"The Call"

November 07, 2019 | By Chuck

This past Tuesday several of my fellow ministers and myself gathered for our monthly preacher’s lunch and meeting. The theme of our discussion was the preacher’s call to ministry. I was so encouraged as I listened intently to my fellow servants of the cross tell of their personal calling to ministry. My mind immediately went back to 1995 when I preached my first sermon. Then I thought about 1996 and preaching in Clarendon, Arkansas. Eventually my mind settled on the call that I received. It was nothing miraculous, no flashing lights or spoken voice, just a strong longing and unsettling desire to preach God’s Word.
Life gets busy, hectic, difficult and even overwhelming at times and it’s easy to forget our calling. Oh I love to preach, but I haven’t been reminded of that burning desire and call to ministry in a long time. Remembering that strong intense passion to preach God’s Word renewed a fire within me to keep doing what I fell in love with so long ago. That simple table discussion with a bunch of preachers rekindled a spark in me. “If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jer.20:9).
I wonder have you forgotten your calling? I’m don’t mean a call to ministry, but there is a call on your life. Have you heard it? Did you answer it? God calls us into a relationship with Him through the gospel of His Son. “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”(II Thess.2:13-14).