“Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” Isaiah 51:2
It is one thing to come to a knowledge of the calling of God, being brought to Christ saving and sanctifying the soul, resulting in true fellowship and communion with God. It is quite another to know specifically with regard to one’s work, and works, those opportunities and endeavors which God has foreordained that we should walk in them. There is no doubt that with God’s calling to Himself, all things are provided in Christ for time and eternity that the individual believer should glorify God on earth, seeking the kingdom of God, and accomplishing the will of God. But is there any doubt in us with regard to God’s specific calling of each one, and the specific path that He will guide us on, being fully persuaded that He has provided with the calling, and the knowledge of His will, all that pertains to life and godliness? Is there any doubt that the believer is complete in Christ, one with Him, baptized by the Spirit into Christ, in order to derive all from Him as his life?
The great, overwhelming calling of God to sinful man is one where the Creator and Redeemer calls him first to LIFE, to Himself, to know Him, love and serve Him, abiding IN Christ, and Christ abiding in him. In that walk with God by the Spirit, as the soul seeks the knowledge of God’s specific will for his life, trusting Him also to reveal the gifts given to him for the accomplishment of God’s purpose, there is the revelation by the Spirit. The Apostle Paul puts it like this: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might KNOW the things that have been freely given to us by God.” (1 Cor. 2:12) It is when, by the mercies of God, the believer presents his body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, (Rom. 12:1), that the Spirit of God has the liberty to instruct and teach the believer concerning that which is his individual calling. When the Apostle Peter instructs that believers are to be even more diligent to make their calling and election sure, he does so in the context of declaring: “His (Christ’) divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue.” (2 Peter 1:3) There is therefore no doubt that God in Christ by the Spirit will reveal the things of God to us. However, that which is essential to understand and to apply is that God gives both grace and light to the one who truly seeks Him, and Him alone. Did not Jesus say, “Ask, and it shall be given you, Seek, and ye shall find, Knock and it shall be opened to you?” (Matt. 7:7) The knowledge of the calling of God, both with regard to one’s salvation in Christ, but also, concerning one’s works, mission, and direction in life, can be known with certainty, when there is the total surrender to Christ, submitting to Him as Lord and King. Just as when one can be cleansed from sin when one is willing to repent and believe, so one can know with certainty the path, the way which he is to choose in the service of the King, when there is the surrender of the life to that which is God’s calling revealed to the heart.
The Apostle Paul confirms this when he wrote to the Galatians: “Paul, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.” (1:1) He went on to add with assurance that God separated him from his mother’s womb, and called him by His grace, to reveal His Son in him. (1:15,16) We see by what Paul had come to know the importance of being certain of belonging to Christ, but also, knowing clearly Christ’s purposes for him.
Dear Father, Show us Thy calling. In Jesus’ name, Amen.