Be Sure to Follow God's Call on Your Life



In this post I am starting something new: in the future at irregular intervals I will take an entry from One Believers Thoughts on Various Christian Topics by Aaron J. Smith, and post at least a part of the entry on my blog Written Word. Some of the entries can be posted in their entirety, while some, as with the present one, can be viewed only in part. Information on how to purchase the book and so read the entire entry is given at the end of this post.

CALL OF GOD

In speak­ing of the call of God we are not referring to the initial call to follow Him that all be­lievers have experienced. We are looking at the call to contin­uing service of which all saints should be aware. Unfor­tu­nately not all saints seem to know about this call or not all of them care enough.

The Importance of the ‘Lesser’ Parts

We do not want to deal in this essay with such notable callings as preacher, teacher, evangelist and the like. We want to come down to the level where most of us live: the small, unno­ticed tasks that, despite their seeming insignificance, are extremely vital to the body of Christ. If everyone were a preacher or teacher, it would be as though God had created a body with fifteen or twenty arms at the expense of the necessary eyelashes, two feet or ten fingers. It would be grotesque. The body needs feet; it requires fingers; the eyelashes are vital; the very pores of the body are indispensable. The complete body must have all its component parts for its most efficient existence.

We need to stress this: The Church cannot live without the vital small parts that seem so insignificant any more than the physical body can exist without its many “inferior” members.

It is the belief here that not even the apostles could have operated in their spheres without the lay members praying for them. Looking again at the physical body, one will note how the Creator has made it so that the component parts work togeth­er for the full functioning of the whole. So it is with the Church. Thus, Tabitha, the widow who was brought back to life by Peter, helped the body of Christ in her small way. {Acts 9:36-43) At the other extreme of the financial spectrum, Lydia, the wealthy seller of purple dye, helped with her material possessions. (Acts 16:14, 15, 40) There were many others whom Paul mentions in his epistles who meant much to him by their ancillary contributions to his ministry. Ref., Romans 16; I Corinthians 16:15-17; Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7-18 and other scriptures.

Evidence of the Call

The believer’s call to service is evident in the talent or ability he possesses and the need for the talent that is in others. For example, if the believer clearly has a special rapport with others - even strangers - he should use it to welcome strangers who are visiting the church. In this way he is using his ability to fill an evident need. Using that talent, he can also be particularly effective in witnessing to the unsaved one-on-one. Or perhaps he has a talent for doing manual tasks and can do physical work for others who need it, or he can perform repair jobs in the church. There are many “small” callings in God’s economy; the believer needs only to look for them, and pray as he looks. When he realizes the particular ability he has and sees a need that his ability will fill, then he has the mandate or “call” from God to do accordingly.

This, of course, is assuming that he has prayed for the will of God to be done in his life. No servant of God can flit around like a moth darting here and there at its own pleasure. There must be a divine direction in each saint’s life.

If the believer is sure of his call and if he prays in faith (one cannot please God without faith), he has all he needs to be a In spite of an almost complete lack of visual or audible evidence to tell him he is being effective, the evidence of his call is comprehend­ed in the talent itself and the complementary need. The call is based on his God-given ability. God, who gave the believer his talent, knows what He is doing. Then such a person is indeed a welcoming committee of one, a “Mr. Fix-it,” an intercessor, a person with a word of wis­dom, a discerner of spirits, or whatever it is that con­forms to the talent he possesses. If the Christian has had a definite call by way of the ability God has given him, and if he exercises that ability, he will doubtless be an effective worker in the Kingdom of God. Despite previous nagging self-doubts and the derisive remarks of the adversary, he can be confident that his efforts are not in vain.

In all this talk about the call being implicit in one’s ability we cannot overlook that men like Moses (Ex. 3), Isaiah (Isa. 6), Paul (Acts 9:1-8), and others had specific calls to their minis­tries. However, God ordained these men to special services that necessi­tated their being singled out from the other servants of God for their distinctive works.

On the other hand, Tabitha needed no special call to do the charitable works for which the Scripture cited her (Verse 36). She had the means and the ability and saw the need - and that became her calling. Again, the call lay in the ability on her part and the evident need for that ability in others. And I repeat, we must assume that she continually prayed for divine guidance.

The Error in Waiting for a Special Call

In the parable of The Ten Talents (Mat. 25:14-30), the lord of the servants gave each servant a certain number of talents as he saw fit. He did not say to them, “I want you to use your talents in this particular way, and you over there to use yours in another way.” In this parable he gave no instructions, although in a kindred (not identical) parable of The Pounds the lord told the servants, “Trade ye herewith till I come.” But in neither parable did the lord tell them specifically how to use the talents or the pounds. It becomes very clear, nevertheless, that he expected each one to put his temporary possession(s) to profitable use. We who are servants of our Lord cannot say that we did not know what He wanted of us. He has told us in the parables of the talents and the pounds.

NOTE: This discussion on “Call of God” was just a part of an entry from the book One Believers Thoughts on Various Christian Topics by Aaron J. Smith, in which 105 different topics of faith are discussed. Press the following link for information on how to purchase the book: http://bit.ly/gP8Hil