Tag: calling

God’s call to serve

I remember when I first saved! A zeal and fervor that could move mountains! I had come to the Saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ and I was on fire for the Lord. There was no one I would not challenge, debate, and argue with over my newly-found Faith. I had gone from “indifferent agnostic” to “belligerent zealot” basically overnight. Things were very simple, either you were with us or you were against us. I lost no opportunity, took every bait, and left no stone unturned in an effort to let everyone know that Jesus is Lord, that He’s coming back to judge the living and the dead, and one day soon He will rapture His Church. It’s safe to say that my approach created very few converts, meaning none at all.

I had not realized the necessary time between calling and serving. Paul's admonishments were totally wasted on me. As a consolation prize though, the Bible teaches I was in good company. Click To Tweet

Calling to Serving: Paul

Everyone knows about Paul’s “Road to Damascus” story: how Jesus forcibly interrupted Paul’s mission and life and completed the Work all the Scripture he ever learned had started in his life. Paul went from the lead Prosecutor and Persecutor of the Church to the Chief Proponent and Apologist for the Church in the space of a day. His encounter with the long-awaited Messiah gave his zeal and commitment to the Faith an even deeper anchor than he ever had as a Scribe of the Law.

In fact, Paul’s conversion had such a profound and complete effect on him that he could not keep himself from sharing it with all of his Jewish brethren, so much so that his ministry had to be put on hold for his own safety and Paul’s first missionary voyage would not take place until 13 years after his Damascus Road experience. 

Paul’s conversion had such a profound and complete effect on him that he could not keep himself from sharing it with all of his Jewish brethren, so much so that his ministry had to be put on hold for his own safety Click To Tweet

Calling to Serving: David

Similarly, in the Old Testament, the period of time between David’s anointing as the next king and his coronation took approximately 13 years. Thirteen years of having to deal with his brothers’ calling him a shepherd boy; of escaping Saul’s attempts on his life while not acting on his own opportunities to kill Saul, and thirteen years of tending sheep and living in caves while fighting foes on both sides of the battle lines. 

Surely, those years were not wasted on either one. In those thirteen years, God molded and melded and purified and polished and chipped and rounded and smoothed and sanded them into the vessels of honor He wanted them to be. Neither of them had asked for such a blessing or burden on their lives but both accepted it, in their heart, as their true purpose and Call on their lives: David would aspire to build the Temple and Paul to preach the Good News to all flesh.

The mess between calling and serving

When God “calls us out” of the old way and “into” something new, beautiful, exciting, and scary we are often overtaken with zeal. We have our own “Damascus Road” experience or a man of God speaks Truth and Power into our lives and alters the course of our life.

In this newfound purpose, we have a tendency to run ahead of God and skip the planning and growing stages. We go and tell everyone about the new ministry “God gave us”, spend all of our energy on trivialities such as logos and slogans and how to put our name on the ministry and “brand it”. Our visions of grandeur fill our eyes and minds and we begin picturing ourselves simulcasting around the world in many languages at the center of a ministry that blesses hundreds of thousands.

We exhaust ourselves in the process. Connections don’t work out. We are discouraged. We lose heart when the funding is never enough. Better yet non-existent. Reach? Limited. Our messages? Lackluster. The anointing is lacking and the ministry simply won’t grow. The results we expected are light-years away. Dazed and confused, we strain once more, by the force of our own will, to “make it work” putting undue stress on all the other parts of our lives: we let relationships wither, our work-life suffer, and health deteriorate for the sake of our new Purpose.

From the pot to the grill

Then things get tougher still: the schedule is never right, people disappoint, funding falls through, other things require your time. Feeling the weight of it all, we fall back on what we knew was true before and preach to ourselves with catchy phrases like “name it and claim it”, “little is much when God is in it”, or more historical like “God wills it!” We convince ourselves and say “Yes, it hasn’t worked because I have not been committed enough!” We then rededicate ourselves to the Cause further straining relationships, resources and time. Still, nothing changes, and our impulsiveness, stubbornness, lack of patience, and lackluster results turn into despair.

