our high calling

Behold as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their Master, so our eyes look to the LORD our God till He has mercy on us, Psalm 123:2b

Have you ever received a call that has changed your life?  Well, Jesus changes everything.  He turns the tables upside down.  With Jesus, life is not business as usual not is it life as usual.  

God has a great call on your life.  The calling is not something that we choose.  It is something that we discover.  It is something that God has planted in us.  God’s call is two-fold: first, we are called to Him and secondly, we are called to join Him in His Kingdom pursuit.

God has called us to the great work of being a servant on His behalf!  Being called a servant of God is the greatest calling of my life.  

In the previous Psalms on our journey we covered the territory of Repentance (this is where all of our journeys begin) then Providence (God’s guidance) then worship (the melody that leads us Home) and now service (the privilege of a lifetime).   

It is fitting that worship comes first and that service is the result.  Jesus, said, you shall worship the Lord God and serve Him alone, Matthew 4:10.  Worship and service go together.  They must not be separated.  They are like the two sides of the same coin.   

Here is a life changing principle:

  

     “WE SERVE WHAT WE WORSHIP and WE WORSHIP WHAT WE SERVE.”

  

If we serve without worship, it leads us into the sweat shop of performance driven living.  If we worship without serving, we become so star struck that we are no earthly good.  No. God designed our life around worship and service, not worship or service.

Here are three lessons I have learned (still learning) on improving my serve.

1.  Look to God as ultimate authority, Psalm 123:1. This may seem obvious but is it really the way I conduct my life?  The issue of authority is at the root of civilizations, nations, marriage, our life’s problems including Adam and Eve.  We are made to live in submission to God not independent from Him. Question: So, by whose authority am I orchestrating my life by: God’s or mine?

2.  Listen to God for His instruction and direction, Psalm 123:2.   When I played baseball, I would often play catcher.  It was my responsibility to signal the pitcher to tell him what to pitch.  I did not come up with the decision on my own. I looked to the manager of the team who called the “shots” or pitches in this case.  In the Christian life, we are like the catcher, listening to our Master who calls out His will from His Word.  Question:  So, where do I get my direction from:  God or me?

3.  Live for the applause of the One, Psalm 123:3-4.  I tend to be a people pleaser, which is rooted in pride.  I have made a discovery; pride and the Christian life do not mix well.  God is opposed to the proud, I Peter 5:6.  When I am living for the applause of the crowd, I am image conscious instead of being integrity conscious.  This is a dangerous place to be.  The remedy is not to put yourself down. The remedy is not to try and pump yourself up.  The remedy is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel tells us what Jesus thinks about us — and really, that is all the matters in the opinion column, read 1 Corinthians 4:1-7. In all honesty, the Gospel tells me that I am more wicked than I dare believe but I am more loved than I could ever imagine.  Question:  So, am I motivated by what others think of me, what I think of myself or what Jesus thinks of me, Romans 8:1?