Do you have a special call on your life?
Have you ever had a person tell you, “I’m on a faith walk.” What does that mean entirely? Aren’t we all as Christians walking by faith? Isn’t that part of what we sign up for when we are drafted into God’s army? Aren't we supposed to walk by faith and not by sight? Are some Christians called to greater walks of faith than others? I believe the answer is yes, so I’ll explain why. True, every child of God is walking by faith just to receive the gift of salvation because by definition faith is believing in something that is not seen by the natural eye or understood by our natural mind (Hebrews 11:1). However, I began to realize later in life that God calls some of his people to a special journey like unto that of Abraham (then Abram) when told to “leave his people, and go to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12). Or when Jesus appeared to his disciples after being resurrected and specifically singled out Simon Peter to feed his lambs three times and told him to “follow me” (John 21:15-19).
All of these instances indicated a special request to a believer that required an acceptance to a unique call in the kingdom. Why did these people receive special calls? And let's be careful how that question is posed. The question should not be why these people as opposed to others, but rather a focus on the what. Ahh...the what. Let's talk about that for a bit. Every individual is put here on Earth for a purpose. And that purpose is the what of a believer's call. So in light of Abraham's and Peter's singling out, my belief is that the personal invitation of Christ for a special call would substantiate the difficult persecution these believers would undergo in the name of carrying out their call. For example, Simon Peter died a martyr’s death but only after preaching and leading thousands to Christ in a time where the early church received unthinkable persecution. Therefore, Peter required a personal invitation for his special call to deliver the gospel of Christ in that difficult time. Could you or I die a martyr’s death today? Probably not. I have difficulty fasting for half of a day! Abraham had to endure the agony of coming within inches of murdering his only child for which he waited years and years in order to realize that God would birth a nation from his faith! Does this sound like a decision you make everyday? A personal invitation for a special call is how I would like to put it. I’ve found myself often cracking under the pressure of my personal invitation. I can attribute this to many things, but it is mainly that my flesh is accustomed to constant gratification. Any long-term discipline that compromises that “comfortable” state of my physical well-being is not tolerated by my natural man. I ran track from eighth grade until my second year of college and I have to admit the most memorable part was not the post-race podium ceremonies, but the pre-race grueling workouts. However, every coach I had knew that the more time that I spent disciplining my body by running 300 meter sprints in practice, enabled endurance and speed for the 200 meter sprint in the meet. Even I started to see that the harder and longer I worked in practice, the more success I had in the real race. Often our circumstance or trial creates for us the stamina to be successful at our God-given task. As an athlete, I learned that training or practicing to endure or persevere beyond the required distance, enabled my body to sustain a higher level of performance during the race which positioned me for a more successful race. We have to realize that God is positioning us to be successful in the race set before us and we have to be ready to endure for the long haul.
Lord, help me to realize that you are coaching me to run a successful race and that discipline and training are all a part of your perfect plan for me.
Suggested readings: John 21:15-19; Genesis 12; Hebrews 11:1