The Metamorphyx Journey 2025: Part IV

God’s Call to a Stage of Life

Vocational Excellence, Tent Making, Perseverance, and yes, even Retirement are Stages of Life that most of us will travel through. Vocational Excellence speaks primarily to a business career commitment. When a business commitment is paired with ministry initiatives, the work can be called Tent Making. In a modern context, that’s where financial provision from the career side of life provides funding for a ministry focus in another sector of life. In biblical Corinth, the apostle Paul supported himself as a tent maker, so as not to burden his ministry partners with his personal needs.

Perseverance, on the other hand, is typically an unwelcome Stage of Life. Perseverance can rankle other Stages of Life –and dominate life’s landscape. It’s a period of uninvited, unsought and frequently unwelcomed challenges in life. These can be as diverse as marriage infertility or the encroachment of cancer. Every Stage of Life bends to the demands of Perseverance.

And then there’s Retirement, which we’ll get to later.

Let’s remember that Life Purpose Contemplation tunes our heart and mind to God’s Call. That’s the voice and authority we use to enter or exit an appointed Stage of Life. And that decision should always be on the terms of our Caller. Think about it, most of us will visit a designated Stage of Life more than once in our lifetime. So, let’s dig a little deeper into a Stage of Life.

A Stage of Life tends to “bracket” a multi-year time span (with some exceptions, of course). A Stage of Life typically follows a Pivot Point (some life experience event) that marks either the beginning of a new Stage of Life . . . or its endpoint. As noted above, those events may be incredibly diverse . . . the death of a loved one, a critical medical condition, or an inopportune change in career fields. Stages of Life can also overlap. You may be gainfully employed in Vocational Excellence, but also simultaneously slammed with the demands of chemotherapy. In that case, Vocational Excellence and Perseverance run side-by-side for a season.

Backing up into Life Purpose Contemplation for a minute, we should affirm that God’s sovereign purposes should be served in any stage of life. If we don’t believe that God is ultimately working all things for good in our lives—and that all things are sovereignly designed to etch our character to God’s will (Romans 8:28-29), we can easily approach life as a victim—and not as a pilgrim traveling to Heaven’s Gate.

We noted in Part III that Life Purpose Contemplation is serious business. It involves prayer, wisdom, study of the rearview mirror of our lives, the implications of a life-altering Pivot Point, and any new direction that “Speak Lord” defines. But let’s not forget that Life Change has two critical elements: it’s a spiritual awakening AND a commitment to movement in a new direction.

To be candid, an awakening without movement is a life purpose stalemate! In nautical terms, when we “weigh anchor” on a ship, we are preparing for a departure to a new destination. “Anchors aweigh!” is, in fact, a status report that the anchor is clear of the sea bottom . . . and the ship is free to sail! That can be a frightening proposition in the heavy seas of life, but we are encouraged to be “strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:9) . . . and recognize that men and women in biblical history — Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Esther, David, the apostles, and Jesus himself — all made bold life purpose decisions and never looked back! I encourage you to evaluate God’s Call to a new Stage of Life in the context of these three Life Purpose Tenets. They provide the reinforcement we need that our ship of life is on the right compass heading.

• #1: Am I surrendered to God’s Call and producing transformational life change? (Romans 8:28-29, 12:2; Galatians 5:22-24)

• #2: Am I exhibiting a working faith? (James 2:18, 2:26)

• #3:  Am I being strengthened in my faith and standing firm in it? (2 Peter 3:18).

None of us will ever master every aspect of these Life Purpose Tenets. But Spiritual growth within each tenet may be why God is calling you to a new Stage of Life!

Oh, and about Retirement. Yes, it’s a celebrated and anticipated Stage of Life in western culture, but honestly, without much biblical backing. It also comes, with frightful life purpose pitfalls. In Retirement, many swap meaningful life purpose for the allure of leisure and comfort . . . and shipwreck their lives. Retirement is all about finishing well and ensuring that the good work God began in us carries on to completion (Philippians 1:6). Sure, play more golf, but be sure in Retirement to invest in people, the causes of Christ, and Kingdom impact.

On the pathway . . . in the process.

Tom

“Whatever you do, work at with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving,” (Colossians 3:23-24).