Monday, April 28, 2008

• Exerpt from "When God Guides" by Denis Lane

  God's primary aim for His people is to educate them for eternal life. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. He wants to make us like Christ. While therefore we may be concerned with the end result of His guidance, He is often more concerned with the teaching He can give to us in the process. For example, we are very concerned about the kind of work we shall be doing in our life. God may be more concerned with teaching us to depend on Him and to be paitient in doing so. What we see as frustrating delays in hearing about our job may be the very tools that He is using to develop patience in us.

  There is on other preliminary question which is important to deal with, because there is so much misunderstanding about it - the use of the world "call." We hear people say that the Lord has "called" them to do something, and frequently it is in connection with a call to so-called full-time service like being a missionary or a pastor.

  In the Bible, the word "call" usually applies to the call of God to follow Jesus Christ. This is much broader than a call to a particular ministry, and it does away immediately with the idea that there are two kinds of Christians operating at two different levels. In 1 Corinthians 7:20 Paul say, "Each one should remain in the sutation which he was in when God called him." "Call" here is clearly a call to follow Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to say, "Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you." In other words, it is possible to be as good a Christian as a slave as in any other occupation. When a person becomes a Christian he often feels that he wants to give up his present work and serve the Lord "wholly." Paul is indicating that one can give wholehearted service while continuing one's present occupation. However, he goes on to say, "If you can gain your freedom do so." He is not recommending a passive acceptance of our fate, or the necessity to continue in our present occupation. He says that a Christian is free to take advantage of a better situation if that becomes available. The important point is that whether he is a free person or a slave, he is the Lord's slave and the Lord's free person. In fact he concludes "you were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men."

  By confing the word "call" to people set apart by God for particular ministries we not only imply that there are two levels of Christian but we also encourage those in the "second level" to feel that they can get away with a lower level of dedication and obedience. Once we realize that the fundamental call in the Bible is to follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, all of us are subject to the same conditions of discipleship, and we all recognize that God has the right to ask us to go anywhere or to do anything at any time He chooses. How he directs us to serve no more related to the level of our Christian experience or dedication than does the colour of our hair. As Christians, we are all called to serve the Lord, some in one place and some in another, some on one occupation and others in another.

  How then can we know God's will, and what are the principles upon which His guidance operates? I would like to trace some principles from the Acts of the Apostles, and particularly from chapter ten which records how Peter was sent to preach to Cornelius the Roman centurion. These principles will be found worked out in the lives of the people in this book. Fortunately the Lord knows us as individual p[eople and deal with us as such, and that is what makes the stories of His guiding hand so interesting.

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