
  • Daniel 1 and 6 (Daniel’s excellence in the Babylonian government).
  • Matthew 25 (Parable of the Talents).
  • Philippians 2:13 (God works in you to will and to act).

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