Being Who We’re Called to Be

“One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, – Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew – throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, ‘Come, follow Me, and I will show you how to fish for people!’ And they left their nets at once and followed Him.” (Matthew 4:18-20 NLT)

Who has Jesus called you to be?

It’s important that we understand that to be a believer in Jesus is to be called to follow wherever He directs. There’s a sense in which – no Jesus, no calling; know Jesus, know calling. First and foremost, we’re called to be God’s child. Having our sins forgiven and being filled with the Holy Spirit sets us apart for holy purposes. But that’s only the beginning.

We don’t have to have an emotionally charged experience like Paul had on the Damascus Road to know we’re saved and called to be more than we could ever be on our own. All we need is a humble, contrite heart willing to hear God’s voice and follow His directives. He will speak, the only issue is, will we listen? What might that look like?

Jalen Hurts said: “I usually keep my prayers to myself, but I say, God knows… I really lean on Him, and I try to keep Him in the center of everything that I do because I know without God, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without having that faith in Him, without having integrity and leadership and diligence and all of those things. But I think the biggest thing is you get so influenced by so much around you, you just want to pray that you’re the person that God calls you to be, so that’s what I’m going to do: Be who God called me to be.”(See BreakPoint Christian Creativity: Truth and Beauty Together // Jalen Hurts’ Best Performance – 02-15-23)

Callings vary, based on who we are and how God put us together. The plot thickens when we understand that God knows everything, so, He specifically designed us to possess the very qualities He wants us to have for us to carry out His purposes exactly as He desires. Spiritual gifts give us a clue, as well as our personality, preferences, where we were born, and into what kind of family. Our temperament, education, spheres of influence, where we live, our race, culture, socio-economic background and on and on it goes.  

It’s safe to say that if God calls you to do something, He’s already vetted you to make sure you’re exactly who He needs for whatever He’s calling you to do. Another consideration is the scope of His calling. When He called the men in the verses above, they would be giving their lives to the calling He chose them to carry out. Callings have perimeters whether they’re for short-term or long-term ministries, but all of us are called to a lifetime of commitment.

For me, my “calling” was Pastoral ministry, but that looked different based on where I was serving and what my “position” was. In some settings I was on staff and had specific responsibilities such as: youth, Sunday School, Evangelism, Discipleship, etc. When I was the Senior or, in some cases, the only Pastor, I wore a lot of hats and had to recruit lay leaders to serve in those capacities.

Calling isn’t necessarily for a full-time ministry position, but it is a full-time commitment for each of us to do what we’re called and equipped to do. Sometimes knowing what that might look like for you is easy, sometimes it stretches out over years based on lots of factors and scenarios.

Maybe we should look at this more closely in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