Calling --- explained in a down-to-earth language
I have been listening to some sermons and reading a few books on this topic for the past month or so, and today while I was taking an extra long walk home through Canada Place and along the seashore, I have decided to put my thoughts down before I forget.
Hopefully all of us are no long blinded by the two myths about calling, that only the "professional" ministers are called, and that calling is a mystique experience. Of course God can get to us through strange dreams and visions, but most people do not experience this. For practical purpose, I will not elaborate on this.
Theologians have carefully defined and categorized "calling", but I will only introduce two concepts: providencial call and heart call. We can learn something about these concepts from Nehemiah.
Our story begins when Nehemiah heard the news of Jerusalem, that "those who survived ... are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."
Since then Nehemiah was depressed for months. What could he do? He was far away from Jerusalem and it was unlikely that he was in the position to do anything about it! He fasted and prayed.
Months later even the King noticed that Nehemiah was not well. What is wrong? The King asked Nehemiah. Nehemiah made a short prayer - the Bible did not even record what he prayed - and he replied the King with his burden. He wanted to rebuild the walls Jerusalem and to bring his people back; but note that it was the same King who prohibited the rebuild of Jerusalem! Asking the King to rebuke his order was quite a risk, but to our suprise, the King allowed him to do so. He even provided the material and sent army officers and calvary with Nehemiah.
The story continues with the attack of enermies, rebuild of Jerusalem, return of the people, and a spiritual renewal, with some up and downs in between.
Nehemiah's story is a classic example of calling. He was living and working in a secular world, and then at the beginning of our story he heard that his people were in trouble, and his heart had no peace since then. Calling is like that, too (if you did not miss it). Do you see a problem with the world? Be it far away from you, across the pacific, or just within your circle of everyday life, when you see your calling, you see a problem, your heart feels it, and you have a desire to do something about it. In some cases, you have no peace until you do something about it, like Jeremiah. More often than not, you are called to do something bigger than yourselves, and so the natural respond for a Christian is to pray.
I had an opportunity to have dinner and to chat with my mentor last night, and at one point I asked him to tell me his personal story of his calling. It started in 1993 when he was buying lunch in north van. He saw these teenagers in the food court: They had nice clothes and $$$, and soon he saw that they had nice cars too. He told me that at that moment, a passage came to his mind: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Mat 9:36). He felt that these youth have every material thing they needed, and how good it would be if they have the gospel too. It was a genuine caring for this generation's youth, but there wasnt any chinese churches in north van, and so he prayed about it for years.
Then 10 years ago, his local church saw the need to plant a new church in north van, and he joined. He wanted to be involved in the youth ministry, but he didnt insist on it. His attitude was just to serve in wherever he was needed as the pastor assigned, but he prayed about it. There werent any youths in the church at the beginning anyway. Soon after, my fellowship was founded.
To discern a calling, we need to open our eyes. How could we respond if we did not see the need at the first place? In many cases we would find ourselves lacking theresource and the opportunity to do anything at the beginning, and so we pray and wait patiently. Meanwhile, we can also confirm our calling with the people around us. Do they see what you see?
Very often we assume that calling equates to a need and a solution. We think of it as purely giving out to the world. But responding to our calling is also an action that will complete us. When we respond to our calling, we found ourselves. Not only do we need to know the one who calls us, who is God for the Christians, we also need to know the one who is being called --- ourselves! I like to use this programming analogy: we are like memory, and knowing ourselves is like having a pointer to this memory; this memory can only be called when it has a name. What is your name? Do you know who you are? If God made us who we are, then we should be able to find out something about what God's purpose for us by knowing ourselves.
A common misconception is that people think of calling as a career choice. This is not wrong, but it is wrong when we contain calling within a career choice. Responding to a calling could result in a career, but that is not the end of it. We see people constantly jumping from one job to another for a variety of reasons; maybe we could conclude it as one: they are not satisfied. They are discontent. We too will not be satisfied until we find our calling. When we find our calling, we find our place in God's world and we found our peace.
To sum it up, skipping many details, a calling requires us to keep our eyes open for things around us, to have a heart that feels, and to know our God and ourselves. Responding to our calling often involves risk and uncertainty, but this is when we trust in God's providence and ultimately it will results in benefit for the world as well as ourselves.
