"For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11
Dear Friends in Christ -
You are a chosen child of God. As such, you have a role to play. You're called to be a saint, someone who encourages and builds others up. How are you doing with that?
Here's the good news: we have good examples to follow in this saint business, folks who show us how it's done. Folks like Nicholas (today is St. Nicholas Day!) who made their own unique contributions by just doing what they could.
If Nicholas had been working down a prescribed tick-list of do-gooding activites - working 24/7 to write like St. Augustine and to help the poor like St. Vincent and to talk to animals like St. Francis - he might have missed HIS calling. What was Nicholas' lasting legacy? Anonymous gift-giving (what wonderful work to be called to do!). For exampel, when Nicholas heard that three girls from a poor family were going to be forced into prostitution because they didn't have dowries, he secretly pitched coins through the window and onto the hearth when he walked by their home, making them eligible for marriage.
Are you trying to do everything? Or are you trying to do the thing God is especially calling you to do?
God's word to us today is this:
focus, and be free
build others up, leave a legacy
Faithfully striving to focus,
Janet+
But how are you supposed to know what God is calling you to do? Is it what comes easily, or is it something that is outside your comfort zone?
ReplyDeleteDear Terrier -
ReplyDeleteFor me, I know that God's calling me to do something when a suggestion (from someone else, from a voice in my head [God's voice? my conscience?], from circumstance, etc.) is confirmed through Scripture, through someone else, through my gut, etc.
I believe that we all hear God's voice more often than we would like to admit, but we just would often rather be in control, doing what we want to do when we want to do it.
It's a myth that God only calls us to things that are difficult, things that are outside our comfort zone. Just as often, He calls us to use our talents in ways that come naturally; however, we often don't attribute these callings to God because they're things that don't stand out as extraordinary.
Blessings, Janet+