When God calls you out of sin and darkness, into himself; he
calls you for a purpose. When he called the Apostle Paul, yes, he saved
him from his sins. Yes, he brought him into the body of Christ,
sanctifying him by his Spirit. It is true, Paul was gloriously converted,
but he was also gloriously called into a field of labor……that labor was to
preach to the Gentiles. How glad we are that he was “not disobedient to
that heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19).
16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee
for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things
which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering
thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
(Acts 26:16 & 17)
A dear saint of God once said “God didn’t sanctify use to set us
down.” Sanctification and holiness is such a wonderful thing, not just
because you are redeemed from a lost estate and welcomed back into the family
of God. That is wonderful, but to know that you are living under the
guiding hand of God Almighty is a blessing beyond description. How
wonderful! Moreover, it is not just experienced one time, at an altar of
prayer, but every day when you are living in obedience to God.
Furthermore, the scriptures prove time and time again that absolute trust and
obedience to the will of God is the most profitable plan for all involved; and
this is no wonder, it stands to reason that if you allow the God of the
universe to guide your life instead of yourself……he will do a better job.
However, God can only use us for his purpose if we trust and obey his word; he
will not impose himself on anybody.
I am confident to say that any reasoning individual with a
belief in God will admit to the fact that God can guide our lives better than
we. That being true and regularly excepted; why do we find ourselves
resenting the call of God? Shying away from the unction of his
Spirit? Hording all our worries and cares when we can just turn them over
to Jesus (Maybe you don’t have these issues; if so, praise God!). Perhaps
there is more than one single reason; however the Word of God leads me to
believe that a failure to trust and obey can often be found rooted in a failure
of faith. Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Rehab, Daniel, and many more in the
scriptures believed God more than anything; they had faith that God’s way was
better than their way. This is the faith of the saints, the faith that
brought revival, the faith that spread the gospel of Christ across the globe,
the faith that is still carrying us on today. That God’s way is THE way,
no matter where that way may lead us, no matter where he calls us.
When he calls you he is calling you not just to “sanctify you
and set you down”, but because there is a glorious field of labor prepared for
you; as a dear brother in our church once said: “God has something beautiful planned
for your life.”
