When I was growing up, the only time I ever heard about God calling people was when they were to become a nun or a priest. I didn’t fully understand what it meant to be called by God or to follow that call. I had the questions, “Did God actually call these people? It probably wasn’t a literal phone call, but did they actually hear His voice? What did it sound like? How did they KNOW it was God?” I still don’t have the answers to all those questions, but I understand a little bit better what it means to be called by God.
I think being called by God is a lot like receiving a phone call. I don’t know about you, but I have done my fair share of screening calls. If I’m with a group of people or in a conversation with somebody, I may not answer the phone if you call me during that. Just warning you ;) With caller ID, we know who is calling and can make an educated guess whether or not that call would be worth the interruption or not. We have the choice to answer the call. We have the choice to allow our lives to be interrupted by the call. The only difference is, a call from God might interrupt our plans for our lives, but it’s right in line with what God wants for our lives.
I have been pondering a lot about what God’s calling is for my life and I can pretty much simplify it into 2 categories. Some of you might guess it would be to Rwanda and Young Life. Although that answer seems like it’s right on, that’s not the direction I’m going.
Category 1:
Love God. Cliché right? Well, I hate to tell you this, but God sticks to His clichés like gum sticks to the bottom of your shoe. No matter where I go in life, I can stand firm in the fact that God loves me and, like in any relationship, He longs to be loved right back. He wants to be pursued just like a wife wants to be pursued by her husband. When we strive to love God with a passionate kind of love, our hearts end up stretching out way farther than we thought possible. He created us to experience a forever kind of love. That’s the kind of love he gives. How can we experience the love of God and not have the response to love him in return? Now THAT seems impossible.
Category 2:
Love others like yourself. Somehow, this one seems more difficult. We tend to separate God and people way more than we should. All people are God’s creation. We can see small glimpses and likenesses of God through all people because we were all created in His image. I have a hard time with this because while that is in fact true, the fact that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God sometimes overrides it. However, if I could separate people from their sin and see who God created them to be, then it would be impossible not to love them. Isn’t that what Jesus did? He didn’t see anyone for the sin they’ve committed. He spoke to their hearts, not their deeds.
I can never learn enough lessons from the way Jesus' lived. His life was all about God, His Father, and all about people getting to know who His Father really was. He knew that if everyone understood the lengths at which God would go to make things right between us and God, we would respond with a grateful heart and a life of love to give away.
Don’t get me wrong. I do believe God has placed Rwanda and Young Life specifically on my heart, but before that, He called me something even greater. He called me His daughter… and asked that I would love my brothers and sisters just like He loves me.
“You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39
