1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Later in the chapter, as Paul talks about speaking God's truth in love, he writes that we:
15 ...may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ--
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
God desires for us to humble ourselves before Him and to know the essence of our calling in Christ - yes, we have been called into a relationship with Him, and then are called to be His disciples, using His gifts for His glory. It's important to seek to know the will of God, which comes as we are immersed in the Word of God...we can then depend on the Spirit to show us how we are to walk and how to use our unique gifts and skills for a Kingdom purpose.
In Ephesians 2, we read about the dynamics of our new life in Christ and the calling we have that He desires for us to fulfill:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Residents of Alabama have waded into electoral politics as of late, with two Republican candidates vying to replace Jeff Sessions in the U.S. Senate will be facing one another in a runoff next month. Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore will square off against former Attorney General Luther Strange. Moore took 40 percent of the vote yesterday, with Strange, the incumbent, took 32. The winner of that contest will face Democrat candidate former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones in December.
And, it seems day after day, citizens of the U.S. are re-living and attempting to decertify the election that took place in November, in which Donald Trump scored an upset victory. And, his opponent, Hillary Clinton, is not going to go away anytime soon, it appears.
An article on The Atlantic website points out that coming out soon will be two books related to Clinton: What Happened, "Clinton’s personal account of the election," and Strong for a Moment Like This, which is a book of devotionals written by her longtime pastor Bill Shillady of the United Methodist City Society; seems he wrote devotionals for Hillary and sent them to her during the 2016 campaign. And, as Shillady said at a recent photo shoot for the book, the former first lady wants to...preach.
Emma Green states in the Atlantic article:
Seems that Hillary Clinton has apparently wanted to talk about matters of faith, but has received criticism for it. I would contend the lack of trust for Clinton compounded with the liberal/progressive social policies, such as abortion on demand and so-called "same sex marriage," resulted in a disconnect with many in the faith community.
The article follows what could be considered a religious tug-of-war in the soul of Hillary Clinton. As Green points out that during the campaign, "Clinton did not revive her decades-old rhetoric about 'spiritual renewal' and '[filling] that sense of emptiness with the Word.' Instead, she spoke neutrally about kindness, love, and respect."
Now, there has been some controversy over Shillady's book. ChristianHeadlines.com reports that the devotional he sent to Clinton the day after the election could have been plagarized. The article says that the devotional is taken word-for-word from a piece from Matthew Deuel, pastor of Mission Point Community Church in Warsaw, Indiana, which likened Good Friday to a day when "everything fell apart." And, of course, this can build hope when one reflects on the resurrection. Shillady has reportedly apologized to Deuel.
But, this very concept has raised further questions. It is widely being reported that Shillady has compared Hillary's defeat to the crucifixion and her return to politics as a "resurrection." The Washington Examiner, reporting on an e-mail obtained by CNN, states that Shillady said:
According to the website, AmICalled.com, "As Spurgeon surveyed the religious landscape of his day, he came to the conclusion that many churches were failing primarily because the men leading them weren’t called by God to be pastors."
He also stated this:
Bevere writes about a man who had been called to start a church, but he failed to do so; he stopped because of difficulty and went back to the business world. He even had a professional artistic rendering done of a proposed building. As Bevere says: "The man clearly saw God was serious about this assignment, needing someone to faithfully build His house. And he knew the Lord had given his assignment to someone else because of his failure." And, he ended up attending a church that was meeting in a building that was what he had envisioned, pastored by another man.
How tragic! I think this can be a wake-up call to each of us to make sure that we are walking on the path that the Lord has ordained for us. And, He doesn't leave us in the dark - as Bevere says, we can discover what He has "created" us to do by seeking Him. If we want to know the will of God, the first step is to go to the Word of God; for contained within its pages are principles for life, through which God will show us His specific plan.
Perhaps God has given you a dream, or inspired ambition - He has gifted you with a talent or skill that He would desire to us for His glory. We can determine our call as we identify our uniqueness and ask Him to show us how He would want to use us.
Once we are convicted or convinced that God has shown us how He wants us to walk, then we rely on Him to enable us to follow our call. We are called first and foremost into a relationship with Christ and then to obey His principles; but we can also recognize that we have a responsibility to follow the leadership of the Spirit to fulfill what Bevere calls our "assignment."
We can truly walk in a "no regrets" life. Yes, when we stand before God, we know that He will determine our eternal destiny based on whether or not we have received His Son. But, obedience on earth has a direct relationship with standing and responsibilities in heaven. And, even before we leave this world, we don't want to get to the end and realize that we have missed opportunities that He has provided.
+++++
In Ephesians 2, we read about the dynamics of our new life in Christ and the calling we have that He desires for us to fulfill:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Residents of Alabama have waded into electoral politics as of late, with two Republican candidates vying to replace Jeff Sessions in the U.S. Senate will be facing one another in a runoff next month. Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore will square off against former Attorney General Luther Strange. Moore took 40 percent of the vote yesterday, with Strange, the incumbent, took 32. The winner of that contest will face Democrat candidate former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones in December.
And, it seems day after day, citizens of the U.S. are re-living and attempting to decertify the election that took place in November, in which Donald Trump scored an upset victory. And, his opponent, Hillary Clinton, is not going to go away anytime soon, it appears.
