"Come and follow me."
Who's calling are you following?
Today, like many other Mondays, has started way to early. The cheerful Marimba melody coming from my Iphone makes me want to punch things. But I refrain. I stumble out of bed, put myself together, and head off to my 8 am theory class (not before stopping off at Jazzman's for a caramel blast.)
Dr. Wycoff always starts his class with a devotion, which I appreciate on so many levels. What better way to start the day then by hearing a profound word or two? This morning in particular, was a very profound word that happened to be very relevant to my life right now, as well as my friends around me. His word this morning was about callings. Callings play a huge part in our lives as Christians. Many of us feel as though we have a calling in our life, whether it be music, education, art, dance, speaking, etc. For me, I feel as though I'm called to music, ministry, and travel. This has been such a blessing in my life, especially being a part of Unity Dance Troupe, which fulfills almost all of these callings at the moment. It is wonderful to feel so active in your calling. Callings are wonderful gifts from God, but it is easy to get lost or consumed by these "callings."
This morning, Dr. Wycoff said some truly wonderful things about callings (most of which I can't remember in vivid detail, but the overall idea is very tangible in my mind this evening.) It is very easy (and I've experienced this personally) to get caught up in the topic of your "calling" , like, "oh, I'm called to be a singer! so all I'm gonna do is sing! and if I'm not singing then that's not okay because that's my calling." No. This is something we must not do. Dr. Wycoff said it so gracefully this morning...something along the lines of "you calling, first and foremost is God saying 'come and follow me.' so who's calling are you following?" When we say the things like "all I have to do is this because its my calling!" is that really glorifying God? I mean, I completely understand this struggle. I am called to do something, I know this. The problem is, I am already really passionate and really in love with this something, which means it's really easy for me to get consumed by the "calling" rather than the person who is calling me. And I just don't want that.
Jesus calls us to many things. Graciously. Passionately. Generously. We must remember to ask ourselves this critical question, "whose calling am I following? mine or God's." If the answer is 'mine', then what does that look like, and how can I refocus myself to follow God? Well first off, 'my calling' looks very different than 'God's calling.' They may be very similar in the sense that they both are for ministry or music, but the difference is the motivation behind them. Ask yourself this, "Why am I pursuing this 'calling'?" If your answer is "because its my calling, and I know I'm supposed to be doing this, and I love it." then stop and think. Although none of those motivations are really bad, they're not necessarily godly either. If you ask yourself the same question "Why am I pursuing this 'calling'?" and your answer is along the lines of "I believe this is where God is leading me at the moment, and although it might not be glamorous or as significant as I would have thought, I am going to follow Him and I'm going to work to the best of my ability to glorify God through this." Okay, you're on the right track.
Humbleness is truly difficult. Here's why: If you know in your heart that you are 'called' to something it can do many things to your heart and your head. Now, bare with me because I'm talking mainly to myself here but just hear me out. It is really easy to become self absorbed. I know you're thinking, "Um, what? How can you become self absorbed if your calling is from God? He gave it to you." Yes, yes. All true. But remember,
1.) First and foremost, God calls us to come and follow him.
2.) God wants humble Christians.
3.) Just because you're good at something, and it's God's 'calling' on your life doesn't give you the right to get a big head.
Any type of calling from God demands an amount of humbleness. I don't care what field of life God has called you to serve in, but he has called us as his people and as his children to be servants. I feel especially strong about this because I really believe God has called me to be a leader. Now this is crucial. Leaders must first be humble servants. Please listen to this now, and if this is the only thing you take away from this blog then please just listen: You will reach, touch, inspire, and impact on a greater scale than you ever thought if you are a humble servant who follows God fiercely and selflessly than if you were the greatest singer, preacher, dancer, educator, etc. that the world has ever seen. You can be in the spotlight all you want and you could be the most passionate person on the planet who really loves God, but I'm telling you, you will impact more people if you take the role of the humble servant who is willing to take the backseat, willing to do whatever God has laid before you, because your calling, first and foremost is to "come and follow me."
Who's calling are you following?
