Tag: Calling

The Narrow Gate

This is a reflection on the calling to be a missionary. This reflection is meant for those discerning for Full Time Pastoral Work.

God’s call for you is very unique. It is how the Lord calls. It is very personal to you. Ordinary to others, extraordinary to you. The more you reflect on it, the more you realize how the Lord has moved the universe in all its precision and accuracy to capture your attention.

That is how much the Lord knows you. He will pluck the right chords to capture your attention.

Your calling is like passing through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14), it is narrow because the opening that leads to life is meant for you. Distractions abound and the gate to other things is wide open, but it is only when you pass the narrow gate will the call will bring you to life.

How is God calling you? How is God using the things that you find awesome and life changing, but ordinary to others?

Lord, may I be sensitive to Your call for me. Like Mama Mary, let me answer You with my full yes. Amen.

Our Call

“You are called to holiness.

That may mean that you are a nun or a lawyer. You may be a mother or a single professional. But God’s will for your life is the same: holiness, no matter who you are. That is why we are created. We are created to be holy in love, in love with God, in love with other people, and in love with the community of believers. That’s what we are all destined for – holiness in love.

When you suffer, you are being conformed to the image of Jesus. When you pray, you are being made holy in the image of Jesus. When you quietly serve a person in need, you are being shaped into the image of Jesus. When you generously give, your heart is being remade into the image of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.”

– Allen Hunt, Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor

Called to Love

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”    – John 15:11-13

I used to believe that love was always being on a person’s side. To stand by them and support them in all that they did. I thought you were supposed to protect that person from getting hurt, from any pain or sorrow.

But the more I grow in my faith the more I realize that my previous definition of love wasn’t love. I was babying the people I was called to love. I was treating them like infants. When you raise a child you can’t constantly treat them as if they can’t take care of themselves. You have to teach them. You have to guide them in the right direction. You have to lovingly correct their wrongdoings. You have to make known their faults so that they can become better. Love is more than protection. Love is wanting the betterment of others. And in our faith, love is doing whatever you can to get that person into heaven.

And in my quest and calling to love, I’ve come to realize that it is not easy. People fight back. People get angry and upset. People make you feel like you’re wrong, like you’re stupid. But I’ve come to know that I must suffer if I am to do the Lord’s work. To build up the fire inside someone, I’ll have to get burned. But it hurts. And it is discouraging. But it strengthens my faith. And when it gets tough, when my heart is failing, I can hear my God speaking to me:

“If the world hates you, realize it hated me first.”    – John 15:18