God wants children who love Him above all else, children who obey Him completely, children who walk with Him—following His lead instead of choosing their own paths and expecting Him to bless them anyway—children who not only know Jesus as Savior, but also as Lord.
God wants children who understand the truth of the words spoken to King Saul, that obedience is better than sacrifice, that He will not condone us doing things our way even if our way does look good in man’s eyes and seems to result in great things for the church.
God wants children who follow in the footsteps of Jesus, the One who did and said, and only did and said, what the Father wanted, who obeyed all the way to the cross and beyond when His Father called.
God wants children who don’t say, “I have decided I want to…,” but say instead, “I have decided to do what God wants me to do.”
God wants
sons and daughters
who understand what it means to be CALLED.
Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
The question is not, “Am I called?” but rather, “What is my calling?” Speaking specifically in the realm of the church, we must ask, “To which local church has God called me? To which ministry or ministries within that church has God called me?” We are to seek the answers to these questions and, having found them, lead lives worthy of His calling.
The Word is specific here as it refers to “your calling.” So first we are called with a specific calling. No man should walk in another man’s calling; God expects each man to walk in his own. A man’s flesh may declare that it wants to work in one ministry, but if God has called him to work elsewhere he would be walking in disobedience if he chose to follow his flesh’s lead—this would certainly not be an act of a life that was being lived worthily.
And we must consider carefully what it is to lead a life worthy of one who is called by HIM.
If one were called by the President—that is, if the President of the United States were to call on a man to do something—one assumes that he would not only do it, but do it to the very best of his ability. Who in their right mind would consider giving the President of the United States anything less than work of the highest quality? But we are not called by the President. We are not called by any mere man. Rather, we are called by GOD.
How is it, then, that we too often offer Him second or even third best…or nothing at all? Do we consider Him to be less important than the President? Do we subconsciously take advantage of His quickness to forgive? Do we find that, since we can’t see Him with our physical eyes, it is easier to ignore the fact that He is there and waiting for us to move, waiting for us to do (and do well) what He has called us to do?
When God calls us to a local church, He expects us to be active in that church. (Hebrews 10:25, KJV, …not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.) When He calls us to a specific ministry, He expects us to serve actively in that ministry—being where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there and doing all we are supposed to do to the best of our ability, with the right heart.
He has given us the great honor of calling us; it is also our honor to live lives worthy of this calling.
