{"id":4406,"date":"2017-08-30T16:25:06","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T21:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=4406"},"modified":"2017-08-30T16:25:06","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T21:25:06","slug":"discerning-your-vocational-love-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

I am convinced that there are as many different ways of knowing God at work as there are workers, and that each person\u2019s experience of God on the job is as unique as his or her fingerprint.
\nEach of us has a vocational love language with which we best relate to God at work<\/strong>.
\nGod gave us this language because he loves us and wants to know us personally. Because his love is universal and unlimited, God connects with each person wherever they are, via a language that is best for them.
\nGod speaks your language.\u00a0.\u00a0. your vocational love language.
\nThe God of all creation speaks physics, chemistry, and biology; prose, poetry, and computer programming; leadership, organizational behavior, and accounting; planning, serving, and cleaning; and creativity, shape, and color.
\nGod speaks all of these languages and more. Often he speaks them through<\/em> you in a way that resonates and feels natural. This way<\/em> is your vocational love language<\/strong>: a way of operating that connects with God\u2019s way of operating, a unique way in which you image a working God.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nYour capacity for reason, hand-eye coordination, high emotional intelligence, hospitable heart, passion for justice, desire to serve, or talent at repairing broken things comes from him! These aptitudes come from him, reflect him and point back to him! God is a God who is<\/em> reason, coordination, emotion, hospitality, justice, service and the repairer of all broken things.
\nSo when you express the unique vocational capacities that you\u2019ve been given, you\u2019re using a language that God already knows<\/strong>; your vocational love language is in a very real sense connected to his!
\nMaybe you\u2019re good with working with your hands; you have an ability to transform abstract ideas into concrete creations. Whether in the studio, on the factory floor, or at the construction site, whenever you do this kind of work, you should know that you are imaging the God who built the material cosmos .\u00a0.\u00a0. all from one big idea!
\nMaybe you\u2019re good with data; you have an empirical way of engaging with and reading reality. Whether you are in the lab or in the accounting department when you do this kind of work, you affirm that you were made by the God of all data, the one who created the data in the first place. Your way of working images an empirical God. He made your mind so that it was amenable to knowing him through the data-generating universe that he made!
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nPerhaps creativity is your thing; you have an ability to see connections that no one else sees, to express truth in a compelling way, or to come up with the solution that’s been eluding everyone else. If you\u2019re this kind of person, you won\u2019t have too much trouble imagining that you are made in the image of an imaginative God! The God who conceived of the cosmos in all of its complexity speaks imagination. Your ability to catch creative ideas that fly through your mind\u2014that appear out of nowhere\u2014is like God\u2019s!<\/strong>
\nOr maybe what drives you is a passion to save people and things: kids who don\u2019t have a chance, patients in an emergency room, or cars that aren\u2019t running properly. You see broken things, and you\u2019re undone\u2014all you can think about is fixing them. You realize that you\u2019ve got the tools to help, and you want to help. Of course you come by this saving heart honestly. God saves, and Jesus is making all things new (Revelation 21:5); and his definition of \u201call things\u201d includes the people, places, and things that you save through your work.
\nThe list of vocational love languages goes on and on. What\u2019s yours?<\/strong>
\nAs I\u2019ve conducted research for the many vocational sermons<\/a> I\u2019ve preached (and written my book Every Job a Parable: What Walmart Greeters, Nurses, and Astronauts Tell Us about God<\/em><\/a>), I\u2019ve discovered that discerning your vocational love language comes down to three simple questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What do you love most about what you do?<\/strong> Recall one of those \u201cjust right\u201d moments of flow when you\u2019ve gotten lost in your work, when time seemed to disappear, and when you were caught up in the truth and goodness of what you were doing. Write down what happened and unpack it. Try to name<\/em> the nature of what you love as fully as you can.<\/li>\n
  2. How is what you love like what God loves?<\/strong> In order to know what God loves, you need to be well versed in what the Bible teaches. When you know the God of the Bible, you\u2019ll have more perspective with which to recognize him at work. As you get to know God\u2019s creating, managing, and saving ways in the Scriptures, you\u2019ll be able to recognize him at work in those ways in you and in others.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. What do others say you\u2019re good at?<\/strong> Ask a friend to name what you do best. Don\u2019t worry about your ego. If what you\u2019re good at is really a gift from God, then your friend\u2019s response will only draw attention to God. Sometimes our discerning is best done in community. Reverse the process and try naming where God is at work in others. As you learn to recognize God\u2019s vocational love language in them, you\u2019ll increase your capacity to discern his love language in you. This back-and-forth naming process will help you get a clearer sense of your vocational love language.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      As you engage these questions, keep an open mind. If God speaks an infinite number of languages, then your love language might be very distinctive. Consider all of the different workers God speaks through in the Bible: kings, managers, poets, shepherds, metalworkers, stonemasons, homebuilders, judges, laborers, farmers, jewel merchants, fishermen, potters, warriors, landlords, and vineyard owners (to name a few). Take note that every prophet, priest, and leader through whom God spoke in the Scriptures was a different person and therefore had a unique vocational love language!
      \n

