The Good Calling

By Rev. Heath Curtis

The world is so messed up that it’s hard to know where to begin. Here’s how it was supposed to work. The man was to tend the garden, which would be his joy, for the garden was bent on blessing him. And the woman was to be his helpmeet, there at his side as he went about his duty. God blessed them and told them to be fruitful and multiply. From their love was to spring forth yet more love: children to grow up under the care of mother and father, learning the ways of the garden. Their sons, in their turn, would cleave unto their wives, leave father and mother, and till the garden in their own place.

But the serpent whispered, the man put down his work to listen to the voice of his wife repeat Satan’s words, and both turned their backs on God and ate. Now the man will earn bread by the sweat of his brow, and his work will be beset with weeds and thorns. Now the woman’s labor is greatly multiplied, and danger and death lurk even where new life begins.

And yet, in all the curses that fell down on mankind, marriage was not taken from him. God still joins a man to his helpmeet, and they are one flesh, and they are blessed and told to be fruitful and multiply.

So, gentlemen, get ready to work your piece of fallen ground, to love your wife as Christ loved the Church and lay down your life for her, and to raise your children in the fear and instruction of the Lord. That’s your vocation: to be a husband and father. To fulfill an important part of that vocation will mean doing useful work so that you can provide daily bread for your wife and children by the sweat of your brow.

You shouldn’t get married until you are prepared to do those things. Notice I didn’t say “ready to do those things.” No one is ready, and no one is adequate, and all need the forgiveness Christ provides. But you should be prepared. You should know your catechism so you can teach your future household. You should practice at the virtues of honesty, courage, kindness, loyalty, and humility so that you may love your wife with a Christlike love. Indeed, virtue is just Latin for “manliness.” To be a real man, you must be virtuous.

And then there is that old question that the father is supposed to ask the guy courting his daughter: “How are you going to support my little girl?” A chief purpose of your youth is readying yourself to answer that question. Christ feeds His Bride with the bloody sweat of his brow. You are called to imitate Him.

You are free in Christ to consider your abilities and decide what piece of ground you want to till. Go to college or don’t. It doesn’t matter, so long as you learn to do something useful that will pay the bills (and learn contentment so that you may live within your means). You may love to paint watercolor landscapes or go snowboarding, but if you are no good at it or it won’t pay the bills, you will have to sacrifice your dream for the sake of your wife and children. (If you want my advice, choose something that will allow you to work at home as much as possible. Of all men I know, I think the farmers around the homestead and the insurance agents who work out of the house are the happiest.)

The men I have come to truly respect in the congregations I serve are those who work hard at their jobs all the while confessing with their lives that their job is not their vocation. In other words, the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” only has one answer: a husband and father. That’s your vocation, your calling from God. What you do to earn your bread is not who you are but just one piece of what it means to be called to be a Christlike husband and father. There are many answers to the question, “What do you do to earn a living?” for there are many jobs, and all are godly so long as they serve rather than replace or push out our vocation.

So be a man, and do it with joy and without fear. The Lord has plowed the toughest bit of Eden’s ground with the plowshare of His cross. Husbands and fathers follow after Him in the furrow with faltering steps praying that His blood will make the work of our hands acceptable to the only one worthy to be called Father. It’s a good calling.

Rev. Heath Curtis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Worden, Illinois. E-mail him at pastorcurtis@gmail.com.