Our Life "Calling" From Within

"What is my life calling?" This question has long been one of the most popular topics for Christians, but also among people in general, especially today in Western-world culture where individual accomplishment and personal growth are highly valued. Just go to your local bookstore and you'll  find "self-help" books flooding the shelves attempting to guide people in their search for meaning in life. When people use the term "life calling" they are essentially speaking of discovering one's purpose in life, what God has created them to do. A very commonly used phrase, and one I would argue is also commonly misunderstood.

Now, the first thing that should be mentioned before going further is that God's primary life calling for you is to know Him as Savior, to have a personal relationship with Jesus. That is number one, the primary purpose of life, before all else and above all else. Nothing will ever be more important and nothing can ever replace this as the greatest purpose of your life. Scripture tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God with all of your heart (Matt. 22:37). Anything else that you designate as your reason for living, from work to family to friendships to sports, will disappoint in some form or another (probably already has). They were never intended to bear that responsibility. The designation of top spot is for the One who created you and nothing else can completely fill that space. But let's just assume that you understand that already. You know the most important calling is to respond to Jesus as Lord. To spend your life getting to know Him more intimately. And that is great! But this is where we often get stuck. We say, "I understand that first I'm called to know Jesus. Got it. But now what am I supposed to do for the next 40 years of my life?" This is the aspect of life calling I want to explore further. The part where we desire to know more about what God wants us to do now that we are following Him...the work He has for us, what He has designed us to do...where we feel passionate and alive. 

I spent years of my life searching for God's calling, most of that time feeling frustrated and confused as I went through the process. Trying on different jobs, changing careers, trying to find the "perfect" line of work that would bring the purpose and meaning I always longed for. And nothing ever satisfied me. Not completely at least. For some reason, I had developed the mentality that God's calling on my life was limited to a specific area of work...that my calling was directly tied to a profession. I know I'm not the only person who has thought this way. Thankfully, during these years of searching (with much restlessness) God began to teach me more and more about life calling. 

I read a book a few years ago that really transformed much of the way I thought about the question of life calling. The book, It's Your Call, was written by Christian author Gary Barkalow, who spent years exploring this very issue in his own life. So much so that he felt helping others discover their life calling had become a part of his own. Anyhow, one particular concept from his text I have not forgotten, nor will I ever. It was that life-changing to me. I'll share a quote from that section to summarize his thoughts about calling. He says:
  
"You see, your calling or glory is in you. It's not something you go get, like a degree, job, or title. It's already written in your life, though it can and must be developed. Your glory (calling) compels you to do something in every situation, a compulsion that you can choose to go with, hold back from, or ignore. It is what your heart almost always sees, knows, notices, wants to do, or is burdened by. Your glory is written on your heart, and you must go there to discover and understand it."  

So much changed for me when I began to see that my calling was much bigger than any job. I always thought I had to find the "perfect" job, and only then would I discover my true calling. I was looking outward to find it. But really it is in me. There will never be a job that will completely, 100 %, fit me as a person. Yes, some jobs will be a better fit for me than others based on my gifts and personality, and certainly God will lead us to specific work to serve Him...but no job can ever define exactly who God has made me to be in this world. How could it? That would be an insult to the greatness of God who created us each so uniquely and intricately detailed with our various gifts, personalities and preferences. How could a man-made job description ever totally define exactly who I am as person is?  

What a revelation when God started to show me that my calling is in me...in my gifts, personality, desires, and things I feel burdened for in life. What freedom to not have my calling tied directly to a profession or job title! I'm too uniquely made for that! I finally saw that I take my calling with me everywhere I go...no matter the job, and offer that to the world around me to show God's glory. 

For example, one aspect of my calling is to encourage others...especially those who are discouraged, to lift them up, wake them up, get them feeling positive again, help them see themselves how God sees them. So, no matter the job I have, I can take this aspect of my calling and use it. If I'm a missionary, a teacher or a businessman...I can use this part of my calling to encourage those around me and help them see God through that. 

Maybe for you one aspect of your calling could be to create beauty, something inside you always longs to do this. Of course you could use that in your job as an artist or architect...but also in other areas of life...like creating beauty at your church which helps people to feel/see God more clearly...or creating beauty in your home for your family to help them know how creative God is and how He uses beauty to speak to us. He certainly loves to create beauty to speak to us...all we need to do is look at a sunset. 

These are merely examples of areas that could be aspects of a person's calling. But the point is, our calling is SO much bigger than a job title. Yes, it is good when our profession aligns closely with those things we feel called to do (ex: an encourager working as a counselor/therapist to hurting people), and we all want to enjoy our work. And I believe God will lead us to certain professions where we can glorify Him. But our calling goes with us everywhere we go, and can be offered to the world no matter the job. We don't have to wait for the perfect job to feel we have finally found our calling. 