From calling to serving for dummies

Imagine the arrogance of starting a ministry with no preparation, no shaping or molding, and little to no prayer. So often, we quote David and Paul and Timothy and all the rest thinking that their lives really happened at the speed of the text in the Bible. Case in point. Have you ever pictured Paul working as a Tanner dealing with everyday issues? Things like disgruntled customers, taxes, bad fleeces, and every other mundane issue under the Sun. Not to mention his time in the Arabian wilderness!

We don’t picture Luke practicing medicine or James carving wood to raise a family and support his aging mother: we don’t even stop and realize that Jesus Himself started His ministry at the age of 30 and that He spent the greater part of His life-shaping, shaving and carving wood for the family business. Was He incapable of preaching and teaching and healing as a thirteen-year-old boy or as a twenty-one-year-old man, or any other time before the age of 30? Or did He not tell His own mother “My time has not come” at the wedding in Canaan? 

Calling and Serving for misfit toys

The problem with us humans has always been the same: fickle and weak-minded with no true sense of what vision is and a poor understanding of what God can truly do when we let Him, no matter how many years you think you’ve wasted chasing your own pleasures or how many we have left on Earth! God gives us a ministry, we think legacy; God gives us a vision, we think well-being. We never stop and think of the valleys between where we are and where God wants us to reach. 

Too broken?

Tired and defeated, we remember that the roadmap does not belong to us. Neither do the vision or the ministry. They belong to God. At this point, our internal sermon becomes “God makes all things beautiful in His time!” We start the slow and painstaking process of letting God put all the pieces together, both of our lives and of our Calling, remembering that in growth, preparation and prayer are still part of the equation: what a novel concept! 

Too human?

The problem is that, as humans, as Christians, we want the reach of Paul’s ministry without his trials. We want the power of Peter’s ministry without his testing and failures. The affluence of David? Sure! Just not his heartbreaks. We want the mountaintop experiences only, forgetting that the growth, the foliage, the green pastures, the still waters, the milk, and the honey are all found in the valleys. In the valleys the Sun is either blocked out by the storm clouds or it’s so strong that it scorches the Earth. It leaves only dry bones.

But thankfully, God is the God of both the hills and the valleys. He is patient and kind and loving and patient and kind and loving and patient and kind and loving. No matter what your ministry is, there is no way you will ever reach on your own. In fact, it is impossible without a triple dose of God’s patient, loving-kindness. Not everyone is called to a total revamping of their lives, not everyone is called thousands of miles away to parts unknown, but everyone is called to share the Gospel message. 

Too Troubled?

The trouble is exactly that! Our conversion creates an understandable zeal. However we have yet to learn how to pray. We have yet to learn how to hear from and wait on God. These are things that come with a relationship built over time with a heart toward discipleship. Unfortunately, many churches today is that we’re too busy making converts and not busy enough making disciples! We prefer quantity on Sunday mornings rather than a handful of Spirit-filled believers. The logic? If we don’t have crowds, the church cannot sustain itself! The church is not ours. The building might be ours but not the church. The Church belongs to God, and He can close it or keep it open as He wills!

Too troubled? Broken? Too human? Then you're perfect! https://lifemoreabundant.org/2020/04/07/from-calling-to-serving Click To Tweet

Then you’re perfect!

It is not my intent to discourage anyone to go full-blown, all-out, sold-out for Jesus but it is my intention to warn the Body as to prayerfully consider the ministry to which you have been called. The Church has had its fair share of well-intentioned Christians. These brethren “felt” called to a certain ministry or mission field. In the fullness of time they would make a mockery of their “calling”. Making matters worse, they become a stumbling block for others. Others who would otherwise have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Our admonishment to all Christians is to “mind the gap”! Be aware of the necessary time periods necessary and essential between calling and serving in Ministry. Be aware that, if Jesus started His ministry at 30 years old, having full and complete knowledge of the Word, your ministry cannot and will not be any different: God has his ways of doing things and he doesn’t need our advice nor our intellect to ensure the fulfillment of his Word; He doesn’t need us, He wants us to participate and be blessed from the furtherance of His Kingdom.