May 15th | Live Your Life According to God's Calling

A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON PAUL’S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS 

LIVE YOUR LIFE ACCORDING TO GOD’S CALLING

Ephesians 4:1 “ (I Peter) . . . urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”  

Most likely you are familiar with the fact that a pastor serves a congregation as a result of having received and accepted a Divine Call. Unlike in the business world where women and men seek out a company or business where they desire to work, submit an application, go through an interview, and are then either hired or not in the Christian church a pastor does not make application to a specific congregation to become employed by them. Rather, God the Holy Spirit directs the congregation to seek out the pastor that will serve them. This is done through the Divine call process of prayer, dependence upon the Holy Spirit to direct the congregation to their next pastor and the pastor to the next congregation he will serve. 

You are also called and chosen by God. First, the Holy Spirit calls you to faith in Jesus Christ, “Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3) God has also chosen you, called you and placed you into your position in life because “ . . . You are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for (you) to do.” 

You are not an accident. God created you! God equipped you with your personal, intellectual, and physical abilities. He has chosen you (called you) and equipped you to live your life on earth in accord with His will and blessed you to be a blessing as He did Abraham, “ . . . I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2) 

Therefore, God’s word says to you, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)   

Prayer: Lord, give me faith to trust You to lead me into what you want me to do and empower me to do it to Your glory and honor. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

How clear is our vocation, Lord, When once we heed Your call:  
To live according to Your Word And daily learn, refreshed, restored,  
That You are Lord of all And will not let us fall. 

But if, forgetful, we should find Your yoke is hard to bear;  
If worldly pressures fray the mind, And love itself cannot unwind  
Its tangled skein of care: Our inward life repair. 

We marvel how Your saints become In hindrances more sure;  
Whose joyful virtues put to shame The casual way we wear Your name  
And by our faults obscure Your pow’r to cleanse and cure. 

In what You give us, Lord, to do, Together or alone,  
In old routines or ventures new, May we not cease to look to You,  
The cross You hung upon— All You endeavored done.  (LSB 853)