Vocation part 5
I like to quote Romans 8:28 a lot. It's one of my favorite verses. Today let's start there and go a little further. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according ot his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed ot the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified" (Romans 8:28-30). Good, good stuff. And to close out this Rant series I really want to focus on the part about being called, justified, and glorified. I think it's important that we understand this. God never requires something that He doesn't first provide. He made grass before he ever made a cow, right? Because he knew the cow would need grass to eat. He is our provider, and He is our provision. He is what we need, and He has given us what we need. By giving us... Himself. Look at the story of Abraham and Isaac. God told Abraham to give his son (which is a type and shadow of God giving His own Son, Jesus) but then, at the end of the day, the true sacrifice was the ram caught in the thicket. The male lamb. God gave HIMSELF as the sacrifice. He has always done, and will always do, what needs to be done. That's what love is. Love is maximum effort. Love is giving everything you have and everything you are. So when we're talking about our calling, or our vocation, or the invitation that God has extended to us, we need to understand that He didn't just call us. He also qualified us. And when we get that settled we can stop disqualifying ourselves (and each other). Like the revelation Peter had when he was struggling with what he could and couldn't eat. God basically said, "It's all from me. It's all good. Give thanks and eat." Acts 10:15 says, "And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common."" We have been called, justified, and glorified. As we look in the mirror and see Jesus we are changed into that image from glory to glory. Again: What needed to happen... happened. It happened 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross. And really, Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So it happened before anything else happened. Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Saviour. And if you WERE a sinner, and then you got saved by grace, you aren't a sinner anymore. If God calls you clean, don't call yourself common. You've been called, justified, and glorified. Jesus presented you to Himself as a clean bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. Without blemish. God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. YOU are the light of the world. How could there be any darkness in you at all? How can a believer sin, when you understand that sin is unbelief? So walk worthy of your calling. Don't think you can't do what you were created to do. Doing it is what makes you... you. Doing it is what makes you truly live. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Love is what makes life abundant. Love is our calling, and our vocation, and our invitation!