Please Ring...
I have no idea where I am being “called” to go. That is the precise statement you may have heard from me in the past month or two. The problem is there isn’t a calling problem. There is a hearing problem, more specifically, my hearing problem. In many moments of impatience, I was quick to assume that either I missed hearing my call or even more likely that one hasn’t come yet.
I was wrong.
There were some more important callings that I simply have not heard. I have been looking so hard for my divine calling to point me in the right direction, that I haven’t paid enough attention to my first calling, the call to be a Christian.
See back in my first year at Eastern University, I took these Youth Min 101 and 102 courses that were full of information that I ignored when I was a freshman. It’s not that I thought it was useless, it just seemed to me like it was at the time. I remember we used to talk about the different levels of “calling.” And the first, and most important was the call to be Christian. The calls that follow are the “secret call,” the one where God answers you through prayer, other people etc… There is also the Ecclesiastical call, this is the churches affirmation that you should go in to ministry. There are all these different callings I was searching for. When in reality, I should have just been listening to my call to be Christian. When I think back at the last two months I think about the countless opportunities I have missed to touch someones life. I think about the hugs that could have changed someones day, the money I could have given to help someone in need and ears that could have listened to someone who was hurting. When push comes to shove, Christ is the entire reason I am even considering doing ministry anywhere. I think I’ll start with Him.
If you are a Christian, and you are currently at a fork in your life (job, college, ministry) … Listen first to the call to be Christian, and the rest will be taken care of … Even if it is a 47 pronged fork.
