“The Called Life”
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” -Isaiah 43:1
In the year 740 BCE, a young man stood within Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, whose 200-year-old limestone walls soared up to a high, raftered roof burnished with gold. Within that sacrosanct space filled with dim light and incense, he was given a vision of God. And the vision was both glorious and terrifying.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts,” sang the seraphs, “the whole earth is full of God’s glory.” The young man, beholding God, was convicted of his own sinfulness. Then one of the seraphs flew over to put a burning coal upon his lips, saying, “Your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” It was then that the young man could hear God’s call. “Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us?” said the Lord of Hosts. The young man’s name was Isaiah. And he said, “Here I am. Send me.”
There is life—and there is the called life. The former is reactive, the product of fear and desire. The latter is proactive–the result of God’s call and claim upon our lives.
The God who created us has also redeemed us. In the moments of confession, our forgiveness in Christ becomes real. This inexpressible gift of grace enables us to hear God and empowers us to respond. This is what “a called life” consists of.
There are many kinds of callings, from the more public kinds like medicine, ministry and teaching to the more private kinds like marriage or singleness or parenthood. Art and music can be a calling. So can public service, writing and dance.
The source and empowerment of all our callings is the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. The called life is a life lived for others. The called life is a life lived with God.
What is God calling you to do and be? Do you believe that you are being “sent?” Dallas Willard writes, “The most important thing about you is not the things that you achieve; it is the person that you become.” Being “sent” is really just another way of speaking about being a “saint.” It’s the way we “go marching in” to the rest of our lives listening for God in prayer and watching for God in the world around us. It’s how we live out our faith in God’s sovereignty and love, trusting in God to “make our paths straight.”
Why should you live out a “called” life? Because each of you has a unique and holy purpose for being here…that only you can bring to fruition.
-Pastor Clint