Chapter 2: A Life Worthy of Your Calling

Not too long ago I received an email from a woman who attends our church. She’s a beloved mother and grandmother and has been attending with her daughter’s family regularly. She explained in her email that something had happened to her the previous weeks. She had endured a blood clot. A bad one. Thankfully, the moment when she began to get woozy, she was with her husband and they went quickly to the emergency room.

She was immediately admitted. They gave her some medicine and were able to help the blood clot dissipate. From the moment she was admitted to the ER, doctor after doctor and nurse after nurse told her the same thing: “I can’t believe you’re still with us. Medically speaking, you shouldn’t be alive anymore.” 

Can you imagine hearing those words? Maybe you have. I have a vivid memory of some college shenanigans that involved a little racing with cars and getting air when a significantly sized bump in the road surprised me. I had just enough time to slam on the breaks to prevent a significant accident. But the moments that followed and every time I reflect on that moment, I’m struck by the fragility of my life. For whatever reason that one sticks out, but if you’re looking, most of us have no shortage of near-death experiences. 

It’s on the heels of those experiences that we find ourselves asking, ‘Why me?’. That’s what her email was about. The gift of a spared life had come with a heaping pile of pressure to figure out how she was supposed to respond to God’s gift of more life. It was keeping her up at night. She felt the need to ‘do something big for God.’ 

Have you ever felt that pressure? I know I have. Whether we’ve had a brush with death or not, there’s a fairly steady chorus that sings in our hearts and minds: we’re supposed to do something important with our lives. It’s not that we want to be famous, though more and more people have set that as their life goal. It’s that we want to live a life that matters. We all want a life that has a sense of calling and meaning to it. 

Your calling was never meant to be complicated or difficult to figure out

There is something Paul says in Ephesians that has challenged me. Chapter four starts with these words, “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God” (‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬). That phrase, “Worthy of your calling” has been like a pinball lighting up different parts of my pinball machine brain telling me that I’m supposed to make something of my life. Maybe you’ve heard the refrain too? “Do big things for God,” “All in for Jesus,” there’s a list of these phrases. They all point to a principle that’s ingrained itself into our American Christian consciousness: You need to accomplish something important for God. Otherwise, we fear our faith and life won’t really matter. 

There are plenty of reasons why the impulse exists in us to be the ones who do something we believe is important. There are altruistic reasons, like the woman who emailed me, who having been given the gift of more time wants to make the most of it out of gratitude to God. There are people who, having been powerfully impacted by beginning a relationship with Jesus, desire to share that gift with others. There are also reasons that feel a little suspect. Fame, even “Christian fame” is a powerful motivator. We might want to make Jesus famous (which is a fantastic goal), but we wouldn’t mind a little of that fame for ourselves. We all have our reasons for wanting to do something big and important. 

The problem is—that’s not what Paul means when he asks us to live a life worthy of our calling. One of the unfortunate consequences of plucking verses from the Bible for our own encouragement is they’re often plucked right out of the context that indicates their truest meaning. Check out what Paul says immediately after instructing us to live a life worthy of our calling: 

“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.” Ephesians‬ ‭4:2-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It’s ironic really and very Jesus-like to declare to us that we have an important calling and then point to all the ways that we can fulfill that calling by doing very simple, small, and non-flashy things. Humility, gentleness, patience, love, unity, peace, and hope – these are our calling. And each and every one of us is called to live a life worthy of being described with these words. If calling were a college course, this would be Calling 101–the basic and essential components to every Jesus follower’s calling. 

Calling 201 comes a few verses later in chapter 4 of Ephesians. We’ll get to that in a minute, but before we do I want to be very clear about this: your ability to live a life worthy of your calling will fully depend on your ability to master the 101 basics. Like the fundamentals of any sport, you do not become great unless you do the fundamentals well. There’s just no getting around it. Humility, gentleness, patience, and love… are the building blocks of being a person who represents Jesus well. Don’t skip over them. Don’t ever sacrifice them for the purpose of “doing something big for God.” There is no culture war that’s important enough to sacrifice these fundamentals. 

