Vocation

January 21st, 2026
by David Robinson

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Have you ever heard of Cherelle Parker? Unless you are from the northeastern part of the United States, and more specifically, the vicinity of Philadelphia, you probably have not. In fact, of the billions of people in the world, I would guess that less than a fraction of one percent of them have ever heard her name. If you include all the people who have ever lived it becomes a fraction small enough to be of almost no magnitude. And yet millions probably know who she is.

Cherelle Parker is the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Philadelphia is a city of 1,573,916 people. It is one of America’s great cities. And congratulations to Mayor Parker for being the first woman to take on that role in 341 years!

I personally know nothing about Mayor Parker. I simply Googled, looking for the mayor of Philadelphia, to make a point. Mayor Parker likely has aides and supporters and people of supposed wealth and power constantly vying for her attention. She likely ran a campaign that made her name very well known in that area of the country. A person may understand, that because of all those things, she could have excessive feelings of importance.

Mayor Parker probably rarely thinks about the fact that, if she was walking down the street in my town, Vancouver, Washington, it is unlikely that a single person would recognize her or know who she was, even if she happened to introduce herself. Even more significant is the likely fact that most people in Vancouver, Washington would probably not even recognize the Mayor of Vancouver, Washington, let alone the Mayor of Philadelphia!

But Cherelle is important. She is important beyond any of our wildest imaginations. It is not for her position, or her historical election win. It is simply and solely because she was made in the image and likeness of God, and because God loves her.

Genesis 1:26-28 (New King James Version)
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

1 John 4:10 (New King James Version)
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Twenty years from now, if the Lord tarries in His coming that long, Mayor Parker’s term as Mayor of Philadelphia will likely be a piece of trivia known by few and cared about by even fewer. But her importance will not have been reduced one iota. Because Mayor Parker’s importance does not have its foundation in her popularity or the things she has accomplished as a Mayor. The foundation of her importance rests entirely in the arms of a loving God.

This is good news for those who strive and who struggle with their importance. Questions like, "Am I doing enough,” and “Do people value me enough,” fall away in the presence of a Holy and loving God who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 NKJV)

Your calling is to follow the Royal law: “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” (Luke 10:27(B) NKJV) Just live and do that. It may be that no one knows your name, and that no rich and powerful men and women vie for your attention. In fact, that will likely be the case. Consider the Scriptures:

1 Corinthians 1:25-31 (New King James Version)
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (New King James Version)
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

1 Corinthians 12:20-25 (New King James Version)
But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

As a Christ Follower, you are part of the Body of Christ, what could be better than that!

You probably are not called to be powerful and famous, but you are called. You are called to love God with all your heart and love others as yourself. (Luke 10:27 NKJV) Your life is eternal, you will not be judged on how many people knew you, how much wealth you amassed for yourself, how good looking you are or how talented you are. You will be judged first on whether you have called upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:9-13) and then on how you built on the foundation Christ laid. (1 Corinthians 3:9-15 NKJV)

1 Thessalonians 4:10(B)-12 (New King James Version) But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

Those who lead a quiet life, mind their own business, and work with their hands, are doing what the Apostle Paul commanded. Your ambition is for the Kingdom of God, for it is in His Kingdom you will dwell forever if you are His Child, having called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ the Righteous for salvation, for forgiveness from sins, and for the gift of a “Born Again” Spirit from God. Do not chase after the fool’s gold this world offers. Neither ought you to look for what you see as positions of prominence within the Church. Simply Follow Jesus. Go wherever the Holy Spirit leads, without ambition beyond pleasing your beloved God and Savior Jesus Christ.

"Those who lead a quiet life, mind their own business, and work with their hands, are doing what the Apostle Paul commanded."

I will leave you with this scene from a book by C.S. Lewis. In the book Lewis is imagining an area on the outskirts of Heaven where saints, believers who are in Heaven, travel to talk with those who are in purgatory. (Do not get lost in the incorrect theology here, Lewis was writing a story, not trying to accurately depict what Heaven is like.) He describes the entry of a saint, coming toward him and his Scottish host in that place, author George MacDonald.

“First came bright Spirits…who danced and scattered flowers. Then, on the left and right, at each side of the forest avenue, came youthful shapes, boys upon one hand, and girls upon the other. If I could remember their singing and write down the notes, no man who read that score would ever grow sick or old. Between them went musicians: and after these a lady in whose honour all this was being done
…
But I have forgotten. And only partly do I remember the unbearable beauty of her face.
“Is it?...is it?” I whispered to my guide.
“Not at all,” said he. “It's someone ye'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”
“She seems to be...well, a person of particular importance?”
“Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”
C.S. Lewis – The Great Divorce

The woman was not Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, as Lewis first guessed. It was Sarah Smith, a woman he would never have heard of, but a woman of fame in eternity. She was a woman in the story who had spent her life sowing to the Spirit and not the flesh and she was now reaping the rewards of her faithfulness, in quiet living, following the Royal law, for her beloved Savior.

Galatians 6:7-8 (New King James Version)
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

It is in following Jesus that we find our vocation, not in aspiring to be important, for we are already more important than we can imagine.

Peace be with you all.