As Christians we are told from Sunday school on is that we are "called" to do the will of God. I was always taught that our lives are purposed to live for him. I used to picture myself in some Indiana Jones type scenario searching for my calling, evading the enemy on a seemingly endless quest for my calling. I know it seems funny now, but it was just as real to me as anything in my life. I really wanted to know what God had called me to do, what my so-called purpose in life could be.
As the years progressed, the "game" aspect of my search ended and it took on a much more serious tone. I really sought to find the answers to such questions, I deeply desired to know my calling. After all Peter exhorted that we "give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall" (II Pet. 1:10). So I searched.
Though my quest has not yet ended and I suppose it never will, like the alter ego of my youth, I have found some amazing clues that keep me on the trail. One such aspect is the "call to virtue" in the life we lead for Christ. We are the living epistles of Jesus Christ read of all men [II Cor. 3:2]. Therefore we are advised that God "hath called us to glory and virtue" (II Pet. 1:3). Yet what is virtue? According to Webster's 1828 Dictionary virtue is "Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law." To me the line that best describes the meaning of the word is: the abstaining from vice. If we seek to have virtue, we must abstain from those things that are sinful and destructive to both body and soul. These vices are what separate us from the ultimate "calling of God." They distract us and, in some cases, blind us to what we are to do in the Kingdom of God. Perhaps we can preform some duties and even minister to some extent, but we will never be able to find "the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:14)
I cannot speak for everyone, but I can for me. As for me I shall endeavor to not only run my race, but also finish my quest. I shall, by the grace and through the name of Jesus Christ, "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." (Heb. 12:1,2) |
