Every disciple is a called disciple. Every follower of Christ is called to live
for Christ. The Christian is not just
saved from an eternity apart from God, but is saved to live a life like Christ’s
while here on this earth. God called
each believer to follow Christ. And God
calls each believer to do something for him, to live a certain life for him, to
become a certain kind of person for him.
And this calling is not just for the special disciples, the intellectual
or the super-spiritual. If you are a
child of God, you are called by God.
As Paul wraps up his letter to the Romans, we get a
glimpse into his calling. And though
many of the specifics of Paul’s calling are unique to him, we learn a lot about
our calling as we learn how Paul approached his call. The way he treats the life God gave him gives
me insight into how God wants me to treat my life with him.
“And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel” (vs
20).
Paul’s calling – to preach the gospel where it had never
been preached before – was the driving ambition of his life. In fact, it was the reason he had been
delayed in visiting the Romans.
Apparently he had planned to go Rome several times, but was unable to
because he was waylaid by open mission fields.
Paul wanted to preach the gospel; Paul loved to do what God put him on
earth to do, and in this context of Romans it is easy to imagine an exciting and
fulfilling life for Paul. But when we
peel back the call itself, we see something else.
Acts chapter 9 tells us the story of Paul’s call, how
Paul was persecuting the church, how God knocked him off his donkey, and how
God used Ananias to deliver His message to Paul. Just days after Paul’s conversion, God
explained the call in his life this way, “he is a chosen instrument of mine to
carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I
will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15-16).
From one point of view, this call seems hard if not
impossible. And it does so happen that
Paul endures severe hardship in the service of this call, and eventually
suffers martyrdom for preaching the gospel.
But from another point of view – the one that dominates Paul – the calling
is a pleasure, a joy, a glory, even his life’s ambition. When Paul writes the Romans and calls his
life’s work his “ambition,” he has already suffered greatly, but it is as if
none of that matters. The call to preach
the gospel, to do the thing God put him on earth to do, far outweighs the
trials that come with the work.
The word he uses for “ambition” is telling. It is a kind of love. In fact, it can be literally translated as a “love
of honor.” Paul loves to do what God
called him to do. Paul considers it his
highest honor to be called by God to proclaim the gospel and he will do it
until there is no breath left in his body.
We often shy away from our calling because we are afraid
of what God will make of our lives. “I’ll
give you everything but…” or, “do with me what you will, just don’t make me a…” These all too common reactions miss the logic
and the power of God’s call. God made
you and formed every corner of your being.
In the end, only he can make of your life everything it was intended to
be. Your calling is nothing to be afraid
of. We cannot consider it drudgery. We must make it our ambition – our honor and
driving love – to do what God called us to do.
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