Embracing God's Call

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Life is not discovered by thinking but by doing.”
Kathleen Norris

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Winston Churchill

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

God’s call is no trivial matter, demanding far more than self-focused fulfillment. Embracing it requires relinquishing lesser ambitions to accept the holy purpose of global, eternal impact. As Christians, we take up the weighty responsibility of advancing Christ’s redemptive work in a broken world. This high calling necessitates intentional personal growth, humility, and caring for the oppressed. It compels us to confront injustice, serve the marginalized, and extend compassion. Yet our carefully constructed life plans often crash against God’s higher vision for our purpose. Answering His call involves sacrificing comforts and laying down personal agendas. But these sacrifices unlock lasting significance and joyful obedience. In humbly surrendering our dreams for His purposes, we gain infinitely more than we forfeit. Our lives overflow with meaning as we accept our sacred charge to lift the weary, reflect God’s compassion, and carry forward Christ’s legacy of restoration wherever we walk.

Summons to Surrender
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21, ESV). Despite our best efforts mapping out impressive personal plans, when our blueprints compete with God’s, we court futility. Tightly gripping self-directed agendas often stem from inward selfishness and pride as culture elevates hollow definitions of achievement. However, relinquishing control and status-seeking opens the door to deeper meaning. Christ compels us to a counter-cultural life of purpose beyond selfish ambition. Answering this summons means surrendering personal agendas for greater plans of holy impact. Though difficult initially, loosening our grasp on what we think defines success allows us to inherit God’s highest and best calling. As we release prideful attachments to personal prosperity, we gain infinitely more in return, a glorious life purpose with eternal, world-changing impact. In willing surrender, our lives become conduits of Christ’s redemption to fallen humanity.

Seasons of Preparation
Answering God’s call well demands intentional personal and spiritual growth. As Jesus taught, abundant fruitfulness relies on creating the right conditions in our hearts (Matthew 13:1-23). We must carefully examine our inner landscape, identifying and removing pride, bitterness, or apathy that can restrict growth. Unaddressed flaws like selfishness and laziness choke out new life. This self-inspection may reveal places needing refreshed vision, revived passion, or realigned priorities. Spiritual maturation requires diligent cultivation through prayer, study, community, and more. As we steward our development, we also prepare others for growth by gently speaking the truth and modeling God’s grace. Integrity and compassion render hardened hearts receptive to receiving new life. While we focus inward, we must also influence outward, helping spark positive change in families, communities, and beyond. Intentional preparation precedes bountiful crops; we must nurture growth within and without. What clutter competes for priority in our hearts? Do sins of pride, bitterness, laziness, or apathy still lurk, choking out new life? This self-examination may reveal places needing refreshed vision, revived passion, or reoriented priorities. We also prepare the soil around us for harvest by extending God’s grace and speaking truth gently, helping render hardened ground receptive to His love. While we steward our growth, we equally care for souls in our influence. As we create welcoming spaces, share humility, and model God’s compassion, hearts change, rippling outward through families, communities, and then eternities. The diligent farmer knows that bountiful crops require careful preparation. We too must ready the soil within and without for spiritual harvest through attentive cultivation.

Shining Light: Living as Change Agents
In Matthew 5:14 Jesus likened His followers to “The light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (ESV). In other words, we are prominently positioned and we must steward and project the light we have received well. While personal spiritual gains and private pursuits matter, fully answering God’s call also requires engagement beyond ourselves. Instead, we are to live as conduits of Christ’s light – serving the marginalized, reflecting God’s glory in our spheres of influence, and awakening purpose in listless souls. This high calling requires intentional and faithful action. Through relying on the Spirit’s empowerment, actively advancing justice, and shining light into dark corners, transformation ripples out through our schools, workplaces, families, communities, and beyond. Our everyday faith lived out loud contains explosive influence to challenge callousness, provide clarity, and draw hungry souls into God’s family. May we live up to our city-on-a-hill identity so that all observe the goodness of Christ in us.

Pursuing His Presence, Reflecting His Glory
In Habakkuk 2, God shares His vision for global saturation of the knowledge of His glory until it covers the earth as thoroughly as aquatic life inhabits the sea. As Christ-followers, we inherit the profound responsibility to carry this vision forward. But just how do we participate in blanketing the planet with God’s splendor and wonders? Firstly, we must cherish the revelation of His Majesty above all else, even beyond personal comfort or success. The knowledge of God’s glory must drive each priority and daily decision. This necessitates nurturing an unrelenting hunger for His manifest presence through spiritual disciplines: prayer, scripture, worship, fasting, Christian community, and more. It is here in God’s presence that glorious transformation occurs. As we yield ourselves fully, revelation washes over us and into us, transforming us continually into Christlike characters. We begin thinking, speaking, and relating to others more in tune with Kingdom values as we mirror His nature. Our lives incrementally become living testaments of His goodness, walking advertisements reflecting our Worthy One to all observers. Let His splendor radiate through us, and may its impact multiply so hungry souls take notice, stepping from darkness into light. Make it your sole ambition to know Him, then watch walls crumble and salvation sweep the land!

Called to Walk Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly
In addition to presence and proclamation, Micah 6 reminds believers that God expects tangibility; deeds confirming the authenticity of our faith profession. According to this passage, God calls every Christ follower to a three-fold way of relating to the world around us as we carry the Kingdom commission: We must champion justice, exude kindness, and clothe it all in humility. These actionable priorities realign good intentions with demonstrations of practical godliness in our everyday. Our world cries out in its brokenness. Where power perpetuates oppression, Christians must break its grip with acts of justice by confronting injustice, advocating for the marginalized, and serving the downtrodden. Where apathy allows callousness to breed complacency, we ambassadors of Christ must meet it with compassion by loving those deemed unlovable and extending generous grace to cover a multitude of wrongs. We do good, not out of pride or pretense, but out of genuine love for our fellow man. And anchoring it all is a posture of humility, neither seeking accolades, nor believing ourselves better, but simply redirecting focus to the only One worthy of praise. Let us walk wisely in line with Micah 6:8, as we champion the oppressed, uphold the broken, love the marginalized, confront injustice, and live out grace, until the knowledge of God permeates every sphere of influence!

Carrying Forward His Legacy
Surrendering our agendas to accept and accomplish Christlike purposes requires boldness and intentionality. By seeking God’s face in receptive stillness, treasuring His presence above all else, and allowing the hungry pursuit of Him to guide our priorities, glorious transformation follows. Our lives become living testaments, walking manifestations of the vibrant, victorious Christian life. We shine heavenly light into dark corners. We confront injustice; serve the downtrodden; love those scorned; extend hope, and live out practical compassion. And through it all resounds a clear invitation to the weary and worn, “Come to me!” As we walk faithfully in line with our holy calling, we pave the way for broken people from every tongue, tribe, and nation to access salvation and new life in Christ Jesus. What an unspeakable privilege we share as conduits of redemption in a fallen but cherished world. May we carry the mantle well...with wholehearted purpose, eternal vision, and world-changing impact.

Our choices and our legacies ripple forward long after we are gone. Together, may we set aside lesser ambitions and distractions to fully embrace God’s glorious plans and purposes. Though they require sacrifice of personal comfort, in yielding we find they ultimately exceed our wildest dreams.