Ephesians Devotionals
Bob Morris
Life Worthy of Our Calling (Ephesians 4:1-2)
As a prisoner for the Lord, the, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
You have a calling! Live out your calling. That is the theme trumpeted in the promotional literature for Urbana 06. Paul said much the same thing to the Ephesians, but added some characteristics that should characterize the life of the one who is called.
A man was being tailgated by a woman when the traffic light turned yellow just in front of him. When he came to a rather sudden stop, the tailgating woman hit the horn - screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get thought the intersection. In mid-rant, she looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed and placed in a holding cell.
After a couple of hours, she was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, and using really bad language with the man in front of you. I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.” We are called to live (and drive!) consistent with our calling.
But to what exactly does “calling” refer? In everyday life we equate calling with vocation, what we do for a living. In the context of the Christian community we often use calling to describe a supernatural prerequisite of what our life’s spiritual work and ministry is supposed to be. People talk of receiving a “missionary call”, or a “call to the pastorate”. Less often do we use “call” in the context of work such as bus-driving, accountancy or the legal profession. The question then comes, “Should a missionary call be any different from a call to any other profession or occupation?”
Biblically, “calling” refers almost exclusively to a call to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to the life that that implies. Typical statements are “called to be his holy people” (Rom.1: 7), “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matt. 9: 13), “He called you… through our gospel” (2 Thess. 2:14), “[God] called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). In one or two places calling seems to have a vocational implication such as Paul’s call to apostleship (1 Cor. 1:1 and Gal. 1: 15-16) but even these are disputed.
It is safe to assume that “calling” in the New Testament refers to salvation – to God’s strong invitation to follow Jesus and his way of life. When we limit a “call” to a specific vocation, religious or otherwise, we confuse “calling” with guidance. As one veteran missionary summarized it, “We are called to relationship; we are commissioned to service.”
The danger of seeing a call as a prerequisite to missionary service or any other ministry is summed up in the humorous title of an earlier book by Dick Hillis, Thank the Lord, I Don’t Feel Called.
That will not do as an excuse! All who belong to Christ have been called, and all who have been called have been commissioned to service in his name. This means that a "sense of call" or an awareness of being "sent" will not lead us to the specific ministry or vocation we should pursue. God has promised to lead and guide us but not necessarily to tell us ahead of time what we should be doing with our lives. That has to be decided by sanctified decision-making in the context of an on-going walk with God, who gives us the freedom to serve him in any way we choose.
But however we serve, the fact that we are called will characterize our service with humility, gentleness, patience, and love for one another. Do our lives provide evidence of our calling? How we live seems more important than what specific task we do, when it comes to living a life worthy of our calling.
Loving Father, help us with Paul to urge one another to wear the name Christian in a way that honours Christ, who alone was completely humble, gentle, patient and loving.
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