“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” (Ephesians 4:1)
Every Jesus follower is called by God into a destiny of unbelievable miracles. That sounds outrageous and ostentatious, but it’s true. Every child of God has been put on this earth to accomplish something through God’s power working within them.
Very few Christians ever experience their God calling because there is a weight that many just can’t handle. Let me explain.
“Worthy” in the Greek means “sufficient weight.” C.S. Lewis spoke of the “weight of God’s glory,” and he had it right. There is a weight to God’s glory, and there is a weight to God’s calling. Paul is speaking of the weight of a vision or calling from God.
The Weight of Responsibility
There is a weight to the walk. The weight of the walk is sufficient to the calling of God on your life. When you know your calling from God, when you have something meaningful to live for, there is an accompanying responsibility. That responsibility is the weight of your calling.
The weight of one’s calling is the pressure we feel as we live out the responsibilities of that calling. In other words, responsibility is the pressure of the calling.
Meaningful Suffering
With every calling there is suffering. Paul could say he was a “prisoner of the Lord” because he knew he was called to bring the gospel to the Gentiles; and because of that calling, he was in prison! Thus, he was a prisoner “of the Lord!” It’s a weight he carried to be in the will of God. It’s a weight we all carry if we know our calling.
When we know our calling and embrace our responsibility, we will suffer. Responsibility is a weight that brings suffering, but it’s a suffering with meaning. Suffering without any meaning is meaningless and horrible. But suffering due to the shouldering of responsibility has meaning.
Jesus said it this way, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) There is a cross to bear, a weighty responsibility, for the call of God. For a man called by God to be a husband and a father, it means taking on the responsibility of a job, of parenting, of caring for his family. But one’s suffering has meaning, it has purpose.
When we take on the weight of God’s calling, we line up with His power and responsibility for our life, and miracles can begin to happen. Take on God’s calling. It’s worth it.
Pastor Steve
