“Every assignment that God gives His people is His primary means of sanctifying His leader.”
These are the words of Crawford Loritts that have encouraged me today. In a sermon entitled The Call to Courage from the 2008 Desiring God Pastor’s Conference, Loritts digs out an amazing insight from Joshua 1:1-9 regarding the calling that God has given us and how God uses it to sanctify us.
Here it is:
“Every assignment that God gives His people is His primary means of sanctifying His leader…some of us are getting burnt out because we are separating the sanctification process from our ministry. I understand boundaries, rest, variety in life, etc…
…but the very thing that God is using to draw you to Himself is the calling that He has given you.”
Wow.
The primary calling that God has given me is to love God and love others. More specifically, he is calling me to do that through pastoral ministry. Getting even more specific, God has given me a desire to minister to those who are intercultural (those people who are attempting to balance their different cultural backgrounds and upbringings). And to really hone in on exactly what God is calling me to do – he has given me a calling to minister to 2nd generation Asians (those born and raised in a country that their parents immigrated to) and to those who minister to 2nd gen Asians.
Perhaps that is why I am so energized and have such a renewed sense of calling upon coming back from ministering to 2nd gens in Korea?
Wow. Congratulations!
Wow, that is energizing. Work is more than work, ministry is more than ministry, it’s God calling you to himself. That’s awesome.
We have had some conversations on different cultural views on things (specifically western vs. eastern) and this post brings those conversations to mind.
Essentially work and ministry are therefore primarily relational in nature, to God.
I think this highlights another western misstep, which is that we divorce (or compartmentalize) relationships and work. Its true and important. We look at work as that thing we do, instead of the extension of our being into a certain relationship with others. Do-ing instead of be-ing.
I think its really spiritually healthy in our relationship with God to focus on our calling, because as Work it is relational. It is us serving him. Us loving him. Us following him.
Its all about relationship. Being not doing.
Isaiah,
You are totally right.
I remember a conversation I had with Phil (he’s German) about what happens in Germany. Basically, people in Germany never talk about work at home – the two spheres are totally separate.
And I love what Confucius says – “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
In other words, when we discover our unique calling in life based on the talents that God has blessed us with, we’ll live so much more significant and joyful lives.