The Work Is Not the Calling
— By M.T. Clark — P-1976, 05/29/2026 — Today’s Audio Podcast
Today’s Message on YouTube:
Today’s photo of a white Verizon work van, a utility pole, green spring grass rolling up the hillside, and tree line, all underneath a dramatic evening sky of blue, white, and gold, comes to us from yours truly as I captured this serene scene from my place “down by The River” in Stuyvesant, NY, back on May 14th, 2021.
Well, it’s Friday, thank God — and at the end of another week, I share this photo with a simple encouragement: the same God who walked with you through Monday is the same God closing out the week with you right now. He does not only show up on the good days or the easy ones. He is present in the long weeks and the quiet Fridays alike. Have a blessed weekend with the people He has placed in your life.
Our series, “Walking in the Spirit,” continues today with a truth about the life the Lord is building in you beneath the surface of your ordinary days.
The Work Is Not the Calling
Most of us spend the majority of our waking hours doing work that is not our calling.
We show up. We do the job. We come home. We do it again. The work pays the bills, keeps the family fed, and gives us the structure of our normal routine. For most of our lives, that is enough.
But for the Spirit-led believer, something starts to happen over time. The work that once felt like the whole point starts to feel like the scaffolding — and you begin to sense that what the Lord is actually building is behind it, underneath it, around it, invisible to anyone who is only looking at the surface.
Paul addresses the relationship between ordinary work and eternal calling in Colossians 3:23-24 (NKJV):
“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
That says, “Whatever you do, do it as to the Lord.” Whatever you do goes beyond just “ministry work.” Whatever you do goes beyond the “spiritual work” of Sunday church services, small group gatherings, or your morning devotions. “Whatever you do” includes the activities of whatever “day job” you have, and includes the hours that you are off the clock. Everything we do is to be done “as to the Lord.” All of it is service to Christ.
The calling does not begin when the work ends. The calling runs through everything, through all the aspects of our lives.
But here is the tension that every Spirit-led believer eventually has to sit with: the work and the calling are not the same thing, even when both are done for the Lord.
The work is the thing you do to sustain yourself and your family in this season.
The calling is the purpose that the Lord is forming for you that extends far beyond this season.
The work is the scaffolding. The calling is the building going up inside it. The scaffolding is necessary — you cannot build without it — but nobody frames a photograph of the scaffolding and puts it on the wall. The building is what they come to see.
In my career, I have done a wide variety of different job functions for “work.” While the financial benefits of my various day jobs have provided me with the means to meet my family’s needs and to “build a life,” all that work has proven to be the scaffolding that was covering the life that God was building. When we retire, get fired, or change careers the scaffolding is exposed as the temporary structure that it is.
But the Lord has used every minute of it — not just to pay the bills, but to keep us humble enough to serve others and grounded in the reality of ordinary working life in a way that no seminary education could have provided. The relationships and the things we learn at work are part of God’s plan for us.
The scaffolding of our careers is a big part of our lives but it eventually comes down and was always serving the building God was constructing all along. We just could not always see the building going up underneath.
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) reminds us of what the Lord is actually constructing:
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
His workmanship. His good works. Prepared beforehand. The building the Lord is constructing in your life was designed before you were born. The scaffolding you have been living inside — the job, the routine, the ordinary days — has been part of His plan all along. Not a detour from the plan. Part of it.
Do not despise the scaffolding.
Our jobs are a blessing but often we see them as curses. We have to remember that they are a part of God’s plan for our lives and they are being used to shape us, in part, to become the people that God made us to be.
Do your work well, as to the Lord. Show up. Do it with integrity. Let the Spirit-led life run through the “ordinary hours” of your life the same way it runs through your “ministry” or “spiritual” hours — because the Lord does not divide your life into sacred and secular.
He redeems all of it. He uses all of it. He is building something through all of it that you may not fully see until you are standing on the other side of it.
Let God into all the areas of your life and recognize that He has been working in and around you to bring you where you are and to build the person you will be tomorrow.
Keep on walking and talking with God. — M.T.
*******************************
Check out our past Podcast series or teachings via The MT4Christ247 podcast playlists on YouTube at MT4Christ.com!
The MT4Christ247 audio podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Amazon, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Podbean, Audible, and many more podcast platforms!
Subscribe to The MT4Christ247 Channel on YouTube!
Email me at m.t.clark@mt4christ.com with any questions, comments, or to inquire about our Christian Life Coaching or Prayer Ministry Services.
“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
Support MT 4 Christ Community Freedom Ministry!
To give via PayPal, go to the MT4Christ Donations Page
Or Give Via Venmo or the Cash App by scanning the QR Code below:
Leave a Reply