By Abi Lasquety Ruelo
“Therefore I, as a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”
-Ephesians 4:1-3
This letter to the Ephesians was written by Paul in a prison cell. But he was not only writing to them. He was writing to all Christians, and that includes you. Who among you has a calling? You probably say that your pastors have a calling. Your worship leaders have a calling too. But you? What are you called for?
The enemy is deceiving you into thinking that you have nothing to do in this world. All you have to do is be good and happy and that is it. That is why so many people do not know who they are and what they are doing here. But the verse tells you otherwise. It tells you to live your life worthy of your calling.
What is your calling? A calling is not just a job that you need to perform or a task that you need to accomplish. First of all, if your calling is from God, you will not be able to do it on your own. If not, then you just need to use your mind and your physical strength to do whatever it is that you need to accomplish. Have you seen those tv commercials that feature stunts and dangerous acts? They have a warning at the bottom that says, “ Do not try this at home,” or “Do not try this without adult supervision.” Your calling is just like that. You should not attempt to do it without the supervision of God and the Holy Spirit.
So what is your calling? You are called to reflect the character and heart of Jesus. Romans 8:29-20 says, “For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son,…and having given them the right standing, He gave them His glory.” Paul said this was all planned; you were chosen to be the image of Jesus in this world. You have to walk the walk and talk the talk in school, at work and everywhere you go. You have to be the Bible that someone does not read. You have to be worthy.
But you are not worthy. Even if you serve in church 7 days a week, you will never be worthy. So how are you going to do it? When you were saved, God made you worthy. But how are you going to live your life worthy of your calling?
In Greek, the word, “worthy,” is “axios” meaning “of equal weight.” Paul is telling you to live your life be of equal weight to your calling. Imagine a balancing scale. On one side is everything that God did in your life. On the other side, you have to balance it out. How? No matter what you do, it will never be enough. God will still outweigh you. So how do you live your life worthy of your calling? How do you respond to failure in a way that is worthy?
Be humble and gentle. Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “I am humble and gentle at heart.” It is so hard; but these two things go side by side. You cannot be humble without being gentle and you cannot be gentle without being humble. If someone hurts you, the natural response of a person is to fight back. But being in humble and gentle in nature stops you from doing just that. You can still look that person in the eye and say, “I forgive you.” But you cannot do this without God’s help. Do not try to be a good Christian on your own. You have to have the Holy Spirit in you, empowering you to do these things. No man can do it, but with God, you can do it. Philippians 4:13 assures you of that. Aiden Tozer once said, “For the Christian, humility is absolutely indispensable. Without it, there can be no self-knowledge, no repentance, no faith and no salvation.” If you accepted God as your personal Lord and Savior, that means you repented of all your sins. That shows humility. You might have that innate nature to have revenge, but it is also natural for you to be humble. Galatians 6:1 says, “Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in a sin, you who live in the spirit should restore him gently.” This sounds wrong in all aspects. You who are wronged should restore the one who hurt you gently? But that is how it works in God’s kingdom. Gentleness is somehow associated with weakness. If you are gentle, you cannot stand up for yourself. But Paul talks about gentleness as the ability to suffer injury without becoming angry or resorting to revenge or becoming bitter. If someone hurts you, sometimes you do not want to have anything to do with them anymore. But Paul urges you to live a life worthy of your calling by being gentle. If you are a Christian, saying sorry should be second nature to you. It is not easy but with God’s help nothing is impossible.
Be patient with each other. They say patience is a virtue. A virtue is defined as moral excellence. If there is a trait that you should possess, then patience should be one of them. In the King James version of the Bible, patience is called long-suffering. When people pray for patience, God does not dump heap loads of patience on them. Instead, He gives them circumstances to exercise it. Patience is the capacity to tolerate or delay trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset. It refers to our response to the failure and mistakes of others. Is it easy not to react? But when you think about it, God has been extending so much patience towards us every single day. Why can’t we extend the same grace to others? Patience is enduring with your temper in tact. The people around us are the ones who can test our patience the most. Our husbands and our children know which buttons to push so that we will react in the most disgusting way. But God can help us to overcome all of this. Proverbs 19:11 says, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook annoffense.” Solomon did not ask God for riches or intelligence. He asked for wisdom. So ask for wisdom from God so that you know what to do at the right time and in the right moment. Patience is not the inability to act. It is merely how you react to situations that are beyond your control. The reason you are not patient is because you are attempting to do it on your own. In your flesh. And in your flesh you always fail. Anything you do on your own is not going to go well. Even Paul said that in his flesh dwells no good thing. But if you bear with one another in love, if you can be patient with one another, then you can live your life of equal weight to your calling.
Be eager to maintain unity. Unity in the spirit includes all believers. Sometimes, Christians are so judgemental about other Christians. It does not matter what version of the Bible they read, what songs they sing or what clothes they wear. What matters is that you were all saved by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross for all your sins and was raised again on the third day. Little things separate the body of Christ. This is the kingdom mentality. You are all joined in spirit. 1 Corinthians 1:10 says, “I appeal to you brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christc that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you. But that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Walk in a manner that is of equal weight to your calling.
You are all called to reflect the image of Jesus here on earth. People will know the difference and they will be attracted to you. The enemy is trying to entrap you with the sins that you have done. And sometimes you believe it! But God knows you as His child. You are not your mistakes. You are not who people say you are. You are who God says you are. Who are you? Do not allow the enemy to steal what God says about you. The Bible says do not be defined by the patterns of this world too. Be defined by who God says you are. God saw you at your worst. He knows you by your worth.