Who’s Called? You’re Called.

Who’s Called?  You’re Called.

By Brian C. Collins

If you seek great things for yourself—God has called me for this or that; you are putting a barrier to God’s use of you.” (Oswald Chambers)

Full-time ministry is a matter of perspective.  Or as some refer to “The Calling” (echo– calling, calling, calling.)  If one like myself grows up in the Christian faith the leadership positions of Pastor, Evangelist, and Missionary along with others are respected but often misunderstood. 

While it is true that some are called to full time “vocational” ministry, most Christians are just simply called to full-time ministry.  What!  You may be asking.  Yes, the full-time ministry is for all Christians.  We are all supposed to live for the Lord every day, tell everyone we meet how to be saved, and spend as much time as we can in prayer with our Lord and learning from His Word.

It may seem like at first your getting a raw deal but its true.   Once you’ve devoted all for Him you will be eager to give God anything; the so-called raw deal will turn into the best deal ever when we all get to heaven.  However, here on earth, it will have its highs and its lows.  

Christians forget the life of a follower of Christ is a life of hardship and persecution. “For I am crucified with Christ never the less I live.” The life of a disciple of Christ is not “like a box of chocolates” where you can look under the lid for a diagram of what’s inside and just pick what you want. It’s a continuous battle with your sinful nature and “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds).”

We are at war.   The Christian life is a battle.  When we choose not to serve God fully we let our defenses down and defeat is soon upon us.  We need the “Whole Armor of God” not just a weapon, the sword of the Lord, we rarely pick up and have no skill with.

To be a great swordsman takes much dedication and practice.  If we do not master the sword, then we will not learn how to further arm ourselves.  “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” is not a weekend Adventure this is a lifelong study.

A Huge amount of people just near our homes and around the world are not saved.  To reach as many as possible as we can is not a one day a week visit, it’s a lifelong pursuit of striving to be a living example of Christ and letting our light shine before all men. 

“Be ye holy for I Am Holy” is an impossible task as humans.  This is why a consistent, persistent relationship with Christ is a must with no breaks no vacations.  This is one part of the Christian life you can never rest on.  We will mess up, we will sin, we cannot be perfectly holy.

In Christ, through Christ, with Christ we can keep up the faith, confess sin when needed, and not let the Devil drag you down in shame for “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  the pursuit of holiness is very much a full-time endeavor.  

So, who’s called? You are.