A Monthly Reflection

“Winners of souls are first weepers for souls.” 

Someone

This month we sought to reflect on what or perhaps could be our calling.  Are we destined to be the next famous sports star or perhaps a little lower in the form of a great saint such as Mother Theresa?  Or maybe a little lower such as a city mayor or a grocery store mgr.  What is our calling?  What is my calling?  What is your calling?

Let me first answer that being human innately cause us to one specific call.  One pure purpose.  One definitive answer – we were created to love and serve G-d.

Example, after example, in the Bible states this:

Colossians 1:16 (ESV) – For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (ESV) – The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Isaiah 43:7 (ESV) – Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

And the list goes on.  So pure, so simple – at least in theory.  We are here on Earth to be His servants and to try to love Him with a fully devoted heart and life.

So the next time that someone asks “why are we here on this planet?” – we can retort in our response not the answer of “42” as Douglas Adams would say but with a couple ideas more aligned to Thomas Tarrents when he asks the question a bit differently.  He states in the Winter 2018 edition of Knowing and Doing magazine – what is G-d’s purpose for my life?

He goes on to explain a couple different aspects of this question, to include (1) His purpose in the world to come and (2) His purpose in the present world.  I won’t go into the depth he does within these two facets as they are both sides of the same coin – G-d’s purposes – now and later.  His will.  His way.  We need to reflect on who He is to us and overall as well as to understand our place within these confines.  “He is the supreme, long-term strategic planner of the universe. He does nothing in a random or haphazard manner. And His purposes extend from eternity past to eternity future, encompassing not only the ultimate destiny of His creation, but our personal lives, as well…..This is God’s ultimate purpose — to recreate this fallen world and to bring about a new heaven and new earth. He is redeeming a people for Himself, with whom He will dwell and with whom He will share His own glory.”

So the fact is that we are called to serve Him.  Oz Guinness in his sermon “The Call” (also a book) states that there are two “calls”.  A generic one for everyone which is basically the one mentioned above with respect to the Scripture verses previously mentioned.  The second one, and we may or may not know or be able to have, is a “specific” one – such as William Wilberforce’s call to help end slavery and help fix moral principles or any of the other prophets we read about in the Bible.  G-d alone selects who and how people are to be used for Him.  I, personally, may never become a Billy Graham or a Wilberforce – but it is ok.  I can be content serving Him at work, church, within my home or at the grocery store. 

In fact, that is what Dorothy Sayer’s and others have talked about in various articles about doing well within your vocation.  And we should as He created us to work, to serve, to love.  And we can have a mission field right there at the water cooler.  We can encourage others that are having some tough times in life whether it is behind the counter or over the counter.  We can secretly donate to a worthy cause.  We can be a prayer warrior for those who ask AND for those who don’t.  We can show love when the world displays hate.  We can shine or reflect His light wherever we are at. 

That is cool and relieving.  We don’t have to live up to some artificial expectation.  We don’t need to find our identity in some sort of humanistic success metric.  We can fail by trying to be good.  We can look to Him to carry us each day to Him and to further His Kingdom.  We can encourage other as well down this road.  We draw our strength much easier from Him then we can do ourselves.  We press on Paul says to the goal.  We run the race.  Who give us the power to do this?  G-d alone.  And why would He not want to help us if we are running His race for His glory?

It really is His race.  His goal.  His end.  His victory.

We run because not only does He call us to but because we want to be near Him.  We want to win for Him.  That is what life is about.  We get baptized to show our love to Him – a smile for Him.  We try to treat others with dignity and respect – again because He set the example.

Again the list goes on…. 

It’s a perfect cycle.  We serve in love.  We receive in love.  He is glorified!

While I don’t yet understand how to fully embrace all the details of my call, I do know that with His help I can complete the race and use my time, effort, resources more for Him.  He can direct my steps as in Psalms:

Psalm 37:23-24: “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.”

Or more, ask yourself this:

Proverbs 20:24 (ESV) – A man’s steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?

So why worry about a legacy.  We will/may never know who we have impacted or how the L-rd was able to use us.  We may know some of things we leave behind yet not our full spiritual legacy.

We live for now.  Not for the YOLO (you live only once) attitude that is pervasive in society to be as an excuse for abuses of all sorts, but as we yield to the Holy Spirit to make our time count here.  We live for Him today and for tomorrow.

What are you living for?  For me, I am starting more to realize that I can serve him at my jobs.  I can serve my family better, my wife too.  I can just be an encourager to hurting people.  I don’t need many resources or time to listen or to say “I’m sorry for what you are going through” or to ask if someone has a prayer request.  Frankly being nice to people whether they are kind back can serve Him.  I believe the Holy Spirit will guide us how to respond to hurting people and a broken world.  We just need to listen and to ask for this insight – this revelation of His will.

We need to submit as well and try to keep Him (or should it be more rightly allow Him) to be #1 in our lives.  To allow Him to accomplish His purposes with us for Him.

Next month and the subsequent one, we will embark on a journey headed in the direction of Christian apologetics.  Here is some challenge for application of the call.  The great call.  The Great Commission.  He has called us to share His love, His Gospel, to the masses.  While I have had a bit of this in the past, I need His help to be more of an evangelist for the future.

And remember:

We love because He first loved us…. 1 John 4:19 (ESV)

Parting thought:

Let me look on the crowd as my Savior did,

Till my eyes with tears grow dim.

Let me view with pity the wandering sheep

And love them for love of Him.

—Author unknown