"I Don't Have a Job. I Have a Higher Calling." Today the Wall Street Journal featured an article by this title and captured my attention.

Faced with a cadre of young workers who say they want to make a difference in addition to a paycheck, employers are trying to inject meaning into the daily grind, connecting profit-driven endeavors to grand consequences for mankind.

This awareness of a greater cause beyond income and prosperity encourages me. And yet I am convinced that these "grand consequences for mankind" are themselves shortsighted, restricted to the borderlands of life in this world. The clichés "mission," "higher calling," or "changing the world" mean very little, though they appeal to the noble aspirations within our hearts. This higher calling that we inwardly suspect is real and it points to our spiritual design as human beings. Life goals too easily focus on material aspirations. We concern ourselves with our level of income, our standard of living, our wardrobe, our house, our car and our recreation. We see these things with our eyes. We touch them with our hands. We devote ourselves to acquiring and upgrading these surface aspects of our lives. And we eventually realize, often very late in life, that these things do not matter - not in a lasting, significant way. They are nice. They are desirable. But they are material, transitory, and temporary.Ultimately, we are more than physical beings. We are spiritual. We exist for a greater purpose - one that lasts forever. And so our goals and aspirations should reflect spiritual and eternal values. They should aspire to something that is not limited to changing this present visible world, but is aimed confidently at affecting the next unending world as well. I write this from a born-again, Christian perspective. And so will you allow me to share some New Testament scriptures with you that underscore this greater purpose?

• Matthew 6:33 emphasizes the importance of making God and His purposes for the world a personal priority over present material aspirations.
• Colossians 3:2 provides very clear encouragement to focus my mind on things that are above, not things that are on the earth.
• Philippians 3:14 encourages me to pursue the upward calling given to me by God, made possible by Jesus Christ.

Whatever higher calling you associate with your profession or line of work, let me encourage you to begin with Jesus Christ. He alone - who is both entirely God and entirely human - is able to join your life, including your occupation and paycheck, to the higher calling you sense the need to fulfill.Yes, you don't just have a job. You do have a higher calling. And that higher calling begins with a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you know Him?