God Hunger – Meditations For A Life Of LongingSample

Called To Purpose

God has called each of us with a specific purpose and given us the grace necessary to fulfil it. Some people speak about the subject of “calling” as though it is very mysterious and difficult to discover. Not so, because the Bible is very clear about our fundamental purpose on earth.

Thomas Merton wrote, “Before the Lord wills me to do anything, He first of all wills me to ‘be.’ What I do must depend on what I am.” First and foremost God has predestined us to conform to the image and likeness of His Son, Jesus (Romans 8:29). “Success isn’t a place to reach, but a state of being,” writes Steve Backlund. Alongside this, God has set in a place a “prosperous” plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11) and preordained our days (Psalm 139:16).

A recent piece of research from medical practitioners indicated that the majority of their patients suffered from a profound lack of purpose in their lives. In other words, apart from continuing to do the expected things – family, work, social life – their lives had no overarching goal; their goals were pretty meaningless. This in turn had an effect on their health and wellbeing. We realize from the Bible, however, that God has given each of us the opportunity to walk in His perfect plan for our life, bringing heaven to earth and living purposefully.

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Romans 8:15-16)

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) This means that our primary calling is rooted in our identity – to become a beloved child of God. Rooted in that place of love and acceptance, we are given the “greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:38) to worship and love God with every breath we breathe. Only then can we begin to fulfil the second great command to love our neighbor as ourselves.

If you are searching for your “calling”, focus on the high calling of loving God and enjoying Him forever.