Review of Boekestein's Finding My Vocation

William Boekestein, Finding My Vocation: A Guide for Young People Seeking a Calling (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing, 2024) 154pp. US$16.95

Reviewed by Guy Waters

            God commands us to “labor and do all [our] work” “six days” a week (Exod 20:9). That command alone tells us how important our work is to God. The bulk of our week (and the bulk of our day) must be spent in the pursuit of some God-approved calling.

            We can appreciate, then, the urgency of the question that every Christian young person will ask himself, “What is it that God wants me to do with my life?” The answer to that question does not lie tucked away in a single biblical verse. The answer will come at the end of a long and prayerful process of examining oneself, meditating on biblical principles, gathering wise counsel, and pursuing the options that providence has set before oneself.

            For that reason, we may be thankful for Finding My Vocation. In brief compass and in readable prose, William Boekestein helps young people navigate the difficult waters of identifying the vocation that God has appointed for them. He begins by encouraging the reader to “ponder” vocation. In the tradition of Calvin and the Puritans, Boekestein encourages readers to think and live Christianly wherever we are and in whatever we do (8-11). Our specific callings, in other words, are the way in which we live to the glory of the God who “called [us] into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor 1:9). This calling to God in Christ is the framework within which we pursue our secondary callings in the marketplace (27-36). Our work is more than getting a paycheck. It is the path of discipleship for every Christian (21-25).

            Boekestein then urges the reader to “prepare” for vocation. Young people can do quite a bit to prepare themselves for what they will one day do in the marketplace. They can develop interpersonal skills and nurture Christian character (45-50). Boekestein rightly calls into question the common maxim, “just follow your passion,” or, its evangelical cousin, “fulfill the single purpose for which God has made you and placed you in this world” (58, 59). Such advice, Boekestein warns, can short-circuit the plodding, unglamorous, and often ambiguous process of locating and pursuing the work that God would have us to do. God is chiefly interested in our faithfulness to him, wherever we should find ourselves (59). As importantly, we have other callings than the call to serve God in the marketplace. We are members of families and members of the local church (65-73). Although we may not get paychecks from our families or congregations, these callings no less lay obligations and opportunities upon us to serve God and neighbor.

            The third and final part of the book concerns the “practice” of vocation. Boekestein offers wise counsel not only how to “work well” but also to “rest” in ways that glorify God and restore our bodies and souls (77-96). Since, in God’s providence, diligent work typically yields the fruit of wealth, Boekestein briefly addresses principles of biblical stewardship – how to manage the resources that God gives us for his glory and for the good of others.

            One virtue of Finding My Vocation is that it does not presume that its readers will or should attend a four-year college or university and then take up a desk job. In keeping with the biblical principle that all lawful work glorifies God, Boekestein, in a brief appendix, explores whether or if one should attend college and whether or if one should enter the armed forces. Furthermore, he offers many examples and illustrations, throughout the book, of Christians serving in both blue collar and white collar occupations.

            While it may not be an immediately pressing question for young people seeking to enter the workforce, workers do need to prepare for the possibility, even likelihood, that they will one day lose their jobs. Even if job loss is not the occasion of such a transition, many people make one or more significant career shifts over the course of their working lives. It is to Finding My Vocation’s credit that its principles about vocation will implicitly help to prepare young readers to face the prospect of such transitions. Even so, explicit discussion of that dimension of the modern workplace would have made a strong book even stronger.

            Finding My Vocation is a rare achievement. It expresses rich biblical and theological principles (informed by some of the best minds from church history) with simplicity, clarity, and specificity. Young Christians will find it a reliable guide to glorifying and enjoying God in the workplace.

Guy Waters (Ph.D., Duke University) is the James M. Baird, Jr. Professor of New Testament and Academic Dean (Jackson, Brazil) at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS. Dr. Waters is also a Teaching Elder in the Presbytery of the Mississippi Valley (PCA), and preaches regularly.