God’s calling is not necessarily like a telegram that
tells me what I get to do in my little world.
Nor is it simply an invitation.
As John Piper says, it is an act of creation!
“…when God looked
forward into history from His standpoint in eternity he did not see free people
using powers of self-determination to believe; he saw people enslaved to sin
and spiritually dead, whose only hope was that the sovereign call of God would
create the faith he commands.”[1]
We are not called to
uncleanness, though our will can choose to go toward uncleanness. But in His holiness, God’s created call is
holy, beckoning our spirit to lead the rest of our body to follow toward
holiness.
The person who rejects this holy calling is rejecting
the very source of faith, and ultimately the giver of life. This is pretty serious stuff to consider when
sin presents its alluring temptations.
How might we respond if it were phrased to us this way: “Come away dear one to my uncleanness. You will find sickness, decay and death both
for your body and your soul.”?
The context of 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 reveals that
this is not referring merely to a one-time conversion experience. It is referring to our daily experience of
walking with God in the world. It is not
just about a one-time blatant rejection of the gospel, but it is about receiving
or rejecting God’s call to us to choose life—daily!
Our relationship
with God is to be a dynamic, daily experience moving us toward His
holiness. It is a cooperative experience
wherein He calls, we respond, He calls, we respond, He calls, we respond…
May we each
understand that today is another opportunity to surrender the thoughts and
intents of our hearts which lead us away from God. Today is another opportunity to receive His
holy call which beckons us toward His holiness, and enables us to daily live
more and more in His holiness.
Read
and Pray: Deuteronomy 30:19-20a, Proverbs
13:14, Isaiah 42:5-9