BY GREG CRUM

“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Romans 11:29

God doesn’t play “take backsies” with His calling on the lives of individuals, nations or ethnic groups. He developed a plan for all our lives individually and for every nation and group of people on this planet collectively before the world as we know it began, and in His infinite wisdom and foresight has never felt the need to revise those callings. God is still on “Plan A” for your life. Are you still following that plan along with Him?

Last week we began to think about how God has a calling for our lives and how there is a plan for each of our lives that is beneficial to the Lord and the building of His Kingdom and that fulfills our own spirit’s pursuit of purpose in life. In totality that plan includes many tasks, missions and stages as we walk through our journey down here on Earth. It’s our life’s work, our individual purpose for being born into this plane of existence. This is what makes knowing our calling one of the most important understandings we can come to in this life.

I guess it is true in theory that someone could live their whole life and fulfill their divine calling without being aware of it. But how much more productive could one be when they know their calling and make life decisions based on their compatibility with that overall plan of God? They could be much more productive and keep themselves from wasting time and talents in fields not sanctioned by the Lord!

Now, last week we also mentioned the struggle that so many have in finding and fulfilling the call of God on their lives. If you’d ask most believers today what their specific call from God is, they would be at a loss for words and only be able to answer you generically, if that.

This shouldn’t be the case. Every mature Christian should be able to communicate what God has called them to do and be in life, specifically and concretely.

Friends, if you are going to be judged by the Lord according to what you did or didn’t do in relation to the calling of God on your life (which you will), don’t you think it is important that you at least know what you should be doing? Of course it is! And that is why the Lord is not trying to hide His calling for your life. He wants you to know so that you can responsibly fulfill your duties.

So, how can we best find the calling of God for our lives? Well, I’ll tell you this: finding God’s calling for us is easier than we’ve made it out to be. You don’t have to fast 40 days and 40 nights to find that calling, and you don’t need to retreat to a mountaintop or have a near-death experience to ascertain this wisdom from God. There’s no “trial of character” that must be completed to solve this riddle. No. God’s calling for an individual is most always in their plain sight.

Brothers and sisters, the call of God on our lives is often best discovered by simply seeing the needs before us and answering those “calls” to fulfill those needs!

Have you ever seen any needs in your local church, in your community or in your family? Maybe you’ve thought or said, “Boy, I wish someone would take care of the facilities better around this church,” or “I sure wish someone would tend to all these crying babies during service!” Or maybe you’ve thought, “I sure wish someone would start up this or that kind of business where people could get good customer service and a quality product nowadays.”

Well, there’s your sign! Many times this is God asking you to fulfill your call! (You thought that was just a discerning eye, didn’t you? Nope, that’s responsibility knocking at your door!)

Friends, so many times the needs we see are trying to point us to God’s call for OUR action, not another’s. It’s God’s voice whispering again and again, telling us what we should do to better His Kingdom and fulfill our purpose on this planet.

Greg Crum is pastor of Calvary Temple Church in Lovely.