Wisdom on Vocation from Charles Spurgeon

“God is glorified by our serving Him in our proper vocations. Take care, dear reader, that you do not forsake the path of duty by leaving your occupation, and take care you do not dishonour your profession while in it. Think little of yourselves, but do not think too little of your callings. Every lawful trade may be sanctified by the gospel to noblest ends. Turn to the Bible, and you will find the most menial forms of labour connected either with most daring deeds of faith, or with persons whose lives have been illustrious for holiness. Therefore be not discontented with your calling. Whatever God has made your position, or your work, abide in that, unless you are quite sure that He calls you to something else. Let your first care be to glorify God to the utmost of your power where you are. Fill your present sphere to His praise, and if He needs you in another He will show it you. This evening lay aside vexatious ambition, and embrace peaceful content.”
Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, Evening June 27

I think this quote from Charles Spurgeon fits in nicely with my two posts from earlier this week (if you didn’t catch them, you can find them here and here). These phrases stand out to me the most:

“Unless you are quite sure he has called you to something else.” I like to tell myself that I am quite sure, but am I really quite sure? Not always. In the future, I would like to take more time to make decisions–more time in prayer, more time reading God’s Word, and more time just thinking and considering options.

“Let your first care be to glorify God to the utmost of your power where you are.” Instead of looking outward (Where else can I go?) I would like to work on looking right in front of me (What else can I do here?). I appreciate that Spurgeon used the word “utmost.” I like to do many things at their surface-level instead of diving down into the the inner workings of a few things. Sometimes this is okay, but most of the time I must learn to narrow my focus a little more. If I tend to look outside my current circumstances, how often to do I miss God’s good work in the moment?

“Lay aside vexatious ambition, and embrace peaceful content.” I like that Spurgeon sets up a contrast in this phrase. We use our arms to both “lay aside” and “embrace.” You cannot hold onto one thing while trying to embrace another thing. If you want to embrace another thing, you lay aside the first thing first. A taking-off and putting-on happens. In other words, vexatious ambition and peaceful content oppose each other. You cannot be both as the same time. So, you have a choice to make: to be vexatiously ambitious or peacefully content. Peaceful content sounds so much more wonderful than vexatious ambition, but also poses more challenges. We can take heart knowing that God plans to teach us something beautiful and awesome about Himself no matter where we are.

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