cait clendenin

as promised, part 2 of my post on calling.

how appropriate that i find myself right in the midst of this particular post, and i am so excited to describe it to you. Christian author and theologian richard foster once wrote, "to stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change," and change is our response to calling.

think about all the callings that exist in scripture... abraham ("go from your country and your kindred... to the land that i will show you"), moses (burning bush, hello!), esther (taking risks "for such a time as this"), mary (be God's mom??), the disciples ("follow Me..."), paul......

what is the common theme among all of these? i would suggest to you that it's change. and not simply change those called made themselves. in fact, we're talking God changing them. abraham went from being just any old man to being the father of many nations, the patriarch of our faith. moses, who was once a lowly hebrew baby, grew up to be a prince and later saved God's people from slavery in egypt. esther, an orphan girl, saved the jewish nation from being destroyed. mary, a young woman with no special social status, birthed our Savior despite the fact that doing so would be social suicide. the disciples were fishermen and tax collectors and paul was a persecutor of those who followed Christ, and yet they would turn this world upside-down with the good news of Jesus.

you might be thinking to yourself right about now that you are no moses. your mom never packed you up in a basket and sent you down a river toward the most significant calling of that time. an angel has never visited you... the clouds have never opened above followed by a loud, thundering voice calling to you. you just want to know what you're supposed to do in the next five years, not for the kingdom of God.

i'm guessing each of those biblical examples above thought the same thing. they were not qualified before they were chosen. as tim keller says, they were qualified BECAUSE they were chosen. note the difference.

what sets those folks apart is their response to God's call. they discerned where God was at work and they joined Him. unprepared initially as they were, they joined. God didn't map out the courses of their lives for them up front, yet they followed. and everything -- EVERYTHING -- changed for them.

we can't encounter God without being changed. it's just not possible. we can't get to know Jesus and ever be the same. He makes light out of darkness, beauty out of ashes, life out of death. all the hope we have is summed up in Him. when He calls and we respond, our lives are wrecked -- for the better -- by His power. i'm really starting to connect with this, don't you want a taste?!

1 corinthians 1:4-9 (msg) puts it this way:

"i thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. there's no end to what has happened to you -- it's beyond speech, beyond knowledge. the evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.

just think -- you don't need a thing, you've got it all! all God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus... and not only that, but God Himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in [called you to] this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of His Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. never forget that."

calling isn't a burden; it's a blessing. calling means the God of the universe is hot on your trail... and He's going to provide every resource you need to join Him in His work. that's a big deal.

keep listening.

i don't know why in the world i do this to myself.... i seem to do my best reading and writing late at night and i am beyond exhausted right now because of it. despite my state of physical bankruptcy, my mind is alive with something i've been kicking around in my head for a few days. i'm reminded of a funny scene in the movie "baby mama" in which kate, the main character, is trying desperately to have a child. because of health reasons she is unable to conceive, which only heightens her desire to do so. as the movie opens, it seems like babies are everywhere. in one scene, kate even imagines her coworkers as babies seated around the conference room.

the same has been true for me lately when it comes to the subject of calling, and further, what it means for God to having a calling for all of us. a calling is more than a vocation; it's a mission, a pursuit. it's the one thing that your heart desires most and your own personalized avenue through which you bring glory to God. it is the thing for which every experience in your life, good and bad, shapes and prepares you.

calling's kind of a big deal.

and, like kate, i've been hypersensitive to calling lately. even more specifically, i've been zeroing in on both sides of calling; how to be ready for it, and how to respond to it.

in his book experiencing God, henry blackaby explains the subject of calling (specifically a calling to serve God). he says that the first steps to recognizing a call are to recognize that God is already at work all around us, and to understand that our calling will be simply to join what He's already up to. even Jesus, in john 5:17 and 19 (NIV) said, "my Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working. I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."

but how do we prepare our hearts to recognize God's activity? i believe the Scriptures make it clear that this comes through singleness of heart. singleness of heart. i like the sound of that, don't you? even if underneath the poetic exterior it is hard and complicated, it is wrapped up in a beautiful word picture. psalm 145:18-19 (NEB) tells us that "very near is the Lord to those who call to Him, in singleness of heart. He fulfills their desire, if only they fear Him."

again in ezekiel 11:18-20 (NLT) we see this phrase. "when the people return to their homeland, they will remove every trace of their vile images and detestable idols. and I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey My decrees and regulations. then they will truly be My people, and I will be their God."

other versions of the same passage use the phrase "undivided heart." johannes jorgensen, who wrote the biography of st. francis of assisi, described st. francis's yearning for such a heart after his conversion. jorgensen called it "the longing to give up the thousand things with which the soul vainly creates unrest and perturbation for itself, and to see the one thing which satisfies."

in 2010 terms, it's selling out. it's considering all things as rubbish (garbage) compared to knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8). it's SEEKING HIM rather than SEEKING ANSWERS. rather than demanding, "what is God's will for my life?" it's humbly inquiring, "what is God's will?" it's forsaking all things that would divide our hearts between what won't last and what is eternal. it's total surrender.

only when we really live out this singleness of heart will we truly recognize God's calling on our lives. it won't be one more book or one more study or one more person (though all of these things are ways God speaks to us). it will be turning our hearts and minds completely over to Jesus. looking full in His wonderful face. only then.

a great champion of the faith, amy carmichael, once wrote, "blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. if you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. in that stillness you will know what His will is." we are to seek Him, not direction. direction will come later; He comes first.

i pray that God would open our minds and hearts to understanding and applying this word. may we forsake all idols that may stand in the way of unyielding conformity to His will. may Jesus remove our stony, stubborn hearts and give us tender, responsive ones in their places, so that we will know Him and obey Him.

blessings on you, friend. be looking for a follow-up post in which i will outline my findings on how we respond when we experience the call.

there is something i love about new beginnings; new notebooks for the first day of school, the smell of new cars, the way new jeans fit before you wash them for the first time.