Vocation in the Kingdom of God

In Plantinga’s final chapter, he discusses our response to Christ’s redeeming work, or our vocation in His Kingdom. One of the first points he makes is one I had never thought about before. In the most famous section of Handel’s magnum opus Messiah, we sing “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”. This implies that God, while he is supreme, is not the only ruler. There are many rulers and kingdoms underneath the heavenly Ruler and Kingdom. The simple application of this idea is how part of our vocation is to abide by the civil laws, as earthly rulers were placed there by God. The more profound application that Plantinga mentions is that each person has his own tiny kingdom, or “sphere of influence”. We must seek to make our own mini-kingdoms more Christ-like; it isn’t necessary (impossible, actually, until Jesus returns) to change the Kingdom as a whole.

Plantinga makes a distinction between a good citizen of God’s Kingdom and a prime citizen of God’s Kingdom. Plantinga says the good citizen “likes the Kingdom of God just fine”, while the prime citizen “passionately yearns for it” and “has a calling”. I must disagree with Plantinga here. If someone is a citizen of God’s Kingdom, he will inevitably yearn for it. Every Christian has a calling. That being said, I don’t yearn as well as I should. I don’t think about God’s Kingdom as often as I should, but focus on earthly things; however, as a Christian, I will gradually develop a more passionate yearning (sanctification).

Finally, I don’t know what my vocation will be. Some people know from childhood what they are going to do with their life. God hasn’t told me yet what His plan is for me. However, I do know one thing: college is meant to prepare me for my presently unknown vocation. Therefore, my present calling is to be the best student I can be, so that I can be well prepared for my future vocation. This is a very important thing for me to keep in mind during my tenure at Calvin College: in order to become the person I am called to be, I need to ready myself. I fully agree with Plantinga when he says that college needs to teach me how I will do my job, in addition to helping me decide what I want my job to be.