Called By God
The summer after my 16th birthday, I worked at a summer camp as a volunteer during a student ministry missions trip. Back then, student ministry was not called student ministry; instead, it was the youth group. I don’t remember the details of the service, but I vividly remember the mountainous tug in my heart to walk down front and receive prayer. In the moments leading to that altar call, I knew that I was supposed to dedicate my life to God’s work.
When I was eight years old, I made a personal decision to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. I had a real understanding of heaven and hell, of sin, and the solution that was provided through the sacrifice of Jesus. From eight years old to 16 years old, I lived with the best understanding I had developmentally of following Jesus. However, what I was experiencing in that moment on the mission trip was different. It was a real sense that I needed to deepen my relationship with God and align my life in a way that I could do His work with as much time as I had available.
That Thursday night altered the course of my life. To provide some background, I didn’t grow up in a family of ministers. From my knowledge of my family tree, I don’t think anyone has ever served vocationally in the Church. At that point in time, I had an interest in music and was learning to play bass; I had a sense that God was going to use what I was learning. I decided to try and figure out how I could utilize this passion I had for music to build God’s Church and help people.
The unfortunate part of my story is that there were no mechanisms in my home church to help me identify or guide what I felt like the Lord was doing in my life. For the next several years, I wrestled and tried to understand what “calling” looked like. I still continued to faithfully serve in my church and when I was 18 years old, I suddenly found myself in charge of the student ministry and leading worship for the church I had grown up in. Even at that point in my story, there were no guiding voices from church leadership to help me understand what I believed God was saying for my life; they had a need, and I was fulfilling it. I experienced no confirmation from the church on my calling, no mentoring, no shepherding; but God was faithful and helped me teach me through His word and through experiences what being “called by God” may look like.
What is meant when we use words like “called” or phrases like “called by God”? Calling is best understood as being chosen by God for a specific purpose. Every Christian has a calling on their life; some are called for full time for the work of building the Church, but it’s important to understand that every believer has a God designed purpose in this world. We are reminded by Paul’s words in Romans 12:1–2 (ESV) that say, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
When we offer ourselves sacrificially to God, He starts the process of transformation of our minds, which helps us determine God’s will for our lives. In that process of transformation, I believe God starts revealing His purposes for our lives. Sometimes God takes an interest that you have and redeems it for His purposes. Sometimes God draws your attention to a need and you find a purpose for your life that you would have never considered. I believe that, in healthy church congregations, callings should be confirmed by church leadership. Hebrews 13:17 reminds us that the congregation should listen to the advice of church leaders, and church leaders have a responsibility to look after the souls of the congregation. This includes the discerning of God’s calling for individuals’ lives.
Are you a follower of Jesus? If you answered yes, you are called by God. Do you wrestle with how little time you have to do God’s work with your other responsibilities? Then you may be called by God to dedicate your life to His work in a more full time capacity.
