Your every day work would feel more fulfilling and purposeful if you felt called to it. - The Bible teaches something extraordinary. That God crosses industry lines in ways that most people can't begin to imagine. Check out how God calls, gifts, and even assigns people like you to work like yours.

Sermon Helps

Romans 2:14–15 (NIV) 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)

Isaiah 28:24–29 (NIV) 24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil? 25 When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? 26 His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. 27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a stick. 28 Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain. 29 All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent. 

James 1:17 (NIV) 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 

Exodus 31:1–4 (NIV) 1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 

Isaiah 45:1 (NIV) 1 “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 

To believe that a wise and good God is in charge of things implies that there is a fit between things that need doing and the person I am meant to be. Frederick Buechner 

Exodus 31:2 begins with the phrase, “See, I have called by name Bezalel.” God calls Bezalel by name, and his word to Moses affirms three big ideas: (1) Bezalel’s vocational call was able to be observed by others around him, (2) Bezalel’s vocational call was specific to him as an individual, and (3) God supernaturally empowered and gifted Bezalel for a specific work that needed to be done. As the story continues, we see that God is at work in this, specifically noted as “the Spirit of God.” This is the same language found in Genesis 1, where the Spirit of God powerfully acts in original creation (Gen. 1:2). Looking back through the lens of progressive revelation, Christian theologians understand this language as a Trinitarian reference to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. In Exodus 31 the author validates the Holy Spirit’s supernatural filling work in and through observable external evidence, namely, Bezalel’s vocational work. Four words are carefully strung together to present a compelling picture of Bezalel’s supernatural empowerment and gifting for his vocational calling. The Spirit of God had filled Bezalel with “ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.” There is no indication in the biblical text that Bezalel was suddenly zapped with instant artistic ability or that he woke up one morning a master craftsman. Bezalel’s craftsmanship and skillful hands had been honed through years of diligent learning and practical experience. Like all skilled workmen, Bezalel had learned from master craftsmen who had gone before him. However, the writer of Exodus has more than this attained human competence in mind. He wants us to know the Spirit of God had supernaturally gifted Bezalel for his particular vocational calling. God had created and supernaturally empowered Bezalel as a gifted architect, craftsman, and builder. These Holy Spirit-anointed hands were something special to behold. The beauty and excellence of their work revealed it. This was not only true of the excellent artistry and craftsmanship of Bezalel and Oholiab; we are told that God gave “to all able men ability” in making the wilderness tabernacle (Ex. 31:6). - Tom Nelson 

Let that admirable light of truth shining in them teach us that the mind of man, though fallen and perverted from its wholeness, is nevertheless clothed and ornamented with God’s excellent gifts. If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it where it shall appear unless we wish to dishonor the Spirit of God. . . . Those men whom Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:14) calls “natural men” were, indeed, sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior things. Let us, accordingly, learn by their example how many gifts the Lord left to human nature even after it was despoiled of its true good.  

- John Calvin