“Give other Christians permission to be different from you. You’re not the only Christ-follower in the world, and neither are you the most committed. Your way of loving Jesus is neither the only way for the best. If you don’t know that, your Christian world is way too small.” — Will Davis Jr.
I am sure I’ve done it, taken up the idea that my fight/idea/project was, perhaps, heavier than others’, too difficult to understand. Maybe I’m much more passionate than my sister or brother about some specific thing the Lord has put in my heart. And I am certain I have, inadvertently, walked away from people who loved me well because I felt they didn’t quite appreciate the work I am called to. A mistake, I’m certain; one which has sometimes left me incredibly heartbroken.
“For just as in one [physical] body we have many parts, and these parts do not all have the same function or special use,”
ROMANS 12:4 AMP
I’m grateful that God calls us to different places, ideas, seasons, journeys and ministries. When I sit and reflect, I see just how many different callings He’s given me in my life. I’ve owned my own business, I’ve lead small groups, I’ve done ministry within a church and outside of it, I’ve photographed mission trips, I’ve been a fundraiser, I’m a wife and a mother… Through the different seasons I’ve found myself in, and the varying deserts I’ve journeyed, I’ve discovered that I need to have eyes wide-opened to the multitude of ways the LORD leads and moves and works through the people He calls beloved.
Because if our eyes aren’t wide-opened, we can, very comfortably, fall into a trap the enemy has set, one which tries to convince us that our personal calling has more significance than someone elses. At the root of that idea is a sneaky little sin we call pride. Pridefully, we hold the notion that our specific race [calling] is much more meaningful and more impactful than our friend’s or neighbor’s. When we pick up pride, no matter if we take a pinch or a bushel-full, we can accidentally start believing that the work someone else is doing matters less.
What pride can then do, is deceive us into believing that we should reject ideas, perspective and even love from people who are not in our boat with us. When we begin to make claims or hold on to thoughts that we [or our vision, purpose, etc] matter more, we can castoff the people we love. With this, relationships can become tainted and broken. When we let pride sink in, intentionally or not, we often reject the people who He specifically put around us, the ones meant to speak life, love and truth into our hearts and spirits. When we say that one person’s race, calling, or ministry is more important than another, we begin breaking the body, the Church. By choosing this kind of thinking, we devalue the work of God and the calling He has placed in and on His people. We, sometimes, forget that the body needs its completeness to function well. The hand needs the elbow to bend to feed the mouth; the feet hold the weight of the legs and torso and move forward. Like the human body, the Church body needs its hands and feet and all the many different ways they move and are called to work in order to function well.
Your calling might be to minister in a high-rise building to top execs while you work your nine-to-five, while mine is teaching kids to climb the ladders well and shape their hearts for the Kingdom. Your calling might be to some far-off country doing hard work of discipleship while mine is discipling the children in my house doing work just as difficult, different but difficult. You might be a world-traveler off ministering to the many people you meet, while I am meant to minister to the gal next door. His ways are always higher than our own, and we might not ever really know the impact each follower’s specific race might make, no matter where they run it. It’s a beautiful grace: He designs His kingdom this way. I need to be made aware [again and again] that His master-plan for our lives is so uniquely created for each one of us; we are distinctly purposed for a special role in the Kingdom, a purpose which the Lord will use to make it more perfectly complete.
I wonder what your calling/purpose/vision/race might be? Where do you run? Do you, like me, see yourself in the work of ministry in every-day life? Is your purpose inside the walls of a church building? Do you minister in corporate or secular places? Today, my prayer for my heart and yours, is that the Lord might open our eyes a little wider and that He might soften our hearts a little more, giving us a spirit of truth to know that our callings are all beautifully different so that His kingdom is made more perfect.
This piece was first published May 28, 2017 on glintsofgrace.com