Too many of our Christian leaders have unfortunately modeled for us that you can skip this step and still be “successful”. Except later we all watch as their world comes crashing down–probably because you cannot skip this foundational step.

It’s like playing Shoots and Ladders. Remember that game? If you land on the wrong space, you slide down a shoot (slide) back to an earlier space. The spaces that send you back down the board say that you’ve done something you shouldn’t have—not cleaning your room, throwing a rock through a window—that sort of thing. When you neglect these basic aspects of your calling as a believer in and follower of Jesus, even if it’s in the name of ‘something big for God,’ lights should flash and sirens should sound inside of us. We should catch the next slide back down the board to reassess what happened. The grace of Jesus teaches us that mistakes do not disqualify us from God’s love, but that same grace from Jesus also teaches us that big accomplishments in the name of Jesus don’t earn you points with God—especially when we haven’t gotten calling 101 deep enough into our bones. 

This is not a linear process. There is no graduating from one level of calling to the next. Humility, gentleness, patience, and the like are things that all of us will spend our lifetimes growing and developing in us by the grace of Jesus. 

This is exactly the point: To represent Jesus well, we must spend our lifetime honing these fundamentals. There is no limit to their depth or power. 

Calling 201

When I was in college I took an upper-level philosophy class on an old dead guy named Plotinus. He was a neo-Platonist, which meant, from what I can recall, that he was trying to interpret Plato (the philosopher, not the unique and crazy shapes kids make with the toy Playdough). I took the class because I’d been made aware that Plotinus (the old dead guy who was interpreting Plato–not playdough (that’s a lot of P names!)) had contributed a great deal to the thinking of some of the greatest theologians in Christian history. St. Augustine, in particular, was deeply impacted by his very religious description of ‘The Good’. 

The problem is, while I had taken a number of classes in religion and in philosophy’s least favorite cousin: rhetoric, I had not taken a single entry-level philosophy course. Believe me, when I tell you, it showed! Not only was I out of my league in course content, but the class was also filled with some of the most brilliant students in the school. 

I was prideful enough at the time to think I could just jump in and be fine. The professor was kind, rewarding my effort with a decent grade, but the content of the papers I wrote was not deserving of the grade he gave me. 

I took that course because it looked exciting to me. I didn’t think skipping Philosophy 101 would matter. As it turns out, it mattered a lot. 

When Christians skip ahead to calling 201 without first taking the time to at least begin developing the pieces of calling 101, they do themselves a disservice. Calling 201 is sexier. It’s exciting. There’s recognition more readily available to those living out the second level of calling, but I’ve witnessed far too many people’s outward expressions of their calling crumble without the foundation we’re first called to grow. 

Now, you’re probably wondering, what in the world is calling 201? It’s what comes next in Ephesians chapter 4: 

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Ephesians‬ ‭4:11-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Whenever I talk with people about calling, the first topic we often cover is their job. Am I called to become an electrician, or a construction worker, or a CEO, or a stay-at-home parent, or fill in the blank…? It’s natural and I get it. Our work matters to us and we spend a lot of time doing it so we should absolutely make it count. It’s also almost Biblical. The gifts Jesus gives us through his Holy Spirit are mentioned throughout the New Testament of the Bible. Paul mentions a few of them here—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. There are several others mentioned elsewhere, like the spiritual gifts of prophecy, serving, leadership, hospitality, speaking in a different language (tongues), interpretation, and more. God has indeed called every one of us to live a life worthy of our calling and that includes using the gifts he’s given us. That might even mean a very particular job. 

