Yesterday afternoon I was talking to Patrik about what we mean when we say we are called to something. Now I hadn’t realised this before but in the New Testament the only mention of being called is in connection to discipleship, rather than specific roles. This led to a discussion about whether or not we should even use the word calling when we talk about the things we do for the Lord.
This got me thinking a little about the language that we use sometimes within our faith. For me the word ‘calling’ describes the intense feeling that I have about my future ministry, and indeed have had for several years during my time preparing for and being in Latvia. I can’t explain it any other way and I’m not sure I want to.
In a post a few days ago I said that I’m not sure that we are actually meant to understand everything about God. I think that this whole area of calling is one of those areas. We are called simply to trust that he knows what he wants us to do with our lives. I’ve noticed that many people are often led by the Spirit to take on roles that they are actually well suited about. More often than not this also means that the person is passionate about the thing they are led to do as well. How does this happen? Is it that God fixes things to make sure we are suited to the role, or is it that he simply knows how we will turn out? In the end does it really matter?
I’m convinced that it really doesn’t matter! What matters is that we follow the Spirits leading! Whether we term this leading a calling or not is irrelevant too! So let’s be called to be disciples and then simply follow where the Spirit leads us in our walk with the Lord!
Apparently the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Rev Peter Price, has condemned Christians Cupcake Christians avoid all that is difficult and challengingwho ignore the difficult and challenging aspects of Christianity. Dubbing them ‘cupcake’ Christians he describes them as:
… those who have their own individual Jesus neatly packaged, separated from all others, covered in sweetness, avoiding all that is difficult and challenging. And, with the cherry of personal salvation on the top.”
Speaking at the launch event of Christian Aid week in the UK, he went on to quote Amos saying:
‘… to let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.’ True Christian aid today calls for a radical change of heart.
“It demands that we ‘cupcake Christians’ remove the wrappers that separate us from one another; pick away at the sticky sweetness that prevents us from radical loving; and become the people of God united to the poor, denouncing from their place the injustice against them.”
Today we finally managed to get Abigail’s birth registered here in Latvia. When we registered Sian 3½ years ago the process was incredibly easy and cost us nothing, but this time the Latvian authorities seem to have brought in more red tape. Suddenly out of nowhere we were required to have an Apostille attached to our marriage certificate even though the Immigration authorities have registered us on 4 separate occasions now! This meant that we had to send the document to England as the only place that can do this is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (our Foreign Ministry).
The certificate arrived back yesterday and I discovered that I was now going to have to part with over Ls 100 (approximately £100/$200) to get official copies made of this and our passports. Thankfully we have some wonderful staff here in the office who persuaded them to accept the same things as they did when we got Sian’s certificate. Between Zoe, myself and the staff member a huge amount of prayer went into this and God has answered it!
All of this meant that this morning, in the middle of a thunderstorm, I made my way across to the office who register births and managed to get her Latvian birth certificate, and become rather wet and bedraggled in the process.
Now the next part of the saga starts as we spend a lot of money to get her registered as a British Citizen so that we can also get her passport before we leave Latvia in just under 12 weeks. That’s if I can get a decent photo of her looking at the camera!!
I love living in Latvia and am going to miss it dreadfully, but one thing I won’t miss is the red tape that being a Brit living overseas means.
The expression of Christianity that I found myself growing up in within the Church, suggests that Jesus is the answer to every question, and that in Him all truth is to be found. This is something I fully believe in, yet the problem I subsequently found is that because of this belief many Christians think that we need to be able to answer every question that is asked.
Several years ago now, a good friend was searching for faith in Jesus. He talked and talked with his Christian friends and was probably intellectually superior to all of them. I know he could certainly run rings around me when it came to my arguments to support my views, not saying that I’m that intellectual of course! In the end I turned round and said that it is certainly possible for him to continue to ask questions about Jesus and to try to know all there was to know before committing his life to Jesus, but in the end, he would still have to take a step of faith.
It feels like there are still many people who feel that we have to know everything there is to know about God and Jesus. It feels like they must have an answer for every possible question that can be asked of them about Jesus. It feels like some Christians have got the Lord of Hosts placed firmly into a box that He has to operate from, and cannot operate outside of.
Yet I feel there is a danger in this. As evangelicals we say that we know the truth and act as if only we know the sum of God’s intentions. We say we know the truth and by doing so insist that God always acts within that truth. The reality is that we only know a part of the truth. Yes we know the truth of the Gospel, but all too often we seem to think that it is the total of the truth. For me this is the curse of modernity!
Søren Kierkegaard said:
If God held all truth enclosed in his right hand, and in his left hand the one and only ever-striving drive for truth, even with a corollary of erring forever and ever, and if he were to say to me: Choose! - I would humbly fall down to him at his left hand and say: Father, give! Pure truth is indeed only for you alone!
I don’t think that we are ever called to understand the depth of truth that many of us claim that we know. Without the mystery that is God and his ways, there could be no real faith. Sometimes we have to accept that we simply cannot know why some things happen or indeed what will happen, and simply have to trust that God knows.
With the thoughts from my last post fresh in my mind I read an interesting view on the subject of following over at NextReformation.
Now I am a fan of the Great Commission myself! I think the real problem, that the Bishop doesn’t mention, is that many “Go and make” concentrate on that bit only, resulting in people who hear the Gospel and get saved, but never really connect with the depth of the Gospel message. These “Go and make” people forget the “… teaching everything” bit.
However, this emphasis on Jesus’ calling us to “Follow me!” both at the beginning and end of his ministry is so important. What does it really mean? We must allow our admiration for Jesus to be more than an intellectual exercise. We must allow our admiration for Jesus and his life and teaching to shape us into people who become more and more like him in everything that we do.
I’ve managed to get hold of an pdf copy of Søren Kierkegaard’s Provocations and have been reading through. I am amazed about how this man who died over 150 years ago seems to be speaking to those who are searching for a deeper meaning within their Christian faith today!
So as I flicked through I came across the article by the same name as this post which was originally published in his book Practice in Christianity.
It is well known that Christ consistently used the expression “follower.” He never asks for admirers, worshippers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life Christ is looking for.
This goes to the same thoughts I have that being a Christian should really be like being an apprentice to a master craftsman. Admiring a craftsman work is a very different proposition to being apprenticed to them, gradually learning to produce work that becomes like that of the craftsman. There in lies the problem!
For too many of those who attend a church on a Sunday, and call themselves Christians (even born-again), research suggests that there is very little to differentiate between them and those who do not profess a faith in Christ. It seems that far too many of us admire the wonder of Jesus and his teaching, but not enough for it really make us strive to become more like him. Too many are unprepared for the sacrifices that following Jesus actually entail.
Kierkegaard goes on to say:
The admirer never makes any true sacrifices. He always plays it safe. Though in words, phrases, songs, he is inexhaustible about how highly he prizes Christ, he renounces nothing, gives up nothing, will not reconstruct his life, will not be what he admires, and will not let his life express what it is he supposedly admires. Not so for the follower. No, no. The follower aspires with all his strength, with all his will to be what he admires.
So are you an admirer or a follower?
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