I have been listening to some sermons and reading a few books on this topic for the past month or so, and today while I was taking an extra long walk home through Canada Place and along the seashore, I have decided to put my thoughts down before I forget.
Hopefully all of us are no long blinded by the two myths about calling, that only the "professional" ministers are called, and that calling is a mystique experience. Of course God can get to us through strange dreams and visions, but most people do not experience this. For practical purpose, I will not elaborate on this.
Theologians have carefully defined and categorized "calling", but I will only introduce two concepts: providencial call and heart call. We can learn something about these concepts from Nehemiah.
Our story begins when Nehemiah heard the news of Jerusalem, that "those who survived ... are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."
Since then Nehemiah was depressed for months. What could he do? He was far away from Jerusalem and it was unlikely that he was in the position to do anything about it! He fasted and prayed.
Months later even the King noticed that Nehemiah was not well. What is wrong? The King asked Nehemiah. Nehemiah made a short prayer - the Bible did not even record what he prayed - and he replied the King with his burden. He wanted to rebuild the walls Jerusalem and to bring his people back; but note that it was the same King who prohibited the rebuild of Jerusalem! Asking the King to rebuke his order was quite a risk, but to our suprise, the King allowed him to do so. He even provided the material and sent army officers and calvary with Nehemiah.
The story continues with the attack of enermies, rebuild of Jerusalem, return of the people, and a spiritual renewal, with some up and downs in between.
Nehemiah's story is a classic example of calling. He was living and working in a secular world, and then at the beginning of our story he heard that his people were in trouble, and his heart had no peace since then. Calling is like that, too (if you did not miss it). Do you see a problem with the world? Be it far away from you, across the pacific, or just within your circle of everyday life, when you see your calling, you see a problem, your heart feels it, and you have a desire to do something about it. In some cases, you have no peace until you do something about it, like Jeremiah. More often than not, you are called to do something bigger than yourselves, and so the natural respond for a Christian is to pray.
I had an opportunity to have dinner and to chat with my mentor last night, and at one point I asked him to tell me his personal story of his calling. It started in 1993 when he was buying lunch in north van. He saw these teenagers in the food court: They had nice clothes and $$$, and soon he saw that they had nice cars too. He told me that at that moment, a passage came to his mind: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Mat 9:36). He felt that these youth have every material thing they needed, and how good it would be if they have the gospel too. It was a genuine caring for this generation's youth, but there wasnt any chinese churches in north van, and so he prayed about it for years.
Then 10 years ago, his local church saw the need to plant a new church in north van, and he joined. He wanted to be involved in the youth ministry, but he didnt insist on it. His attitude was just to serve in wherever he was needed as the pastor assigned, but he prayed about it. There werent any youths in the church at the beginning anyway. Soon after, my fellowship was founded.
To discern a calling, we need to open our eyes. How could we respond if we did not see the need at the first place? In many cases we would find ourselves lacking theresource and the opportunity to do anything at the beginning, and so we pray and wait patiently. Meanwhile, we can also confirm our calling with the people around us. Do they see what you see?
Very often we assume that calling equates to a need and a solution. We think of it as purely giving out to the world. But responding to our calling is also an action that will complete us. When we respond to our calling, we found ourselves. Not only do we need to know the one who calls us, who is God for the Christians, we also need to know the one who is being called --- ourselves! I like to use this programming analogy: we are like memory, and knowing ourselves is like having a pointer to this memory; this memory can only be called when it has a name. What is your name? Do you know who you are? If God made us who we are, then we should be able to find out something about what God's purpose for us by knowing ourselves.
A common misconception is that people think of calling as a career choice. This is not wrong, but it is wrong when we contain calling within a career choice. Responding to a calling could result in a career, but that is not the end of it. We see people constantly jumping from one job to another for a variety of reasons; maybe we could conclude it as one: they are not satisfied. They are discontent. We too will not be satisfied until we find our calling. When we find our calling, we find our place in God's world and we found our peace.
To sum it up, skipping many details, a calling requires us to keep our eyes open for things around us, to have a heart that feels, and to know our God and ourselves. Responding to our calling often involves risk and uncertainty, but this is when we trust in God's providence and ultimately it will results in benefit for the world as well as ourselves.
posted by dk at 11:52 PM
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