When we think of vocation, we often think of our job and career. Although our vocation can sometimes intersect with our job or gainful employment, they are not the same. Our vocation is our engagement with the world in response to God. Our gainful employment is how we provide for our basic needs.

Culturally, we tend to emphasize our gainful employment much more than our vocation. When I was a kid, I used to wonder whether I would be a doctor or a lawyer. Somehow the emphasis was on professional title and earning potential instead of my mission in the world. This is not to say that a person’s mission in the world cannot be fulfilled through medicine or law. There just seems to be a disproportionate emphasis on status and the perception of wealth that comes from some disciplines.

In our global consumer economy, it is important for us to be a well adjusted and productive member of society. Think about how often we hear about the productivity of the American worker in the news. Aren’t we productive enough? Don’t we have more goods and services than we can consume at a sustainable level? I think the assumption here is that productivity and progress is our ultimate aim. Not our mission.

I wonder if the large and ever increasing gap between the rich and the poor (both locally and globally) is in some part due to the inversion of the importance of vocation vs. gainful employment? Should our primary focus be on our vocation and then our gainful employment?

It also seems that our sense of what we need and what we want are largely distorted. If our intention for gainful employment is making only what we need to provide for our basic necessities (plus wine, coffee, and a few hip clothes here and there) then my hunch is that we could work a lot less and free up more time to work out our engagement with the world in response to God.

Thoughts?