We may think that we are unqualified in some way to enter into God’s high calling. God doesn’t seem to care about that. He seems to prefer it that way. It is almost impossible for God to use a bunch of know-it-alls.
When God called Abraham, He just told Him to go. It wasn’t important for Abraham to know all of the details about the journey when he started out.
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”—Hebrews 11:8 (ESV)
God is presenting His calling to us in this hour. How we respond will determine whether He stays here with us and uses us to fulfill His highest purposes in this hour, or whether He moves on … and presents this offer to someone else.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”—Matthew 22:14 (KJV)
Here is what will happen. If we choose to accept this call, on faith of course, like Abraham did, not knowing exactly what it will mean for our future, God will immediately begin to shower His blessings on us, and lead us into the most meaningful, fulfilling lives that we could ever want—better than we could ever imagine.
“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’”—1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)
On the other hand, if we reject this offer, either by saying “No,” or by simply doing nothing, God will give us a relatively short grace period in which to change our minds and accept His call, but then He will move on and present this offer to someone else.
“Then Jesus told a story. ‘A man had a fig tree,’ he said. ‘It had been planted in his vineyard. When he went to look for fruit on it, he didn’t find any. So he went to the man who took care of the vineyard. He said, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree. But I haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year. I’ll dig around it and feed it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”—Luke 13:6–9 (NIRV)
If that happens to our local church and God moves on to another church, we will be reduced to just empty routines, working to keep our church programs and traditions going—but the life will be gone. We’ll be reduced to serving empty church programs.
“Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, ‘No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.’ And at once the fig tree withered.”—Matthew 21:19 (NASB)
When Jesus came to evaluate this plant, He found only leaves. He found no fruit. When He found only leaves, He pronounced judgment on the plant and then moved on, away from it. To understand why He reacted this way, we have to understand the purposes of leaves and fruit.
Leaves provide a way for the plant to feed itself, through photosynthesis.
Fruit is grown to feed others.
Whenever Jesus evaluates a church, if He finds it completely focused inward, feeding itself, His favor will eventually lift, and He will move on to find another church that is reaching out to meet the needs of others. The first church will wither and seem as if it is dead. As Jesus said to the church in Sardis:
“I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.”—Revelation 3:1-2 (NLT)
Throughout Church history, this has been God’s way. Beginning with the Jews’ rejection of Jesus’ ministry, leading to His crucifixion. God demonstrated in dramatic fashion that He was leaving the old order by rending the temple veil from top to bottom. He moved on to empower a different group of people on the day of Pentecost. The Jews continued on with their now empty religious rituals, but God had moved on.
Then with the Catholic Church in the 1500s, when God came to that “fig tree” to evaluate it, He found it focused inward, enriching itself and neglecting the needs of the people. When the Catholic Church refused to be reformed after the admonitions of Martin Luther and others, God moved on with the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s, leaving the Catholic Church to continue on with its traditions and rituals but empty, for the most part, of the vibrant life and power of God.
Does God still have genuine believers in the Catholic Church? Of course!
Consider the shining example of Mother Teresa. Her words speak volumes!1
“I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.”
“Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.”
“Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough. Money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.”
“If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
“Intense love does not measure, it just gives.”
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.”
“Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”
“The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.”
“One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.”
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”
“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”
“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”
“I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?”
“Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do…but how much love we put in that action.”
“Love begins by taking care of the closest ones—the ones at home.”
“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
“Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.”
“I’m calling for heaven and earth to give witness against you this very day. I’m offering you the choice of life or death. You can choose either blessings or curses. But I want you to choose life. Then you and your children will live.”—Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIRV)
I urge you to choose to accept God’s high calling!
Move on to aggressively pursue training and preparation.
Seek ministry opportunities that will propel you into the high calling that God has for you!
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”—2 Corinthians 13:14 (NKJV)
**1 References: **
Teresa, M. (n.d.). Mother Teresa Quotes. Retrieved from BrainyQuote: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mother_teresa.html
Teresa, M. (n.d.). Mother Teresa Quotes. Retrieved from Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/838305.Mother_Teresa
Teresa, M. (n.d.). Mother Teresa Quotes. Retrieved from Catholic Bible 101: http://www.catholicbible101.com/motherteresaquotes.htm
