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"Consider
your calling, brethren ...." (1 Corinthians
1:26)
Our
Second
Calling
Each of us who follows Christ has
a double-calling on our lives. The first is the glorious invitation to
join the family of God. The second is our
particular and special calling to service
(ministry).
Every follower of Christ has the
latter calling. Yes, every believer. God
does not reserve the second calling for pastors,
missionaries, or para-church professionals. He issues a
second call to all
His children.
Historically, men and women have
spoken of "the call to ministry" as something special,
over and above other believers. This calling, we're told
and they believe, entitles them to
ordination, payment, and privileged status in the Body
of Christ.
Such distortions of biblical teaching have
created and perpetuated the false notion that God
only calls some to service. The rest of us fall
lower on the Kingdom totem pole, apparently. We have
"regular" jobs and on weekends we volunteer to direct parking, fill communion
cups, or teach third graders.
However, the second calling -- "the
call to ministry"
-- belongs to all of us. I might hasten to add that the
first call does not depend on our response to this second
call. Phew! But the apostles could not have imagined
Christ-followers who did not share actively and
whole-heartedly in the mission of the
Kingdom.
How should we determine our second
calling? It may come in dreams, prophetic words, voices
during prayer, or epiphanies but for most of us it
emerges from a simple, less spectacular
approach.
The Father typically calls us to serve
in that place where His gifts, our talents, and
our passions intersect. God empowers us supernaturally. He also
wires us with talents and natural abilities from birth.
And He stirs up passions within us that move our
hearts deeply.
When we have neither gifting, ability,
nor passion we probably don't have calling. The converse
is also true.
The Kingdom has explosive potential as
all of us who claim Christ as Lord seriously respond to
this second calling. It doesn't require seminary but
sensitivity. It doesn't demand obsession but obedience.
It builds on the simple not the spectacular. And God
calls all of us in such a way.
What's your second calling? May you
discern it and step even deeper into it, for
the sake of His Kingdom and to His
glory.
In HOPE -
David |
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