Thy Calling
Apr 14th, 2007 by David S
What is a “calling”? Is it not common to hear: “What is your calling” or “find what your calling is”? What is meant by such a statement? Is it not: “Choose for yourself whatever activity or work that is deemed “Christian service” or “spiritual gift” that you fancy is pleasurable”? How illogical and unbelieving is such a notion? I am well aware that there are a great many people who think of “a calling” in such a manner as this. If I did not, why would I even bother saying anything about it? I mention this and give strong warning concerning the matter because the Lord has “called” me to do so.
When someone says: “So then, what is it that you would like to do for God?”; or “what ministry would you like to serve in?”, is this not mere selfishness? Do you not know that men can serve their master for merely selfish motives? I am convinced that this is how it is with a great many well-meaning but misled people:
The leader or pastor of a congregation is always proclaiming that the Lord calls His people to service. But service to what? Or service to whom? What is often times presented as “service to God” is actually “service to us who serve God”. But even more often then that, it is not even presented as a service to God. But this is done in a crafty way. It is like this: “God has called people to serve Him. God has chosen His Church to carry out His work.” Conclusion: If you want to serve God, serve the church.
This is good except when one goes to the church and offers themselves for service they are asked, “Well, I don’t know, what do you want to do?” What an odd predicament. One wants to serve the master, but the master doesn’t have anything in particular for them to do. It seems that the Church has decided: Since most people are selfish in their interests,we should just allow them to choose what they want to do; because if they aren’t given this freedom then surely no one will serve.
Unless I stand completely alone in this matter,I believe people want to serve God and not themselves. I don’t want to be told, “serve God however you choose”. I don’t want to choose. I want God to choose. Just as the author of Hebrews says: “No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was”(Heb 5:4). But taking such a view of things will reap this type of response: “Oh, how adorable. He actually believes that God calls people to certain tasks”. Well of course I do. If He doesn’t then the whole thing is a sham. But praise be to God! The Lord does call!
But here is where it gets interesting. If the one whom they believed was “adorable” holds firm to his belief and does not give it up in order to accept the common consensus, then he becomes a burden to the conscience of others. So then, the individual is faced with this choice: to forget what he had previously become convinced of through the Spirit in order to adopt the group conscienceness, or to risk everything and trust in the calling from the One who called him.
So are we not all “called” to serve one another in love, particularly those of the faith? Did not Christ come to serve rather than be served? Should we not all follow in our Masters steps and serve others whether they be of the faith or not? So by serving others, could it be said we are serving God?
Matthew 25
Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
I find it interesting how the righteous answered him saying “Lord, when did we see….” So did the righteous know and see God’s calling? Do you see the paradox? Our Lord’s answer is the sweetest, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Peace and Blessings
Brian,
Amen. That is exactly the attitude that the righteous ought to have. One that says: “My life is a commitment to following Jesus Christ and walking in the manner in which he did. However it might manifest itself in the variety of circumstances and the people or persons involved, this I count as being what the Lord has called me to.” How difficult it is to trust that this is what we are called to. And it has become especially difficult when one is constantly told “to have mighty aspirations in ministry. And you can be sure that it is of the Lord based on the immediate results.” How unlike the Lord’s teaching that you mention above. God help us!
Thank you so much for your comment.
I believe this is a very hard subject to look upon. There are so many feelings that come about when talking about one’s “calling.” One feeling that every Christian should have when thinking about their calling is that of dispair. The constant torture of whether you are acting on what God calls you to do. The problem that David speaks of is how easy it is to confuse doing “good” works and directly tieing that to be what one is called to do. Christians usually see acts such as missionary work as doing what God calls us to do, but that is where much of the problem lies. Because as Christians, when we strive to find our calling, we can fall into the trap of man’s wicked ways; of doing acts that lead to praise from our fellow brothers. So how does one know whether they are doing acts out of selfishness or that of the Lord? That is where you must humble yourself to the Lord and pray to your Father that His will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Taking no pride in any act that is done and recieving no praise from our fellow man, we pray to the Lord that He will use us for his glory!