Something else we have in common is that we all have a calling. We like to think of a calling as a single thing, like the description of a job that we do for God. But first, our service to God is not a job. If it feels like one, even if it's what we do for a living, then our heart is not right. Secondly, our calling is never a single thing. There are multiple parts.
The first part of every calling of God on our lives is simply the call of the Spirit to come. The disciples were called to come years before they were told to go into the world and tell. No matter what follows, we must first come or there will never be a fulfilling of God's purpose and calling. He loves us. He really does. First He created us, and when the curse destroyed our life and gave us death, He died in our place to redeem us, to purchase us from death and judgment and sin and self. The Spirit says come, become the sons and daughters of the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth and of you. The Spirit says that He who made you, loves you as you are, not as you should be, so even though you can't earn the right to be free, and though you can never be good enough on your own to make up for the wrong and pay off your debt, you can come and be made whole, clean, right and empowered. Some hear that call, drop their nets, deny their self and follow Him. Others of us have to hurt first. We have to wait until we sunk the boat, shredded the nets and are about to drown. But no matter what happened before we said yes, Lord, I surrender myself to You, for You too build with me and do with me whatever You want, for Your glory and to demonstrate Your power, love and way of life, we must all reach that point before true life, life worth living, can be birthed in us.
Then, once we've said Yes, Your will not mine today and every day, then we are given a purpose, some call it a law, and it is part two of the calling we all have, The law is love. Unselfish, motivated for what can be given and not for what is received, laying down our lives in service, love. Love God, and love others. It's that's simple. There's nothing more to the spiritual life than that. There's no need to complicate it. Do things that will bring you deeper into relationship with Daddy. Don't do what will cause distance. Do things that help others and show them Daddy's love for them. Don't do things that will hurt them or drive them from Daddy. Simple. And it's also impossible. But that's our high calling, our primary purpose. To love God and others, to show the light and love of God to those who are hurting and captive and dying.
We all have those aspects of the calling in common, and then the rest is just details. Some are called to do those things, to daily say no to self, yes to Jesus, and to love God and love others while pushing a broom, some while standing in a pulpit, some with a certain group of people or segment of society, some....well, you get the idea. God has some of us in ministry, some in secular situations, some working with specific causes and groups, but all of us are to deny and die to self so we can surrender to and live for God, loving Him and loving others. And none of us can do that.
We are all called to do the impossible. To do what we are called to do takes a miracle, a true transformation of our core. This is where God does for us what we can never do for ourselves. God empowers us to be like Him, to love like Him. He frees us from the bondage of self. He gives us the grace to love and lay down our lives in service unselfishly. But He doesn't rob us of our will. He doesn't take our surrender and place us under His power. We do not become possessed and unable to control our decisions. Our will becomes more important than it ever has been before.
Before we become God's, our free will is an illusion. We say we have free will, and we like to believe we do, but we don't have the power to say no to the things that bring death and destruction, we don't have the power to love unselfishly and choose right, and we don't have the power make any real and lasting changes in our nature. Therefore, we say we are free, and then we live as slaves. But with God, we say we are servants and slaves, but we live free. Because for the first time, our will really matters. We get to choose whom we will serve. We get to choose to take up our cross and follow Him. We get to choose to bow the knee in surrender or to try to do things our way, to be the prodigal or come home. Every day, each moment, with every act of love and service we are called to do, the Spirit is saying come, receive My love and respond with love and service. We have the freedom to say yes, though we don't have the ability and power to do what we agree to do. Once we say yes, God gives us the power to do what we say yes to. God doing for us what we can not do for ourselves is not God overriding our will, but simply the grace to do what brings life to us and others instead of death. He makes it possible for us to complete the yes, and all that comes after, but the yes or no to the core of the call to come and receive freely His love for us, is up to us. Today, let us say yes.
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