      \"\"<\/a>
      Start reading chapter one now!<\/figcaption><\/figure>
      \nOnce you think you\u2019ve identified your primary vocational love language, lean into it and ask God to help you master it. Pray that the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to God\u2019s on-the-job presence and your ears to his voice. Ask God to take those moments of flow and fill them with an increased awareness of how your vocational way images his<\/strong>, filling your work with an increased sense of the sacred. Meet God through the work you do. Experience his vocational presence.
      \nYou are made to know God in all that you do; including the 40 percent of your life you spend working. God is more present there than you know<\/strong>. And I think he wants you to know that.<\/p>\n
      \n

      John Van Sloten is a pastor in Calgary, Alberta. He is the author of The Day Metallica Came to Church. <\/em>He\u2019s preached sermons on dozens of different jobs and has been the recipient of several John Templeton Foundation grants for preaching science. Click to learn more or start reading chapter one from his new book, Every Job a Parable: What Walmart Greeters, Nurses, and Astronauts Tell Us about God<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I am convinced that there are as many different ways of knowing God at work as there are workers, and that each person\u2019s experience of God on the job is as unique as his or her fingerprint. Each of us … <\/p>\n

      Read moreDiscerning Your Vocational Love Language<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDiscerning Your Vocational Love Language - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am convinced that there are as many different ways of knowing God at work as there are workers, and that each person\u2019s experience of God on the job is as unique as his or her fingerprint. Each of us ... Read moreDiscerning Your Vocational Love Language\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/vocational-love-language.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5\"},\"headline\":\"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/\"},\"wordCount\":1220,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Know\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/\",\"name\":\"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language - The Disciplemaker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker\",\"description\":\"Bold. Loving. Sensible.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\",\"name\":\"NavPress\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"width\":4092,\"height\":818,\"caption\":\"NavPress\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/dgeeslin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language - The Disciplemaker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language - The Disciplemaker","og_description":"I am convinced that there are as many different ways of knowing God at work as there are workers, and that each person\u2019s experience of God on the job is as unique as his or her fingerprint. Each of us ... Read moreDiscerning Your Vocational Love Language","og_url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/","og_site_name":"The Disciplemaker","article_published_time":"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/vocational-love-language.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Disciplemaker Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Disciplemaker Team","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/"},"author":{"name":"The Disciplemaker Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5"},"headline":"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language","datePublished":"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/"},"wordCount":1220,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Know"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/","name":"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language - The Disciplemaker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-30T21:25:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/08\/discerning-your-vocational-love-language\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Discerning Your Vocational Love Language"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","name":"The Disciplemaker","description":"Bold. Loving. Sensible.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization","name":"NavPress","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","width":4092,"height":818,"caption":"NavPress"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5","name":"The Disciplemaker Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Disciplemaker Team"},"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/dgeeslin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}