To continue with the theme of calling, I want to point out three things about calling that I believe are essential.
First, our calling is not about us. Often times we think that God’s mission in the world is to make people (us) happy. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s just not true. God is ultimately much more concerned with our holiness than our happiness. Granted, eternal joy and happiness is a byproduct of holiness, but not the central goal of God’s work in our lives.
I remember when God first called me to go to Haiti to teach the Old Testament. I was thrilled, but also a bit apprehensive. I was thrilled because I knew that teaching is what would ultimately make me happy. I was good at it and I loved doing it. I thought that God wanted me to teach in Haiti because it would make me happy.
I was apprehensive at the same time for a number of reasons. For starters, I don’t do well in the heat. I am a keep-the-thermastat-at-50 kind of guy. I want to be in a sweater and holding a hot cup of strong coffee all the time. The idea of being in the caribbean where it’s over ninety degrees most of the year (with no air-conditioning) messed with God’s plan for my happiness.
After being in Haiti for nine years now, and having grown in so many ways and having built so many lasting and meaningful relationships with Haitians, I’ve realized that my calling was never about my own happiness, or even about teaching the Old Testament, it was (and is) ultimately about his plan to redeem the world. There’s a much bigger picture than Matt Ayars’s happiness (shock!).
Our calling is not about us, it’s about Him.
Interestingly enough, my own experience tells me that when we sacrifice our own “needs” and desires to follow the Caller, that is where we will find eternal joy and happiness.
The second thing I want to point out about calling is that our call must be Christ-centered. We can be fooled into thinking that it’s about our skills or what we can bring to the table. That’s not true. Jesus alone has the capacity to redeem the world. We are merely vessels through which he can channel his healing presence.
This leads to my third and final point and that is that, our call must be incarnational. Salvation always occurs in the context of relationship. This means that it’s only when we embody the living work of Christ and his grace in the world that redemption occurs.
