Calling

Calling

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

“WHAT DID IMPETUOUS PETER DO NEXT?” Leaning toward my young audience, I held the page of the children’s Bible open for all of them to see.

“He cut off the bad guy’s ear with his sword!” a little boy exclaimed, perhaps with a bit too much enthusiasm for the grisly turn of events.

“Oh, Impetuous Peter.” I shook my head sorrowfully, seven little heads shaking along with mine. “Was that what Jesus wanted him to do?”

“NOOOOOO!” a cacophony of voices called back.

Simon Peter, one of the twelve disciples, the rock of the early church, has been forever nicknamed Impetuous Peter in my house because of his early tendency to be, well, impetuous. He is a favorite of mine, a beautiful example of how God uses us, despite our rough edges. And Peter is not the only imperfect person called by God to accomplish his will.

Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho, pledged allegiance to God, hiding Joshua’s spies. She is one of five women identified by name in the lineage of Christ and is listed among the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11.

Ruth the Moabitess—a widowed refugee from a despised people group—fled famine with her mother-in-law, married Boaz and became great-grandmother to King David and ancestress to Jesus. She is one of two women with a book of the Bible bearing her name.

Saul the Pharisee was zealous in his relentless persecution of early believers until he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. Saul became Paul, authoring thirteen (maybe fourteen) books in the New Testament.

God calls us. And our origin story, our past, our mistakes, our character flaws do not negate that calling. God uses imperfect people throughout Scripture so that he gets the glory and so we cannot deny our own calling, claiming that Peter, Paul, Ruth, Rahab, and all the others were an anomaly, somehow slightly more perfect than the rest of us. It was not them; it was God through them.

Lord, clear away all the disqualifications we hide behind in an effort to deny our calling. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: To whom is God calling you? Ask him to show you the neighbor, coworker, the coffee shop barista he would send you to, if you let him.