I have no idea how God has gifted you and designed you, what things you feel burdened to do. You will have several different areas to discover about yourself and your calling. But begin by looking inside, not outside, and God will show you more...how He has uniquely designed you, gifted you and burdened you for certain causes. There is so much more inside of us than we realize which will reveal His glory. 

You see, we've been chasing our calling all over the world and all the while it has been "calling" to us from within....go there with God to discover more about how He designed you and start offering this glory to the world around you, no matter your job or title. And people will see the glory of your Creator. 

Blessings

RW

What He Wants From Us Part 2...Know Him Personally

In the previous post we discussed what it is God wants most from us...our love. So, how can you love Him with all of your heart, soul and mind, as the Scriptures tell us, unless you really know Him personally and intimately?

God is a relational God. From the opening chapters of Genesis and on through the New Testament, we learn of a God who is personally involved in the lives of His creation. You may not realize it, but you were created to know God. To have an intimate, loving relationship with Him. Marriage, the love union between man and woman, also serves as a picture of the type of closeness we are made to have with God (Ephesians 5:22-23). Scripture even tells us that the church (His believers) is His bride. So if we are to love God in such a personal way, with all of our heart, soul and mind, we must know Him.

Those of you who are married, can you really love your spouse without truly knowing him/her at a deep heart level? A mere intellectual understanding of your partner is only a start. Head knowledge about their personality, characteristics and nature is surely a good thing, yet hardly enough to develop a true love for him/her. There has to be a deeper, more personal connection at the level of the heart. The same holds true when it comes to our relationship with God. You can’t truly love Him unless you truly know Him personally. So do you know God or do you just know about Him? There is a big difference. Far too often knowledg of God is mistaken for knowing God. Many people know about God…have knowledge of Him. But far fewer people actually know Him in a personal way.  Head knowledge is good, but heart knowledge is necessary as well. He wants more than just an intellectual understanding of who He is.

So, how do you get to know someone personally, beyond just knowing about them? Spend time with them. You communicate with them. Share your heart. Learn their likes and dislikes. It’s the same with God. In order to know Him, wich is what He desires and is available to anyone who seeks Him, we must spend time with Him. Study His Word as being written personally to you, not simply an historical account. Talk to Him as you would your best friend. Learn to recognize His voice speaking to your heart. Author John Eldredge states, “You can know Jesus…even better than your friends. Or what was the incarnation for?” God desires so strongly that you know Him, He actually came to us in physical form through Jesus. And with His death on the cross He promised to give all who believe in Him the gift of His Spirit to literally dwell within you...the Spirit of God living within your heart so you can always have access to God. So you can always have His presence close. So you can always talk to Him. So you can always hear from Him. So He can guide you. Comfort you. Teach you. Love you. He wants your love so much that He literally will send His Spirit into your life to live with you. How much more personal could He get?

If you don't yet know God in a personal way, I encourage you to ask Him to show you the type of relationship He offers. What else could compare to knowing the Creator of the universe in a personal way. He is more personal, more faithful and more loving than any person you will ever know.

So how do we love God with all of our heart, soul and mind? We get to know Him. If you truly know Him, His love will consume you. And your only response will be to love Him in return.  

 

 

What Does God Want From Us?

Have you ever asked yourself just what it is that God wants from you above all else?  What the real purpose of life is? Most of us, at one time or another, have at least considered questions such as these in the midst of life's ups and downs. I know I have. Growing up, I attended church regularly but never really knew God in a personal way. If you had asked me if I believed in Him, I would have said yes, although my belief was little more than mere head knowledge about a very distant, demanding God who was always ready to punish. Not surprisingly, my "faith" was weak and superficial. If you had asked me then what God wanted from me above all else or what the purpose of life was, I probably would have said something like "to be a good person, to behave, or to simply obey the rules...that the point of our existence was to just not live wrongly or make God mad." And of course, this is a misinformed perspective about what God most wants from us.

Along those same lines, there are various other perspectives on this issue. Author John Eldredge says that within Christian circles "from some denominations we're told that what God wants is obedience, or sacrifice, or adherence to the right doctrines, or morality. The more therapeutic churches suggest that no, God is after our contentment, or happiness, or self-actualization, or something else along those lines. God is concerned about all these things, of course, but they are not His primary concern."

So, what is God's primary concern? Fortunately, we can go straight to the source Himself to find out. Looking at Scripture, we find that Jesus was actually confronted with this very question by the Pharisees and experts in the law who were testing Him as they asked, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matt. 22:37-38).

