The Called Following The Calling

"walk in the manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift." -Ephesians 4:1-7

What is our calling? "To preach the gospel to all the world." Just looking around at all of the different famous preachers and teachers, we can see how things should not be done. There are those who preach for the fame or money...spending all of their time talking about how they know the right way to live, yet they have no humility.

It is easy to put someone on a pedestal when they become almost like a fad and have many followers. People can look pretty great on the outside; just take a look at the Pharisees and Sadducees! Everyone thought they were righteous and holy because their life looked perfect. They did all of the rituals correctly, they seemed to outwardly follow the "laws" and "commandments" and everyone thought they were the ones to mold their lives after.

How often do we do the same thing? "The calling" refers to the fact that we have been called; we have been called for a purpose BY God, FOR God.

We are supposed to preserve unity. Now, by looking around at the different churches and "religious" groups anyone can tell that unity is a major problem. We have so many denominations it is saddening. There are more church splits than Wal-Mart locations! Forget the saying "Let's agree to disagree" everyone just disagrees to agree on anything.....whether it be for major factors like salvation or something as small as building renovations. "Being diligent to preserve the UNITY of the Spirit in the bond of PEACE." Since when did we decide we were too good to follow this? I mean, exactly how many of us actually try to be "diligent" in preserving these things? Not many that I see. Everyone is more worried about his/her own agenda than they are keeping any sort of unity or peace with their fellow brothers and sisters.

"For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God..."

Though I realize these things are going to come as we get closer to Christ's return, I also think we have the choice to on whether to be a part of the rebellious attitude or not. I don't think so. Even if something is bound to happen (i.e rebellions and the like) we have the free will to not be a part of it. We have the ability to choose how we will react to a situation.

Just as the verse says, there is ONE God, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE Lord. There is ONE way to get to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ. There is no separation from any of these unless you are not a follower of God. These should be our defining beliefs. These are the important things. Anything else should be of personal conviction and not something that should be forced on to every other person out there. God did not call us to be a cult of people who all believe the exact same thing about every aspect in life. He didn't make us to dress or talk the same, listen to the same kind of music or watch the same TV shows. We are each unique because He MADE US that way. We are each a part of the body of God, and we each have a different gift and way to help others come to HIM.

Things will not always be easy, but God has given us the grace to get through any situation. We will go through battles but we will not be alone. One thing I always try to remember is that God has already won my battles! I don't have to be afraid of rough times in life, because God will go with me through the storm and He will come out ahead of all the rest.

We have a calling, but will we head the call and go forth with the task we have been given?