What is your calling? How can you be sure that you have landed on the correct calling?

Hear from PS DANIEL KHONG (Faith Community Baptist Church), PS JANELLE ONG (Mount Carmel BP Church), PS IAN TOH (3:16 Church) and PS LIAW ZHENG KAI (Hope Singapore) in this conversation with youths about finding ultimate purpose in life.

PASTOR ZHENG KAI: I think I’m someone who doesn’t have much talent. When I tried to join the worship team, I got rejected. When I tried to pick up a musical instrument, I realised that I couldn’t do it. When I had to design stuff for publicity, my colours didn’t go well together.

So when I was younger, I really doubted if there was anything I could add or contribute to God’s Kingdom. But I would like to share with all young people that your calling is found in the trenches and not in the imagination. You cannot imagine your way into a calling.

The best way for us to find our calling in God is actually to meet the needs that are right in front of us.

It doesn’t always come in the form of a revelation or a prophecy. When we simply offer our five loaves and two fishes to meet the needs we see, we will slowly discover our giftings and talents, and God will eventually lead us to our calling.

Even for me, I didn’t expect myself to be a pastor. But every time I responded to the needs, God began to empower me, strengthen me, clarify my calling, and that led me to where I am today.

PASTOR IAN TOH: I want to start off by saying that all of you are called. All of you have a special purpose that God has made you for.

I used to think that I was useless. In fact, I thought my name Ian meant “I Am Nothing”. But from my own life, I want to tell all of you that God loves you. He has a purpose for you and your life is meaningful.

Sometimes we may only know our calling after we get older, and that’s fine. Just know that we are all called to serve. We are simply called to be faithful in whatever capacity we can.

I know that many young people get quite overwhelmed when they don’t know what they are called to. So some of you may randomly pick something to do, and you end up following someone’s hope or desire for you, rather than doing something you have prayed through and received.

I want to assure you that you are precious to God, and He has something special for you. Even in seasons when you are walking in the unknown, trust that God will guide you and He will eventually make it clear for you.

And don’t undermine your calling even if you feel like they are menial tasks. I believe that it is ultimately just an act of obedience and worship to God. Every calling is special, beautiful and unique.

PASTOR JANELLE ONG: There are seasons in life. Many of my friends, Christians and non-Christians alike, are working in fields that are unrelated to their studies. Many of them changed their vocations in their late 20s.

So I don’t think you need to feel too scared when you are trying to decide which school to go to or which job to apply for. Just know that at the end of the day, there is never a season in your life that is wasted. God will use every season to lead you to His calling.

In every place that God places you in, ask God what is your purpose there. That may not be a potential final destination, but there is never a season in your life that God will not use.

As you go into these seasons of training, and also some seasons with specific purposes, God will eventually lead you to your calling.

We also need to know that God has created each of us uniquely. No one is exactly the same. That is why each of us has a unique call in our lives.

Pastor Bill Wilson, founder of Metro World Child once shared that he never received any specific signs or promptings from God to start a children’s ministry. All he had was a burden for children as he had seen them suffering and in need. “The need is the call.”

Whatever your burden is, make time to find quietness and gain insight from God. Surrender yourself and allow God to send you – whether it’s to enter a season of training, to love that one lost soul, or to serve the needs around you.

Pray that God will help us to obey wherever He has called us to.

As you navigate your vocational and specific calling, remember that there are many still many callings from the Bible that every believer should obey.

We are all called to be salt and light. We are all called to love our neighbours as ourselves.

These are callings that we should obey regardless of our seasons.

PASTOR DANIEL KHONG: Calling is overrated.

I say that because some of us are so fixated on chasing our calling that we lose sight of God. But when you look at anybody who’s certain about their calling, it is because they first pursued God. They found their calling in their pursuit of God.

When we get the sequence wrong, we can become so fixated on our vocation that we lose sight of God.

Calling is simple. It is not complicated.

Like Pastor Janelle said, start by obeying the commandments of God in the Bible. When you start doing these, you will draw closer and closer to God, and you will become clearer and clearer about your purpose.

And calling is often more generic than we realise. It is simply to serve God.

I preach, I pastor, but these are not my calling. My calling is to do whatever God calls me to do. I can do anything and there are no roles that are beneath me because my calling is simple and generic. I’m simply called to serve God, and wherever He calls me to go, I will go.

So don’t get too caught up with a particular vocation or calling. If you put all your focus on that, you are chasing after what you want and you are not running after God.