There it is. Above all else, God is concerned that we love Him. Nothing is more important to Him than that. He is more concerned that you love Him than He is with anything else, even more so than your service, good deeds, sacrifice or giving. Yes, loving Him is the primary purpose of life, what He wants most from us. You see, God knows that when we love Him first, the other things He desires for us will follow. Out of our love for Him we will naturally serve, give, obey and love others sacrificially. And when we do, it will be a joy and not a burden. The more we love Him with our heart, soul and mind, the more His love will simply flow out of us for the world around to experience. But we have to start with Him...receiving His love and loving Him in response.

Let me take this a step further to emphasize the essence of what God desires. God is not satisfied with our good "Christian duties" if we don't truly love Him. In the book of Isaiah God speaks a powerful message to His half-hearted people as He says, "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made up only of rules made by men" (29:13). Put simply, God is not pleased with people going through the motions of "Christianity," doing their good deeds and services if their hearts are not completely His...if they don't truly love Him.

A respected pastor once told me, "God is not as concerned with activities as He is with relationships." And the relationship He is most concerned with is the one between you and Him. In reality, He is more concerned that you love Him than He is that you run around doing a bunch of activities and things for Him. This is not to diminish the good works God uses us for in this life. Of course, when we love Him good works should be a natural result. But they are not the point. Loving Him is the point. I'm completely convinced that everything in life should flow out of your relationship with God, your love for Him. When that is first in your life, your other priorities fall into place. You are able to serve, give, sacrifice, love others and so on, out of your love for Him. You will want to do these things. If you don't really love Him you end up doing them out of a sense of duty and obligation, and this is not pure. This becomes grueling and exhausting, leaving you burned out and frustrated.

Later in Scripture Jesus actually goes as far to say that all of the other commands hinge on this first one to love God (and others). And this is why He commands that we love Him first. He knows this must be the foundation, the starting point for all we do. Even our ability and motivation for obeying the other commands will only be true when we love Him first. If not, we will bear little fruit that lasts, in spite of how much "good" we attempt to do. As Jesus said, “Remain in Me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me" (John 15:4).

Let this message not be a burden causing you to try harder to please God. But rather, let a sense of freedom come as you realize that God just wants you. He just wants your love. Certainly the other commands are important and good works are desired, but they will fall into place naturally with joy as you love Him first. So today, I encourage you to simply take a break for a moment, even from your good deeds, and simply love God. Nothing else you do today will matter more than this. And truly, all else you do hinges on this.

So can we actually love God with all of our heart, soul and mind if we don't really know Him in a personal way? We will discuss this aspect of loving God in the next post...

"In quietness and trust is your strength." Isaiah 30:15

This passage of Scripture struck me as I opened to Isiah to spend some time with God. It was actually highlighted from a previous days reading, yet had not resonated with me at the time. However, this time the words seemed to be jumping off the page. So profound, yet so simple: "In quietness and trust is your strength."
The ability to be strong rests not in human might or brute force, but in stillness and belief in the goodness of God. When one is able to calm the mind and soul from controlling/striving/worrying, and simply trust in Him, strength is produced. A confidence in His strength is realized. I cannot muster up enough strength on my own...I've tried this in the past with little success. However, when I quiet my mind and quiet my soul I can focus on His love and goodness. This inevitably brings me to a place of trust and dependence on Him...and this is where true strength is found. Not in trying to "be" strong. In reality it's actually quite the opposite as I need only to "be" still and let God be strong in me. What a sense of relief and peace this brings to know that it's not up to me to be strong. I can rest in Him and know that by simply doing so I am strong. Truly it is a sign of real strength when one is able to surrender your effort to be strong on your own and depend on the Lord instead.

"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Again, to settle one's self before God and recognize who He is will produce strength. A healthy recognition of His nature will bring one to a place of trust every time. "God is love" (1 John 4:8). "The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all His creation" (Psalm 145:17). "For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations" (Psalm 100:5). "Fear not for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you and I will help you" (Isaiah 41:10). “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-29).  "In all things God works for the good of those who love Him..." (Romans 8:28). This is merely a snapshot of the character of God and as we draw closer to Him our trust grows, allowing us to find our strength in who He is, rather than in who we are. The more we know Him the more worthy we find Him to be of our trust and we can quietly and confiedently come before Him in our time of need.

As my study Bible so accurately states, "A right relationship with God brings quietnes, the ability to be calm, because one trusts in him to keep His promises." For me, my strength is directly linked to my relationship with God. I'm not naturally strong-minded, so the ability to quiet my soul and trust in Him is essential. No striving. No worrying. No letting my emotions control me. Just trusting in Him while knowing He is my strength.

Do you need your strength renewed? If so, don't simply try harder, relying on your own effort and ability. Instead, do what seems to go against your natural instinct and simply be still, draw close to God and let His strength renew you. He desires peace for you, not the burden of trying to be strong. So quiet yourself before God and begin to trust in who He is and watch as He fills you with His strength...His freedom-giving, peace-producing, effortless strength.