An article on The Atlantic website points out that coming out soon will be two books related to Clinton: What Happened, "Clinton’s personal account of the election," and Strong for a Moment Like This, which is a book of devotionals written by her longtime pastor Bill Shillady of the United Methodist City Society; seems he wrote devotionals for Hillary and sent them to her during the 2016 campaign. And, as Shillady said at a recent photo shoot for the book, the former first lady wants to...preach.
Emma Green states in the Atlantic article:
Scattered bits of reporting suggest that ministry has always been a secret dream of the two-time presidential candidate: Last fall, the former Newsweek editor Kenneth Woodward revealed that Clinton told him in 1994 that she thought “all the time” about becoming an ordained Methodist minister. She asked him not to write about it, though: “It will make me seem much too pious.” The incident perfectly captures Clinton’s long campaign to modulate—and sometimes obscure—expressions of her faith.Green also points out that, "After long months of struggling to persuade Americans that she is trustworthy, authentic, and fundamentally moral, Clinton is lifting up an intimate, closely guarded part of herself. There are no more voters left to lose. In sharing her faith, perhaps Clinton sees something left to win, whether political or personal."
Seems that Hillary Clinton has apparently wanted to talk about matters of faith, but has received criticism for it. I would contend the lack of trust for Clinton compounded with the liberal/progressive social policies, such as abortion on demand and so-called "same sex marriage," resulted in a disconnect with many in the faith community.
The article follows what could be considered a religious tug-of-war in the soul of Hillary Clinton. As Green points out that during the campaign, "Clinton did not revive her decades-old rhetoric about 'spiritual renewal' and '[filling] that sense of emptiness with the Word.' Instead, she spoke neutrally about kindness, love, and respect."
Now, there has been some controversy over Shillady's book. ChristianHeadlines.com reports that the devotional he sent to Clinton the day after the election could have been plagarized. The article says that the devotional is taken word-for-word from a piece from Matthew Deuel, pastor of Mission Point Community Church in Warsaw, Indiana, which likened Good Friday to a day when "everything fell apart." And, of course, this can build hope when one reflects on the resurrection. Shillady has reportedly apologized to Deuel.
But, this very concept has raised further questions. It is widely being reported that Shillady has compared Hillary's defeat to the crucifixion and her return to politics as a "resurrection." The Washington Examiner, reporting on an e-mail obtained by CNN, states that Shillady said:
"Even though Jesus told his followers three days later the temple would be restored, they had no idea of what that Sunday would be. They betrayed, denied, mourned, fled and hid. They did just about everything BUT fell (sic) good about Friday and their circumstances," Shillady added, comparing Clinton's return possible return to politics to Jesus Christ's resurrection.
"Sunday is coming. Death will be shattered. Hope will be restored. But first, we must live through the darkness and seeming hopelessness of Friday," Shillady finished. "My sister Hillary. You, our nation, our world is experiencing a black Friday. Our hope is that Sunday is coming..."Really? Well, that's an interesting side note. But, let's get back to the concept of Hillary Clinton entering the ministry. The thought that occurred to me is, "what if she missed her calling?"
According to the website, AmICalled.com, "As Spurgeon surveyed the religious landscape of his day, he came to the conclusion that many churches were failing primarily because the men leading them weren’t called by God to be pastors."
He also stated this:
That hundreds have missed their way, and stumbled against a pulpit is sorrowfully evident from the fruitless ministries and decaying churches which surround us. It is a fearful calamity to a man to miss his calling, and to the church upon whom he imposes himself, his mistake involves an affliction of the most grievous kind.I would submit the reverse can be true as well - you might even say a void is created when the right person doesn't submit to the call of God. Author John Bevere writes on the Messenger International website:
Each of us has a calling placed on our lives. Some have gone into business who were called into ministry. Some have gone into ministry who were called into business, government, or education. There is no universally right answer to the question of your calling, except that we are all accountable to run the course God has marked out for us.In his piece, Bevere quotes Ephesians 2:10, about our being God's workmanship.
When we seek Him, we will discover what we were created to do. And then the choice is ours—we can ignore the calling or we can live it to the fullest.
Bevere writes about a man who had been called to start a church, but he failed to do so; he stopped because of difficulty and went back to the business world. He even had a professional artistic rendering done of a proposed building. As Bevere says: "The man clearly saw God was serious about this assignment, needing someone to faithfully build His house. And he knew the Lord had given his assignment to someone else because of his failure." And, he ended up attending a church that was meeting in a building that was what he had envisioned, pastored by another man.
How tragic! I think this can be a wake-up call to each of us to make sure that we are walking on the path that the Lord has ordained for us. And, He doesn't leave us in the dark - as Bevere says, we can discover what He has "created" us to do by seeking Him. If we want to know the will of God, the first step is to go to the Word of God; for contained within its pages are principles for life, through which God will show us His specific plan.
Perhaps God has given you a dream, or inspired ambition - He has gifted you with a talent or skill that He would desire to us for His glory. We can determine our call as we identify our uniqueness and ask Him to show us how He would want to use us.
Once we are convicted or convinced that God has shown us how He wants us to walk, then we rely on Him to enable us to follow our call. We are called first and foremost into a relationship with Christ and then to obey His principles; but we can also recognize that we have a responsibility to follow the leadership of the Spirit to fulfill what Bevere calls our "assignment."
We can truly walk in a "no regrets" life. Yes, when we stand before God, we know that He will determine our eternal destiny based on whether or not we have received His Son. But, obedience on earth has a direct relationship with standing and responsibilities in heaven. And, even before we leave this world, we don't want to get to the end and realize that we have missed opportunities that He has provided.
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