5.Christ and Vocation Then Jesus said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” As
second part of this series on Christ and culture, Christ and vocation should be understood as domain where God is revealed to society in our day to day lives. To understand relationship between Christ and vocation, we cannot keep them rigidly compartmentalised. Your vocation is your cross. You are cross that God's life hangs upon and as such your work is a powerful witness of your faith and testimony. If we understand that Christ lives in us, we see that He also walks down street in us and goes to work in us, all to reveal His life and purposes in us.So if we understand this right, your vocation is very important to God. It is not a timid accommodation to prevailing culture. This is truly where Christ and culture collide! An opportunity to live Christian life in practical ways with support of God's grace. You can confront world by Christ in you through your chosen line of work. No matter what part of society you work in, God's purposes are made clear within principles for each domain. Be it education, church, economics, education, family, science, arts or government, as individuals we have responsibility and calling to be Jesus with skin on in our workplace.
By calling Christians into world, we are also calling them to be truly out of this world in their expression of Christ. People will notice statement your life will make when you live with them and protest worldly corruption and idolatry in your sphere of influence.
We must bear our message into public life, not just when we are hymn-singing in church, for that is what salt and light should be, at all times and in all places. Somehow we have decided that only spiritual sphere is regarded as within competence of divine claim and command, whereas secular sphere is where only economic, political and social laws apply. We have become existentialists and agnostic, not Christian.
Sometimes we are called to patient endurance of an oppressive government, as in case of Zimbabwe, church has not taken up arms, instead opting to pray for salvation of members in government and protest through vocation, and if that fails then to put their trust in God's ability to raise up an enemy for oppressor. But in some cases, Christians are not only permitted but also required to fight kingdom, in that situation, correct vocation may be one of soldier. The opposition against Nazi Germany was one such case where leader was not divinely instituted and was intent on destroying Christianity and monotheistic worldview, to replace it with an idolatrous nationalism. It was morally right to fight that war.
In case where a government is ordained by God, a Christian in his vocation may have less incentive to call for such significant reforms. Sadly, we live in an age where irresponsibility is rife and abandonment of vocation is widespread, particularly most important of vocations, parenthood. Day-care allows even those who can afford to raise their own children to abdicate that responsibility. Since a vocation is a cross, surely abandonment of it must be sin.