Calling 201 is all about using your gifts, but it’s about more than just using your gifts. It’s about using your gifts for a purpose. If you look through those verses again, Paul says far more about the purpose of God’s gifts than he does about the gifts themselves. Here’s what I see when I read through those verses: The gifts God gives are for the purpose of equipping us to do every good work. They should promote unity in the church as well as maturity. These gifts should lead us to speak the truth in love and help others grow so the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. 

Paul says these gifts are given to help the church measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ. We’re to grow more like Jesus. In short, we are to use these gifts to represent Jesus well. 

By all means, pray and ask God what you should spend your days doing. Ask for direction on which job to take, and what your major should be in college (maybe you’ll choose philosophy?). Ask God where you should live and what kind of community you should be part of. By all means, ask God to lead these areas of your life. But ask knowing that more important than the ‘what’ is the ‘how’ and the ‘for what purpose’. We are called to represent Jesus well in all things with the foundation of calling 101 and the purpose of calling 201. 

It’s 9 AM somewhere.

There’s that song with the famous lyrics, “Sometimes you wanna go, where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you came.” Those lyrics are from the Cheers theme song: Everybody Knows Your Name. Cheers is a show about a crew of people who frequent the bar called Cheers. As you watch the show, you find out they’re really just a messy family and the theme song rings true. Some days the best place to be is the place where you feel known and you feel safe. Where everyone knows your name and they’re glad you came. I only caught the show a few times, but those lyrics pop into my head more often than most. They rattle around in my head because they’re catchy and because they’re true. 

That place is different for different people. For some, it’s the bar (it’s 5 O’clock somewhere…). For others, it’s a particular restaurant or coffee shop. It might be the gym for you. If you live in a small town like I do, it could be basically anywhere in town.  

For me, that place is every Sunday morning from 9 AM until Noon at 1 Westgate Dr in Ripon, WI. I know I took it for granted, but ever since 2020 when Covid hit, I marvel at it every weekend. 

There’s the grandmother who gives big hugs and smiles a slightly nervous smile that betrays her old shy tendencies. She’s a force of welcoming that ensures the place feels more like home than the stuffy church you may have grown up in. There’s the gentleman who just recently became a follower of Jesus. He prayed with me in my office to ask Jesus to lead his life and now he’s there every weekend, often shaking hands and handing out bulletins. I catch him when I can, to hear how things are going. He recently fell while doing a construction project and I could tell the recovery wasn’t easy, but he was here and I think Sundays and Jesus helped him get to the other side. There’s the friend of mine who runs our live video. I love hearing him talk about his wife and kids. He and his wife have a blended family and to hear him talk about the way she holds the family together… you can feel the gratitude radiating off from him. There’s person after person after person… and as I think about each of these people (and the list goes on and on) who have become so dear to me, I’m struck by this feeling in my stomach, this emotion that makes my eyes water. Maybe it’s gratitude? 

I get to write these words because they’ve shown me what it looks like to live a life worthy of Jesus’ call on our lives. And every Sunday we get together to worship and sing. We get together to be corrected and encouraged. To share Communion or hear a story of God’s work in someone’s life. We live out our calling on Sunday mornings through serving and sharing and smiling and shaking hands and giving hugs. But it doesn’t stop at the doors. It starts here and then we leave this place and head out into the world with the expressed purpose of representing Jesus well to a world that needs someone to know their name. A world that needs someone to be glad they came. 

When I received that email from the grandmother who wanted to know her purpose after having a near-death experience, it reminded me how much we, as humans, have this deep desire to have a purpose. To have meaning. To do something that really matters. It also reminded me that we live in a world that needs people just like her. A world that needs grandmothers who love their grandkids with extra patience, focused love, and wisdom their grandkids can grow to see is an extension of God’s love. 

It doesn’t have to be loud. In fact, it’s often better when it’s quiet. It doesn’t have to seem big, some of the biggest differences people can make happen through the smallest acts. You’re called to offer what God has given you and what God is forming in you through Jesus to the world. Don’t miss the daily chances to live this calling because you spent the time looking for something bigger.