Redeeming Work: A Guide to Discovering God’s Calling for Your Career by Bryan Dik. Templeton Press. 224 pages. 2020
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I was introduced to this book in Tom Nelson’s new book Why Your Work Matters. The purpose of the book is to give practical, actionable advice to Christians seeking to discern their callings and live out their faith within their careers. The book draws from wisdom derived from Scripture and vocational psychology. It walks the reader through how you can discern and live God’s calling within your career path, leaning on points of convergence in the foundation of Scripture and the findings of psychological science.
The author tells us that as Christians, we want to glorify God in our work. We want to feel confident that we are following God’s will in our career decisions. But it is not easy.
The author tells us that everything in the book has built on a Four-Act (creation, fall, redemption, and renewal) Story foundation. Readers of the book can utilize PathwayU, an online career assessment system. The book includes a number of helpful stories and covers a variety of subjects including calling, individualized interpretation, feedback, career interventions, gifting, personality traits, informational interviews, job search, career adaptability, planned happenstance, and work in eternity.
An Appendix “The Four-Act Story of Scripture: Our Foundation for Redeeming Work” goes into more detail of a subject the author introduces in chapter one of the book.
This will be a helpful book for Christians who wish to clarify their callings so that they can find work that aligns with their giftings.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

• A calling is a pathway through which we can express our gifts for the common good, and for God’s glory.
• Living a calling is an entire lifestyle of serving faithfully while also listening to the Spirit’s promptings, often communicated through new skills and new opportunities for service.
• Discerning God’s will for our work and lives requires wisdom and effort.
• A calling is not a thing to be discovered once and for all. Living a calling is a dynamic, continually unfolding process.
• Gaining a clearer sense of your gifts helps you understand what makes you unique within the world of work and serves as a key prerequisite to evaluating the fit of particular career paths.
• Discerning and living a calling are ongoing processes, a lifestyle of striving to serve faithfully while also looking for new ways to use your gifts within God’s kingdom.
• A key way to discern your calling is to identify your gifts and explore opportunities that fit them.
• Our callings transcend any particular job title; a job is simply a vehicle through which we can express our gifts to glorify God and serve the common good.
• Whatever work we do, if done for Christ, is not in vain; it will last into eternity.