|
|
 |
What Might be Your Life's Call?
The title and topic of chapter nine of Gordon MacDonald’s book, A Resilient Life, is “Resilient People Listen for a Call from God.” MacDonald gives this explanation of a call. A call “describes a summons to a way of life, a responsibility, a long term task. People who are resilient live by the gravitational pull of a call. They believe that God’s hand is upon their lives and that they must respond to that call. Thus, resilient people reflect on questions such as, what path should my life be taking, and what should I be doing with the resources and sensitivities with which God has blessed me? I believe that big-picture thinking – at least for the bible believer – demands a sense of call. Heaven imprints the heart of a person with a compelling destiny that provides meaning and focus to life.” I think calls can come at many times in our lives. They can provide a single focus throughout our life, or they can change our focus at certain points in our lives. In our Spiritual Gifts Workshop we explore this topic of call when we explore the topic of passion and when we combine our Spiritual Gifts, personal style, and passion together at the end of the workshop and try to link it to a possible ministry area that interests us. MacDonald gives examples from his own life so that we too might know that God answers us when we ask him what our call might be. If we have questions about whether we are hearing our call correctly, Gordon highlights some common characteristics that are shared by calls:
The ways can be many and varied. “But there is a moment of certainty that God has put His hand upon a person and nudged that individual toward a particular people, theme, or function. When Eric Liddle, in Chariots of Fire, said to his sister, ‘When I run, I feel God’s pleasure,’ he provoked a mysterious thought. He put his finger on a hard-to-explain dimension of call. When one lives obediently in the center of a call, one feels God’s pleasure; one knows a strange joy.”
- A call is confirmed by others
“The genuineness of a call is usually confirmed by others who discern the unique work of God’s Spirit in a particular person. People who know us well watch, and they volunteer comments such as, ‘You glow when you’re doing that.’ ‘You are at your best when you…’ ‘You seem so natural when you’re…’”
“With a call comes giftedness – that mysterious empowerment of capability and spirit that God visits upon the ‘callee.’ When such people are in alignment with their calls, they fairly soar. Something powerful happens, and we observers are all left in amazement.”
“Finally, there are the results themselves. As I do what I do, does the world around me become a bit better of a place? Are people encouraged by my presence? Does an institution or a business become a better place to work because of my contribution? Do I add something to the human equation in my home, at my job, in my neighborhood, in my church?” Gordon gives examples from the bible of calls on some of who we would consider to be the great bible servants. But just like us, they started off as ordinary men and women whom God called for a specific purpose. Gordon ends his chapter with this summary: “Let us be frank: men and women have obeyed God’s call and become martyrs. Others have undertaken unspeakably difficult and discouraging tasks and barely survived. Many more have lived the relatively common life between home and job. They hammer nails, sell widgets, create software, or fix things. But in the process they make a difference in the existence of the people around them. And they, too, are called.” As I read the chapter I was asking God to confirm his call to me and it gave me the opportunity to examine all that he has given me in terms of strengths, gifts, personal style and passion. I asked God to clarify what I think I was hearing from him. How about you? Have you felt a call by God and are you living it out? Have you felt a call but are puzzled by what it means in your life? Have you been wondering if what you are feeling is a call from God? I would enjoy discussing these and any other related questions with you and encourage you to give me a call at the church.
Adapted from "A Reslient Life" by Gordon MacDonald, Nelson Books, Nashville, Tennessee, 2004.
|
