Living Up to Your Calling

We all want our lives to leave an impact beyond ourselves, but the reality is that we often find ourselves falling short of what we hoped for a few reasons: safety, survival, seizing, or settling.

Safety – There’s an uncertainty in our world, whether it’s socially, economically, or diplomatically. The news feeds this, whether threats are real, manufactured, or blown out of proportion.
Survival – Some of us feel like we’re just trying to get through, and there’s a temptation in the middle of our trials or tribulations to let them become the new normal. However, it has the ironic effect of making those feelings worse, not better.
Seizing – This begins with a genuine desire to provide and live up to your potential, but what transpires is consuming and devouring.
Settling – Apathy. Cynicism. Cynicism is not just negativity or sarcasm, it’s actually self-protective. We keep from getting our hopes up. We don’t want to be hurt, disappointed, or at risk again. So, we lower our expectations.

Cynicism will always find the void that hope leaves.

We think it’s down the line or somewhere in the future when things are better – the money is there, the kids are grown, that next job comes. We don’t see the payoff in the moment, but we do see safety, survival, settling, and seizing in front of us.

What’s underneath all of this? Fear.

You will never share the thing that means the most to you if you’re constantly afraid of it being taken or withheld from you.

And this goes all the way back to the beginning – Garden of Eden, serpent. “God is holding out on me. God doesn’t have my best in mind.”

The only way we live beyond this is through faith – something we don’t see or feel, but do despite the risks of safety, survival, seizing, and settling.

Don’t Live Below Your Reason
Romans 10
6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near (not far from) you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f]
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

This happens in a letter to the early church in Rome. Paul has spent 9 long chapters outlining the “good news” of Jesus, sharing how God reached beyond the walls of our worthiness, goodness, and holiness to us.

There’s a progression here – from God through Christ – to us, but then beyond us – beyond the walls – to the world. If this doesn’t matter to us, we should question whether we really understand the Gospel at all.

The Gospel leads you to somewhere beyond yourself.

God put you where you are for a reason. In this moment. In this place. Don’t live below your reason. There’s a call on your life that God gave you. It’s not just for pastors and missionaries, it’s for each person marked by the Gospel. The same Spirit is given to each of us who “confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe…”

Don’t live below your calling.

Your reason is a who. It’s not abstract. Its faces, lives. Maybe even ones you don’t know yet or ones you’ll never know. You’ve been put here to be transformed by the Gospel of Jesus – saved. But then, you – empowered by the Holy Spirit, go beyond.

Live Up to Your Calling
Safety, survival, seizing, and settling, or something like that, will always be there. But when you focus on protecting, you stop participating. The only way we live beyond them is by faith, which is not just a feeling, but a doing. Sometimes in spite of feeling.

So, how do we live up to our calling and go beyond our walls? By knowing, praying, giving, and going.

Knowing
Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. But then know that Jesus calls you beyond the walls – beyond safety, survival, seizing, and settling – to something greater. Learn about our missionaries and their missions, and then let them inspire you to live on mission in your own, God-shaped way.

Praying
Pray for our missions and community partners, but also pray for yourself and the church, that God would open our eyes, starting with yours, and that this will motivate you to live up to your calling.

Giving
Move your resources beyond the walls.
Romans 10
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?

Going
Even if it’s just out the door and across the street, go live your life beyond the walls. Don’t be defined by safety, survival, seizing, and settling. Declare that Jesus is Lord in the world and in your life, which means you don’t have to live like everyone else does.

Pastor Michael shares how you get to choose that.