God’s Call & Mission for You
What desire for ministry has God given you? When I was in my early twenties I had a very specific desire, or calling, for ministry. "To use basketball to reach black, inner-city boys with the Gospel of Christ". This desire carried me through twenty-fine years of full time ministry. Today God has given me a new desire: to do men’s ministry and writing devotions.
Paul starts every letter that he writes by saying who he is called to be. In 2 Timothy he starts with, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God". He is writing this from prison in Rome. This is the second time he has been imprisoned there. Following what was probably his fourth missionary trip, he returned to Rome and was arrested and put in chains in a dungeon.
During Paul’s other missionary trips we know that he suffered much for his service to our Lord. He was beaten, stoned, flogged, imprisoned, ship wrecked, falsely accused and many of those with him deserted him in the process. Yet, he continued to be faithful to God’s call and mission on his life.
With all of these struggles and hardships it would be easy to lose your faith. It would be easy to wonder why bother. It would be easy to feel sorry for yourself and give up on your calling and mission. But from his dungeon, in chains, he sat and wrote this letter to Timothy.
Most likely, most of us will not suffer for Jesus the way that Paul did. But we need to have the same resolve to go through life running the race and finishing well. For Paul this resolve began with his calling and his mission. But it didn’t end there.
Paul wrote, "This is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day". For Paul, the most important thing was knowing and trusting who called him to ministry - Jesus.
What is God’s call and mission for you? What desire for ministry has He given you? What gifts and abilities has He given you to use for His purposes? But most importantly, how well do you know him? Do you know him well enough that you could say with Paul, "I know whom I have believed and trust him even during the hard times".
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20timothy%201:1-14&version=NIV;MSG
http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/2Tim.1.1-2Tim.1.14
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