In “Futureville,” Skye Jethani offers a vision-shifting glimpse of how doing work that matters today will shape the world of tomorrow.
Today is Defined by Tomorrow
Unfolding events in the Middle East that involve Iran, Israel, and Russia attract a ton of interest in what the Bible has to say about the present. And as much interest as there is, there is an equal amount of people who want to tell you their theories about the future.
Whatever you’ve read or heard about the future, don’t settle on your opinion until after considering the values of Futureville.
Who is Skye Jethani? He’s a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, The Washington Post‘s “On Faith” column and Relevant. He held various roles at Christianty Today and was the senior editor of Leadership Journal.
Why Work is More Than A Four-Letter Word
One view of Christian eschatology (the study of future events) throws the intrinsic value of “work” under the bus, teaching that only work associated with the ministry of the Church will have future value. That perspective says the efforts of evangelism, missions, or discipleship will eternally outlive efforts like art, architecture and writing.
This is the sacred/secular dichotomy at its worst.
People rightly begin to wonder if their leaders are merely using them or loving them.
Futureville is a smart, inspiring call to cultivate the order, beauty, and abundance that reflects the heart and purposes of God. How we interpret suffering, world events, work and our relationships is defined by how we think about what lies ahead.
3 Views of The Future:
1. Evolution and its emphasis on human progress. The world gradually gets better and better until it becomes all it’s meant to be.
2. Evacuation (aka “the rapture”) and its focus on leaving everything up to God. The world becomes worse and worse. Christians are eventually snatched away, leaving everything to be destroyed.
Jethani offers a third way – 3. Resurrection. “What we do today endures in the age to come.”
His argument? Jesus’ resurrection body changed but was not replaced. The wounds of His crucifixtion were still visible after His resurrection.
Jethani envisions a time “when King David may admire Michelangelo’s statue of himself, Handel may well perform his Messiah for the Messiah and our work may continue into the next.”
3 Callings In Life:
The term “calling” has recently bridged the sacred/secular. Even Oprah talks about her “calling” and finding your “calling.” Jethani’s context is based on the principle of God’s calling on a person’s life.
1. A Common Calling – we have a calling to each other. The New Testament is saturated with commands relating to “one another.”
2. A Specific Calling – what God’s Spirit will lead you into as a vocation or station in life. You are called to cultivate this part of the world.
3. A Highest Calling –the highest calling is not a WHAT – as in what you do; it is a WHO – as in who you serve. Our relationship with Jesus is our highest calling.
There is a God-given dignity to ALL specific callings.
People of faith need not be wrestled away from “secular” work in order to accomplish the “sacred.” In a world teetering toward chaos, your work today, no matter how mundane, will be used by God to shape a hopeful futiue.
What you believe about tomorrow determines how you live today. Be clear about your calling.
What are your thoughts on work, calling, and the future? Please leave a comment below.
I was given a free copy of this book by BookLook Bloogers but was not required to give a positive review.
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Thank you Bob for the summary article regarding calling or vocation. This topic became both a life long struggle and area of curiosity in my own faith journey. Having trained as a young person for both vocational ministry and career aviation, I early on found myself in an either or, not both and predicament. Over time however I did come to understand more clearly His “call”. At the PAOC School of Missions Peterborough Ontario many years ago, one of the instructors offered the following piece of advice in repsonse to my questioning. I was preparing to leave with my family to begin the work of a PAOC Global worker in Asia, and had reconciled myself to leaving my dream of aviation behind satisfying myself internally that all the cost and effort that went it, was not wasted but would nevertheless not be part of our lives. He advised me to see Gods leading more in the context of building on my interests, skills and abilities, and finally opportunities that present themselves. When all three line up, his advice was just do it. If God wants to re-direct He surely can.
A few months later after returning to the church I was pastoring in small town Saskatchewan I received a phone call from an incidental contact from a few years back who asked if I might be interested in joining him and his wife in a Business as Missions effort in northern Alberta. This would be a start up aviation charter company working in partnership with the Little Red River Cree tribe.
Sometime later, we accepted and our entire life story from then on moved along an entirely different path. Interests, skills and abilities, opportunities … a heart surrender to His will for our lives.
Overtime I understood that this was indeed a calling. My own participation in His church and the ongoing building of the temple shifted but did not fundamentally change. Wherever we have “landed” on this planet over the years we have sought out a local church and functioned to the extent we could.
Timothy Keller’s book Every Good Endeavor, which came along several years later provided both the insight and the encouragement that the advice given to me years earlier had The Father’s stamp of approval. At least for us!!
Your life experiences always helpful substance to the content on REVwords. Case in point, your experience here and your reference of Keller’s book. One of my favourites.