Ultimate Calling

Christians spend a lot of time pondering this issue: what is God's will for my life?

At first glance, this question appears to have multiple answers. God is calling me to love Him. God is calling me to be a good person. God is calling me to serve others. God is calling me to be an accountant. Hundreds of books have been penned on the subject of finding God's will for your life.

But I think that it is much more simple than people make it out to be.

Our calling is to spread the gospel, preach the gospel, write the gospel, and in myriad other ways to communicate the good news to all of our fellow inhabitants on planet earth. Don't get me wrong, loving God, serving others, and being good people (not to mention the fine art of accountancy) are all honorable and noble things to do with life.

In fact, I would say that preaching the gospel and loving Jesus have to go hand in hand. But just loving Jesus without ever showing another that love is sacrilege. Being moral people and serving others are vehicles to preach the gospel, not ends in and of themselves.

Sure, God cares about where you work, where you live, and what you spend money on, but not because He necessarily cares about that company but because He cares about the lost people in that company. Everything He does is towards the sole purpose of drawing souls to Himself; accordingly, everything He would have you do is pledged to the same goal.

While individuals are certainly called to certain jobs and whatnot, we must always keep in focus the reason you're called to that job: to further the Kingdom of Heaven by preaching the gospel.

Loving, serving, and being good are byproducts of a life wholly surrendered to Christ. For it is only through Him that we do good.

The next time that you go to God and ask His will for your life, remember to keep in mind our ultimate calling, that of preaching the gospel in Jerusalem, in Samaria, in Judea, and to the ends of the earth.

We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. Colossians 1:28,29

Ruining Eli's Day

Speaking of words from the Lord, have you ever been in a situation where a friend or relative is engaged in an activity that you know is sinful, and you really want God to give you a great condemnation to fire at them?

I certainly have.

In fact, I have actually acted on these supposed "words of God" and delivered messages of judgement to people who would probably benefitted more from my support than my judgement.

But such is the way of those individuals who posses a razor sharp moral compass, which they usually point at those around them. I am one of those individuals, a fact those who know me are very well aware of.

But I digress. There are special cases when one receives insight into another person's life, and this insight is negative. The prophet Samuel, mouthpiece of God to Kings Saul and David, at the very beginning of his career, received an insight from the the Lord declaring that the high priest's family was condemned because of their many evils and that Eli's (the high priest) name would be cut off from future generations.

Understandably, Samuel was initially hesitant to relay that message to Eli. The same can be said of us. Today, people rarely if ever receive God's direct condemnation on another person's sinful behavior. However we do have God's Word, namely the Bible, to convey His mind to us and make clear His opinions.

In reading the Bible, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the text and can link the words to situations in life. When God does this in you on behalf of another's behavior, it can be difficult to then present this to the person in question. It was certainly difficult for Samuel. But in the end he delivered that packet of doom to Eli.

And so must we, if the Spirit brings to our attention verses to confront another on. Of course, doing this on your own without God's guidance is using the Bible as a weapon, which is something the world has suffered enough of. But bringing God's message to a person, in the name of love, is a noble thing. But more than that, it is the responsible thing, because who are we to question God's decisions? If He has sent it to you, you must deliver it.

Even if it ruins Eli's day.

Going about it

I think that religious people today far too often claim that God has told them something or speak on His behalf.

I wonder sometimes how God feels about this. Certainly He does indeed speak to His children often and about many things, but I wonder if people use God to further their own purposes or justify their decisions.

An example: a few years ago the father of a young man I know packed up his family and they all moved to a nearby town because "God" had told him to. But the family was unhappy about the move, the children did not do well in the new school, and eventually the family moved back.

Did God really instruct the father to do this? Or did he make himself believe that God had? Obviously, one cannot simply dictate what God did say and what He doesn't. I cite the above story not to discredit the father, but to use it as a fairly standard example of the kind of situation I am talking about.

