Hi how are you all today? I am well and have had a busy week at work. How was your week?
I have wanted to write on calling for a while but yesterday whilst at three friends’ book launches, a conversation made me think now is the right time. A lady came up to me and asked if I love to write. My answer probably confused her. Writing is not my passion but it is my calling from God. My passion is organising and teaching people how to live according to the Word of God. So how come it is different?
Calling is from God whereas our passions come from who God created us to be. Sometimes those two worlds collide but for me calling is something that I must rely on God for. It is His ability in me which means He definitely gets all the glory. Our passions usually result in us claiming that glory because it is what we do best.
So let’s look at a story in the Bible. It is found in Matthew 25:14 -30. We are first going to look at verses 14 to 18 and in the Message Bible, it states:
14-18 “It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.
Notice how the master gave the servants delegated responsibilities. This was not their passions but their callings. This makes mores sense as we go through the story.
The next thing is that he gave the servants the callings based on their abilities. The Greek word for ability is dynamin which means the capacity, strength, or power God entrusts to individuals to manage resources for his kingdom. It is a stewardship word rather than a natural ability. The stewardship for each person was different based on their capacity to handle the calling. This is very important for us all to remember. We cannot compare ourselves to others when we have been given different capacities.
So in our story one received $5000, one received $2000 and one received $1000. My question for each of us is which category do we fit into or are we striving to fit into a category which we don’t belong in? God needs each of us to operate in our category.
In the writing community, some authors sell millions of books, some sell thousands and some sell hundreds. But if God has only given us capacity to be a 100 book seller, we need to do that to the best of our ability. Notice the word ‘work’ in the verses. Each of us must work regardless of our capacity.
So what happens when the master returns? You can read the rest of the story yourselves. But this is what I want to focus on.
The one that started with $5000 and the one that started with $2000 received the same reward which was :
Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
Why did they receive this reward? Because they both doubled the money they were given. They didn’t have equal capacities but doubled what they were given. It is not how much you have been given but what you do with it.
The one with $1000 was rebuked by the master. Why? Because he hid it. The master wanted him to use the capacity he had been given but instead he treated it as worthless and hid it.
Too often we think the calling that God has given us is insignificant in comparison to others. We look at others and judge ourselves as falling short. We actually despise the calling that we have been given like Esau despised his birthright. He was called to be the first born but because he didn’t treasure the value of it, he lost it to his twin brother Jacob.
My question to each of us is: are we operating in our calling from God and working at it or have we hid it?
When Jesus comes back, we will be rewarded based on what we do with our calling. Are you and I going to receive the reward or will we fall short?
It is time to pick up that calling from God, work at it, no matter how small, and know that you are contributing to the advancing of Gods kingdom on earth. You can do it. I believe in you.
Bless you and keep living the life God intended for you.
Karen
0 Comments