"Before calling has anything to do with doing, it has everything to do with being that essence of yourself that God knew before the foundations of the earth..."
Ruth Haley Barton
Have you heard the quip that we are human beings not human doings? As we look at the idea of calling, the distinction between those two ideas is significant. In the previous post, we looked at calling as: 1. belonging to God - and fully becoming who we are; and, 2. saying "yes" to his summons to serve him.
When we try to say "yes" to God we seem to start on a quest to do for God. So often, in our pursuit to make a difference in the world we become obsessed with accomplishing tasks to answer our call.
Even pastors, or maybe especially this group, fall into that trap. People look to them as spiritual leaders above the tug and pull of everyday life. Yet even in response to a full-time ministry calling, doing can supplant being. The result is a frazzle of activity in pursuit of responding to a genuine call.
In this frenzy to say "yes" by doing things, we often fail to accomplish the essence of the call because we're too busy to spend time with the Caller. If God is the one who calls us then checking in often and spending time being with him ought to be our first priority.
So how are we doing?
I get the concept. Really I do. However, living it is another matter. When I was in full-time ministry I often looked more like a human doing than a human being in the process of answering God's call on my life.
My friend Rita Nussli invited me to read Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. "Thank you Rita!" This book has been a great source of encouragement. In this book Ruth Haley Barton writes that our calling "is first and foremost the calling to be yourself, that self that God created you to be."
Take steps to get there
God is calling each one of us to be the person we were born to be. Can we reconnect with that person? Can we grow to be that person? How do we get there?
It starts with spending time with God. Genuine time in prayer, worship and reading the Bible. Understanding ourselves is also very significant.
At Semper Vita we believe that discovering your true self and God-given wiring is essential to living the life God intended you to live. It's about fulfilling your calling on earth - whether in the church or in the world. It's about being all that God intended you to be reflecting your piece of his glory. After all, each one of us is made in his image.
One way to discover more about your true self is to uncover your basic wiring. Semper Vita's personal discovery training uses the Myers-Briggs assessment to explore personality, the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment to uncover your God-given talents, and a Spiritual Gifts inventory to assess your special skills given to fulfill your assignment in God's Kingdom.
When we try to say "yes" to God we seem to start on a quest to do for God. So often, in our pursuit to make a difference in the world we become obsessed with accomplishing tasks to answer our call.
Even pastors, or maybe especially this group, fall into that trap. People look to them as spiritual leaders above the tug and pull of everyday life. Yet even in response to a full-time ministry calling, doing can supplant being. The result is a frazzle of activity in pursuit of responding to a genuine call.
In this frenzy to say "yes" by doing things, we often fail to accomplish the essence of the call because we're too busy to spend time with the Caller. If God is the one who calls us then checking in often and spending time being with him ought to be our first priority.
So how are we doing?
I get the concept. Really I do. However, living it is another matter. When I was in full-time ministry I often looked more like a human doing than a human being in the process of answering God's call on my life.
My friend Rita Nussli invited me to read Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. "Thank you Rita!" This book has been a great source of encouragement. In this book Ruth Haley Barton writes that our calling "is first and foremost the calling to be yourself, that self that God created you to be."
Take steps to get there
God is calling each one of us to be the person we were born to be. Can we reconnect with that person? Can we grow to be that person? How do we get there?
It starts with spending time with God. Genuine time in prayer, worship and reading the Bible. Understanding ourselves is also very significant.
At Semper Vita we believe that discovering your true self and God-given wiring is essential to living the life God intended you to live. It's about fulfilling your calling on earth - whether in the church or in the world. It's about being all that God intended you to be reflecting your piece of his glory. After all, each one of us is made in his image.
One way to discover more about your true self is to uncover your basic wiring. Semper Vita's personal discovery training uses the Myers-Briggs assessment to explore personality, the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment to uncover your God-given talents, and a Spiritual Gifts inventory to assess your special skills given to fulfill your assignment in God's Kingdom.