God is no longer in the business of loudly announcing His plans from the clouds or sending prophets to proclaim it in His stead. The coming of the Holy Spirit largely made that kind of dramatic grandstanding obsolete. But now that we live with the Spirit indwelling us, I think it is difficult for people to distinguish between the Spirit, their own thoughts, and subconscious renderings of external circumstances.

For the Christian, one of the biggest challenges in leading a God-centered life is learning to hear the Spirit, and (more importantly) to be able to discern the difference between the voice of God and all else. Prayer is a rather delicate business, because not only are you trying to communicate with the Lord, you are trying to listen to Him also. It is an easy thing to substitute the Spirit with our own thoughts; we can do this so seamlessly that we do not notice, and then go on to act on what we perceive is the will of God.

To the outsider or the atheist, I am sure that all these churches full of people talking about what God told them might as well be insane asylums. Which brings us to a good point: it is a crazy, dangerous proposition to claim a direct message from God. It is a precious, rare thing. Something to be protected and respected. In my life, the entire idea of a special message from God has slowly been drained of its meaning from extreme and negligent overuse.

My bottom line today: claiming a special word from the Lord is not something that people of faith should be flippant or dismissive about. It should be seldom invoked, and never without careful consideration.

"Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the Lord. "Is not my word like fire and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?" Jeremiah 23:28, 29

Good stuff.

In lieu of sleeping, I suppose I can introduce myself to you, oh (hypothetical) reader.

I am nineteen years old and a freshman studying Communications at the prestigious University of Illinois. I've been a Christian for most of my life but didn't really know what that meant until around a year and a half ago. Since then, discussing theology and the ins and outs of Christian doctrine with my posse of friends has become one of my favorite hobbies.

To that end, I start this blog in order to express my thoughts in writing. Also, I think this will have a therapeutic effect on me.

So then, back to the Elephant. According to the parable, there was a wise prince whose ministers loved to debate over the sayings of the Buddha. One day the debate became especially heated, and the prince could stand the endless prattle no longer.

He commanded that several blind men be brought in from the streets. After that, he commanded an elephant brought in. He looked at his ministers, silent now with the appearance of the elephant, and said "Now, gentlemen, show the blind men the elephant."

The blind men slowly approached and examined the great beast. One man touched the trunk, another the tusk, another the ear, and the last the tail. The prince then asked each man, "What is an elephant?"

The first man replied, "The elephant is like a snake, long and sinuous."

The second man replied, "No, the elephant is sharp and hard, like a spear."

The third man replied, "No, the elephant is like a great fan."

The fourth man replied, "No, all of you are wrong! The elephant is like a thick broom."

The four blind men then began loudly arguing amongst themselves. The prince turned to his ministers. "Now tell me", he said slyly, "which of these blind men is wrong about the nature of the elephant?"

"None", the ministers lamely responded.

"And which of them is right?"

"None", the ministers sighed.

"My friends, take this to heart", said the prince. "There are things beyond what we can rightly know, beyond our understanding. And while each of you may have ahold of a piece of the truth, none of you can comprehend the whole truth, just as these blind men cannot comprehend the whole elephant.

But, if these men were to listen to each other, instead of just arguing, then they could perhaps come to understand the whole elephant. So it is with you: if you perhaps listen to one another then perhaps the whole truth will be arrived at."

Thus I dedicate this blog to the Elephant, and the wisdom and patience it represents. If only more people of faith would come to understand the Elephant; which by the way, if you want another word on the Elephant besides the Buddhist tradition, take a gander at Romans chapter 14. Good stuff.

Initial Post

My goodness. I have decided to start my own blog. We'll see how long I keep this up.

Why Elephant Musings. Well, Elephants are truly noble creatures. And, more importantly to our purposes, the Elephant is the subject of a very ancient Buddhist parable. It is too late for me to go into it now, but suffice it to say that this blog will serve as a medium for my musings on theological issues.

Yes, indeed.