Vocation part 2
The thing about walking worthy of your vocation, your calling, is that you can't do it without walking. Rest is not inactivity. It is Holy Spirit directed activity. And the only thing the Spirit of love will ever direct you to do... is love. So our vocation, our calling, our invitation, is... at the most bottom line basic level... to love. Mother Teresa once said, "Do small things with great love." That's why we're here. Colossians 3:23 says, "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." This is one of my favorite verses, so I try to use it a lot. But it fits here for a couple of reasons. Number one: Doing things heartily means doing them to the best of your ability and because it is in your heart to do it. And number two: Doing things as unto the Lord and not unto men. We get so wrapped up in our wrong-headed sense of "justice" sometimes. Figuring out if we can love someone based on whether or not they "deserve" it. When, in fact and in truth, deserve has nothing to do with it. Love is for all. For God so loved the WORLD. He doesn't judge us by our actions. He doesn't just by appearance. He judges righteous judgment. And, according to Psalm 149:9, "To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD." God gave His judgment on the cross. And it wasn't to kill His only begotten Son. It was to raise Him back to life. God's judgment was not a death sentence. It was an everlasting life sentence. And it is or vocation... our honor... to execute this judgment. To take what God laid out and give it to people. To take life and give it to people. That's the picture we see when Jesus decribes Himself as the vine and us as the branches. He produces the fruit and we bear it. We make it available to those around us. That's our calling. To be loved, and to love each other with that same love. That's why we were created. The God who is love wanted to express Himself, so He made us. Now He expressess Himself--His love--to us, and in us, and through us, and as us. Now He fills us up to overflowing so that all we have to do is fill ourselves with what we've already been filled with. Now we simply have to let what's inside come out. By knowing and believing that it's in there. That's how we walk worthy of our calling. Not going around and deciding (on arbitrary ideas) who deserves love and who doesn't. But simply letting the love that is already inside come out all over whoever we come into contact with. I always say it like this: I like everybody, because it's easier that way. Holding grudges, and being bitter... man, that stuff will mess you up. Letting someone else live in your mind rent free? That's nonsense. Let it go. Let go and let God. Love them anyway. And find that when you love people no matter what... not only are you happier, lighter, and more free... but you're making everybody else and everything else better too. You're improving the environment. You're preaching the gospel to the whole world. That's what we were created to do. To leave things better than we find them. To walk by faith. To DO something that actually matters. And that something... is love!