Seeing our purpose can have the single most powerful impact on our own life after coming to know the Lord, being born again, and being baptized in His Spirit. All Christians are called to be witnesses, but we also have a calling in His body that is more specific than that. Every Christian is called to function in at least one spiritual gift, which is the tool we are given for fulfilling our purposes. So how do we come to the knowledge of these? There is a clear and easy path to it. My purpose for this study is to make it as clear and easy as it is.
Again, reviewing the main factors that will lead to seeing our calling and being prepared for it are the following:
#2) Beholding the glory of the Lord
#3) Honoring our spiritual fathers and mothers
#4) Finding and becoming a committed part of the body of believers we are called to be with
#5) Receiving the ministry of the five equipping ministries listed in Ephesians 4
#6) Being recognized, trained, and discipled
#7) Engaging in our calling
I want to address each of these and the clear path to discovering and moving into our callings.
#1) Resolving to do the Lord’s will as the chief pursuit of our lives. The first step always requires our commitment to do the will of the Lord. Our calling in Christ is the most valuable possession we have after our salvation. Those who do not consider their calling to have enough significance and do not pursue it will rarely find or accomplish it. In John 7:17-19, the Lord Jesus addresses this most important issue:
“He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
In the first verse, we are told that we must be willing to do His will before we will be able to discern truth, even the truth spoken by the Truth Himself. The reverse is also implied—that the fundamental principle of being able to discern truth and not to be deceived is the willingness to do the will of the Lord.
Then He addresses the truth that we cannot do this with the intent of seeking our own glory. The ones who are true are the ones who live to glorify the Lord, not seeking their own “glory” (that word could have been translated “recognition”). This is, in fact, the foundation of the true Christian life. We have been bought with a price; the Lord subjected Himself to the torture and death on the cross to purchase us. We belong to Him, and not ourselves. Those who believe this truth unto salvation will live what they believe, or otherwise it is just an intellectual concept we have assented to. We do not live for ourselves, but for Him. Let’s review just a couple of Scriptures that verify this:
“For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it” (see Luke 9:23-24)
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier (II Timothy 2:3-4).
and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf (II Corinthians 5:15).
All Christians are called to be soldiers of the cross. All soldiers know that they can be called upon to pay the ultimate price for their cause. For this reason, the soldiers of the cross are called to take up their crosses and commit to die daily to their own interests in order to serve the interests of Christ.
In the Lord, as in any army, there is usually a long period of learning to take orders before we are entrusted with authority to give them. As we become trustworthy, we are trusted with more, keeping our commitment to live for the Lord and to seek first His kingdom, laying down our lives daily for His sake. No army is likely to be successful without the fundamental devotion of its soldiers. This will determine the basic strength or weakness of the army.
The devotion of Christians to live up to their commitment to the Lord is the most basic determining factor as to the strength or weakness of the church. If we live the life of commitment, living for the Lord and His purposes, we have unlimited power and resources and cannot lose, but if we seek to save our own lives, we will lose them. Our basic commitment to live for the Lord is therefore fundamental to everything else.