In the film Star Trek: Into Darkness, Captain Kirk is forced to make a snap, gut-level decision to save the lives of his crew and the starship. Time is running out. But the only play at Captain Kirk’s disposal is to make a deal with his prisoner and arch-enemy, Kahn. Kirk’s first officer, Spock, disagrees with his plan. But their ship is about to be fired-upon and decimated, so they have little time to quibble about the captain’s methodology.

Spock: I cannot allow you to do this. It is my function aboard this ship to advise you in making the wisest decisions possible—something I firmly believe you are incapable of doing in this moment.

Captain Kirk: You’re right. What I’m about to do, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s not logical. It is a gut feeling. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. I only know what I can do.

Similarly, Christians need to act with what they can do and not always wait on God to give them specific signs for their destiny. Sometimes God does want us to wait and pray for His Will to come forth. But for most of us, we’ll have to get out there, fail a few times, and dust ourselves off from trying several things and failing first. Our calling can be a struggle to find. Thankfully, however our spiritual and economic niche is knowable, but it’s up to us and the power of the Holy Spirit to work to find it. So, if you’re not in a specific God-ordained season of waiting, then it’s time to act. You won’t intimidate God by your diligence to make decisions for your future. Mostly, the Lord is waiting for us to take steps of faith.

The early church Reformers didn’t have a problem with passivity. According to one historian, John Wesley “was a typhoon of energy, preaching more than 40,000 sermons and issuing more than 400 publication”[1] in his life. Just as surprising for other ministers, “A working week of between 90 and 100 hours was expected of men in the nineteenth-century Wesleyan ministry.”[2] That’s overkill. And no wonder why tradition has pushed many modern-day pastors to the brink of exhaustion. The key is that those Church Fathers weren’t scared of doing too much or being outside of God’s will. They knew God’s will and did it.

Take the social injustices we have today, like sex trafficking, poverty, or lack of education in African countries. Do we know it’s wrong? Yes, because Scripture is clear: “Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people” (Psalm 82:4, NLT). What about reaching the lost for Christ? Just read the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (NLT). God works with us to be co-creators, so why do we wait to do what God has already said is right?  As James puts it, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it (4:17, NLT). To summarize Graham Cooke, if you love God, have no fear, and hate the enemy, you will be successful on whatever battlefield you care to be on.

Zooming out, your general calling is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Beyond that, each person must figure out the specifics of his or her own calling. But the Lord allows us to pick our battles. There are plenty to fight, so which one touches your heart?

We Each Have Talents to Give

God deposited in each of us talents to advance His Kingdom and prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. In Matthew 24:14-30, we read the parable about a master going away and leaving talents to three of his servants. To one, he gave five, another two, and the last one. When the master came back, he expected a return on his investment. But to the negligent person who didn’t do anything with his master’s money, it was taken from him, and he was thrown into the “outer darkness” (25:30).

Although the “talent” refers more to a piece of the master’s wealth, we can still apply these principles to our gifts and callings. The first point is that, whether you believe God has given you one, two, or five talents, the Lord has called you to invest it for His Kingdom. Just like “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it,” so all of us are placed here to work in our own cities and advance God’s Kingdom (Genesis 2:15). The last point and the main one that Christians struggle with (myself included) is What is my talent? and What precisely should I do? Indeed, in the previous parable, Jesus never spelled-out how He wanted His serves to invest his money.

I Didn’t Feel Called to Move to Greece

Like Captain Kirk, we won’t always know what we should do, only what we can do. When you must make an important decision about your vocation, ministry, or family, sometimes the best advice is to look at what is possible, not what you’re supposed to do. If you can do many different things, pray, get counsel, and ask the Lord to close doors.

I don’t know my exact calling in life, but I know what I can do. When I saw thousands of refugees from the Middle East fleeing through Greece in 2016, I thought to myself, Is there any valid reason why I wouldn’t go to the apex of world migration and share the Gospel? I didn’t get a liver-quiver from above and my feelings didn’t lead me there. It was a logical decision, but the Lord was working in my decision-making process. The starting point was years earlier when I ceded my throne to God’s. Likewise, I didn’t know if God called me to write my dating book, but I knew I could do it. Looking back, of course, it was Him who prompted me to write it. But that’s the linchpin on knowing God’s will—we often won’t see His hand moving until we see it in hindsight, and this, after we have taken steps of faith.

There are consequences to burying your gifts. As one Biblical commentator noted, “if we fail to use our possessions, gifts and time for the Lord while he is away from us in heaven, then we will lose everything when he comes again.”[3] Indeed, our time on earth is short, and “the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16), so don’t wait to start investing in God’s Kingdom. You’ll have to figure out what that means, but it’s not exclusive to ministry.

It doesn’t matter where you live, do what you can do today to take one step forward toward your calling. What door is open in front of you?

“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ (Matthew 25:23).

[1] Bebbington, David W.. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain (p. 11). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Campbell, I. D. (2008). Opening up Matthew (p. 151). Leominster: Day One Publication