Did you know that C.S. Lewis only wanted to be known for one thing in life? His teaching at Oxford, and his work in Medieval literature and mythology was just his way to succeed at his real goal: to be known as a famous poet. Here is the thing. No one reads Lewis’ poetry today, because he wasn’t very good at it. He went on to write some of the most important and cherished Christian literature of the 20th Century (Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters, The Weight of Glory, The Chronicles of Narnia, Miracles, etc.). How did this happen? Because at some point, he realized that poetry was not going to be his legacy. And he gave it up as his all consuming passion.

One of the most important things we can do in life is figure out the way that God has wired us and gifted us so we can best serve him in the world according to what he decided to gift us with not what we want to be gifted with.

One of the tragedies I see in life over and over again are people who, for whatever reason, don’t go deep to figure out what God has called them to, but instead try to live out other people’s callings. They may be called to be an eye or an ear or a nose – to borrow Paul’s images from 1 Cor. 12-14 – but they try to be a mouth or an arm or a leg. It’s tragic because God doesn’t want us to borrow other people’s callings.

We do this because, in the church, as in the marketplace, we start to believe that one role is more important or more prestigious than another. But the reason the Bible lays out lists of gifts in multiple places (Eph. 4; 1 Cor. 12-14; Rom 12) is not to rank them but to say they are all equally important and God wants them all active in the world to accomplish his mission.

An Evangelist is not more important than a Shepherd. A Teacher not more important than those with Giving or Hospitality gifts. Without one another, where would we be?

God wants us to live out our own calling as best we can. To do that we have to do a few things: (1) pray, study, and seek God on what our role in the world and the church is, (2) ask people around us what they see us gifted and called to (not just the people closest to us, as their perceptions of us are just as skewed), (3) identify our limitations and don’t try to walk in things that are outside of them, and (4) work on being self-aware vs. being self-deceived.

I love music. My father bought me my first guitar when I was 12. I played it everyday. I started writing my own music shortly after. In high school I was in multiple bands. The guys in these bands went on to become somewhat famous in the Canadian music scene (forming the band Sum 41, and my best friend became Avril Lavigne’s drummer). We practiced three days a week, and wrote and recorded with passion. I also took music classes in high school and my teacher told me I should pursue a music career.

Most people in Vancouver, where I moved when I was 23, don’t know any of this. Why? Because there came a point in my life when I faced the limitation of a calling. Was I going to be the music guy, or pour myself into being the best leader, and preacher/teacher I could be? I chose the latter. Why?

-Because we can’t be good at everything. We have to choose a few things to pour our life out for.

-We have to decide what the priority in life is defined not by what other people are doing or what is cool/trendy at the time, etc., but what God has most wired us for, whatever our personal desires may be.

Don’t force a calling.

We should all dream and be passionate and experiment with our callings in life. That’s often how we discover what God has for us. But at the end of the day we need to be honest with ourselves. All of us are called to something amazing and unique in the world, and sometimes to do that thing other goals have to die. Because they are self-imposed callings distracting us from the real thing.

Lead out of what you are called to not what you want to be called to. The church and the world need you!