Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Everyone is called to be a child of God. Some people respond to that calling, and some don’t. However, each person’s calling is also unique. To put it in physical terms, I was called to be a child of Max and Dottie Garrott, but that calling was to be their second son and their fourth child; I did not receive the same calling as my brother or either of my sisters. I did not receive the identical genetic package as any of my siblings, and there were differences in family circumstances for each of us as we were growing up, not to mention the difference birth order makes. In the same way, every child of God has a different calling, even though we have some common points for all and many other common points between any two individuals. Living appropriately to the calling we have received means two things, primarily. First, it means living in reverent, grateful appreciation for God’s grace in calling us and giving us a Savior in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is common among all children of God, though some take their salvation for granted and fail to live up to it. The second thing it means is that we aren’t to be living identically to our neighbor, because our callings are different. If I am living appropriately to the calling I have received, I won’t be doing exactly the same things you will be doing, and vice versa. This is where our tendency to compare ourselves with each other creates problems. We are quick to feel either superior or inferior to others by comparison. Sometimes those differences are real, and show us areas in which we need to grow, but more often they simply indicate differences in calling. Our task as God’s children is to gain more and more understanding of our various callings, and each fulfill his own calling in faithfulness.

As a pastor, part of my calling is to come alongside other children of God and help them recognize their calling and how to walk in it. (This is what it’s talking about in verse 12.) That’s not easy! I need the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit each step of the way. One thing that makes it awkward from my viewpoint is that I am still growing in my own grasp and application of my own calling, so I don’t have an exalted position from which to make pronouncements. Rather, as someone who has traveled a bit further down the road than some others, I am to share the grace that has been poured out on me. This whole issue of maintaining unity through recognizing that we aren’t supposed to have uniformity has been quite a problem, as I’m sure it is for most churches. I am certainly in learning mode here! I have tried to help people understand differences in gifting, which produce differences in function, but it has been an uphill battle indeed. I must not give up, but seek to let the Holy Spirit through me reveal to each one their value in the eyes of God, as well as the life to which He has called them, so that we will be done with rivalry, jealousy, resentment, and all of that, to be the church God wants us to be, for His glory.

Father, the entire letter to the Ephesians is so rich, and I want to instill every bit of it into the believers! Help me be submitted and obedient to You in what You want me to say when, so that together we may grow as you desire and intend, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!