Being Called
Among men devoted to the Lord and involved in a personal ministry in CBMC, the topic of conversation frequently gets around to the challenge of 2 Corinthians 5:20 - that of being an effective marketplace ambassador for Jesus Christ. We all agree that we could improve our effectiveness, and CBMC's resources are designed to help us do just that. Being Christ's ambassador where we work and live is a high calling, as this week's devotional explains...
Ernie
P.S. - Save the date of Tuesday, November 15 for the next CBMC Marketplace Ambassador Network breakfast. The session topic is Margin: Getting the Time You Need in a Stressed-Out World. See NewEngland.cbmc.com for more details.
Being Called
By Margaret Killingray
We constantly pray for you that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. (2 Thessalonians 1:11)
God calls us to serve Him in the place where we can best fulfill every good purpose, use our gifts, contribute to the good running of our community, nation and world, acquire enough money to look after ourselves and our dependents, and where we can daily act in ways that are prompted by our faith.
In one way it is simply saying that God is in charge of our lives. But for most of us life is not as simple as that. Choices we make can send us in directions we never intended, into jobs we never particularly enjoyed. Choices by others can deny us the freedom to use the gifts we know God has given us and deny us ordinary fulfillments.
Knowing that we are called, that we have a vocation to serve Him where we work, presents us with a twofold challenge. We are challenged to accept our calling this workday morning, even if it is in some way not quite what we would have chosen. Yet that is where today we work out good purposes and act prompted by faith. It is where we learn to grow the fruit of the Spirit, maybe especially patience and self-control. This today is my calling.
The second challenge is to be ready for a fresh calling, for a new word from the Lord, to take a risk, to change direction. A sense that we are in the wrong place can be our call to patient endurance, but it can also be a call to move on.
Charles Wesley wrote -
Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go,
My daily labor to pursue;
Thee, only thee, resolved to know,
In all I think, or speak, or do.
Making the Lord and His calling our first priority can transform an unhappy placement into a true vocation, and make the future a great adventure.
A WORK PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, in this employment world that offers choices and opportunities, I really need Your counsel so that I can flow with Your call for each time and season You've appointed for me. Help me to be open to You in this. Amen.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Work can be God's training-ground for us as we learn or practice qualities like patience and self-control. Could He be doing something like that in your life? Or has He in the past?
- "A sense that we are in the wrong place can be our call to patient endurance, but it can also be a call to move on." Could this have a bearing on your work situation or on that of someone you know? What should you do about it?
This WorkLife SwitchTOOL was written by Margaret Killingray of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Content edited and distributed by WorkLife.org for non-profit educational purposes.
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