Be Faithful in Your Calling
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ~Romans 11:29
I am tempted to leave this verse without any commentary and let you all ponder it. Feel free to do that before reading on.
It boggles my mind why God would gift someone and place a call on their life and not retrieve it when that person misused the things they were blessed with. It is sobering to examine my own life and ask, Am I doing the best I can with the gifts God has given me? Am I glorifying Him with my calling, or am I too busy serving Him that I don’t have time for Him? Before conference season started this year, my prayer was that God would not let me fall into the “too busy” trap, and I feel like He answered my prayer, but it takes a lot of work to stay above that.
I used to look at people and, if they appeared to be “blessed,” I would think God must be at the center of what they are doing. I am learning that this is not always the case. I think there are times when God gives someone a ministry or another work to do for Him, and they start off well. But after a while, they may forget why they are doing what they are doing, and they become puffed up. Or they develop an attitude because they are bored of their work and would rather be doing something else. We need to make sure that we are not found guilty of this.
I believe praise goes a long way toward keeping us focused on God. As you begin each day, thank God for the work He has given you to do. Ask Him to help you to be faithful to show His love and grace to those around you. If you are a manager, don’t forget that he or she who would be great must be a servant (Matthew 20:26). Your gifts and your calling have nothing to do with you but everything to do with God and His mercy toward you. Extend that mercy to others.
Maybe you read the opening verse and think, Yes! I’ll never have to worry about losing my great singing voice! That is the wrong attitude to have. It is humbling to think that God loved me so much to entrust me with a calling that He can use if I will be faithful. He could use it if I’m not too, but I pray that I will be. I don’t ever want Him to wish He had given to someone else the gifts that He entrusted to me.
Just some things to think about on this autumn day.
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