The calling of God is tied to our identity in that we cannot come to full understanding and obedience of our calling until we are saved and renewed in our identity. However, it is different because the calling for the most part is established on the foundation of our identity. The call of God is a three-fold calling.
The Call to himself
First and foremost God calls us to himself. It is an invitation to get to know Him. The more we get to know Him, the more settled we become. The more settled we are, the easier it is to abide in Him and yield to Him. John 3:16 is an invitation to “whosoever”. God sends out the invitation to all who have been destitute, helpless, broken down, and weary. He desires for people to come home, get settled in the Father’s house, and enjoy His banqueting table. This is the place that God changes our nature, so we can identify with Him rather than our past.
The Call to become like Jesus
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29
The call of God is His desire to exhibit the nature of God in us. The fruit of the spirit is the nature of God. He uses people and circumstances over a period of time to form the fruit of the Spirit in us. The more we develop the fruit of the Spirit, the more we look like Jesus. This is the internal fruitfulness, and it is a very important part of the call of God in our lives.
The Call to the Great Commission
The third part of the call of God is the call to the Great Commission. We are called to advance His kingdom by telling others about Jesus, seeing them set free from bondage of sin, and discipling them into obedience and maturity (See Matthew 28:18-20). This is an external fruitfulness where the fruitfulness is helping others change and become more like Jesus.
It is important that we respond to the entire call of God. If we don’t develop intimacy with the Lord when He calls us to Himself, we will operate in our old nature. That’s when people become performance driven because they are not yielded to God’s leading; they just want to do good works because it makes them feel significant and is impressive to others.
We all need to allow the Holy Spirit to develop the fruit of the Spirit in us, so we can truly represent the Lord well. For example, we may be great at sharing the gospel with our co-workers, but we don’t like to work hard at our jobs. This makes one look like a hypocrite because while the person is working on the Great Commission, they are not working on developing the fruit of spirit by becoming faithful in their jobs. That makes one’s words and actions not to match up.
Lord help us to respond to your entire call in our lives. Amen!
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