The Call

The one thing every preacher and spiritual leader needs is the call of God on his or her life.  Not only is it needed, it is a must.  It is never enough to set out on this particular road without a strong and absolute conviction that it is the road down which God is beckoning us to walk.  I remember back in my seminary days some folks who went to seminary to see if they might like the ministry as a career choice.  It always seemed a bit strange.  A seminary has training and equipping power, but no power to call.  The call always belongs to God. 

 

The Scripture is filled with stories and words of witness which point us to the power of the call of God.  Moses had no inclination toward doing what God called him to do.  He was content our there in the midst of nowhere tending sheep.  Jeremiah struggled with speaking a message no one wanted to hear, but he had this conviction that he had been conceived and born for such a purpose.  Mary came to know in the deep places of her heart that God had a very special plan for her life.  All the disciples of Jesus heard the call to lay the past down and, most assuredly, Saul of Tarsus, found himself face to face with God calling and setting him apart for an unlikely work as a missionary and evangelist for Jesus. 

 

The list goes on and on and on.  It runs through the pages of Scripture and then pours out over the edge of the pages with more stories of the unavoidable and often times unwanted call of God touching people lives.  Would that every preacher who stands in the pulpit on Sunday stood there knowing that there was no place else in the world he or she could stand in faithfulness to God!  The pulpit and the leadership of the church is no place for those not sure.  They end up with an uncertain and half-hearted ministry and the work of God is too great and too important for that kind of dilly dally.