Many Are Called
Many are called to do great things for God,
but few are chosen to
carry out the call. To walk in the call of God we
must come to our
Lord and put on the garment of holiness without
which none can see the
Lord. Holiness is purity towards God, and
righteousness and integrity
towards others. Our choices made in this world in
which we live
decides if we are chosen for the call. Mt. 22:14.
While on the path of
the call many make choices that will detour them
from the Great
Commission.
The Great Commission is found in Matthew
28:18-20. “ And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power
is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
the world. Amen.”
In the Great Commission Jesus tells believers to
go, teach, baptize,
forgive and make disciples.
Our choices will determine if we will
fulfill the Great
Commission in our lives. Many times choices are
made by emotions,
lusts, or desires instead of wisdom that comes
from the Word of God,
the Bible. Choices that are made from the Word of
God will lead into
good fruit in our lives. Gal 5:22-25. The Bible is
full of people who
made wise choices and wrong choices.
Daniel and his companions, who were
captured and taken to
Babylonia made the choice to follow God at all
costs and not to
participate in anything that took them away from
their godly habit
patterns. Daniel and his friends refused to eat
the King’s rich food
and only desired to eat vegetables. Though the
guard feared at letting
them do that God honored their choice and they
were allowed that
privilege for ten days of testing. The Bible
states “ And at the end
of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and
fatter in flesh
than all the children which did eat the portion of
the king’s meat.”
Da 1:8. God blessed them for their choice. The
Bible says, “And in all
matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king
inquired of them,
he found them ten times better than all the
magicians and astrologers
that were in all his realm.” Da 1:20. This was
only the beginning
choice for Daniel and his friends in their
confinement, but it was the
choice that set them on the path that led them to
fulfill the call on
their lives.
John, the beloved, well aged, was still
called upon to make
godly choices that held hard ramifications for his
life. He had served
God well and he was into his 90’s. John was still
the head elder in
the Ephesus church when for his faith he was
exiled to the prison
island of Patmos. Re 1:9. He didn’t whine, but
held his faith during
his imprisonment. He was given special visions on
that island wrote
the book of Revelation while he was on Patmos. He
came out of that
situation in his mid 90’s and took back up his
same position in
Ephesus. John had made a life long choice to
faithfully follow Jesus
Christ and he completed the call.
Many times people have made ungodly
choices in their
impatience of waiting on the Lord. It takes trust
in God to wait on
Him and not run ahead. This is what God requires
of His called and
chosen people.
King Saul, truly chosen by God to be King
over Israel,
anointed by Samuel, the prophet made a poor choice
to leave the path
of trusting God. God’s Word was clear about
consulting with a witch in
Deuteronomy 18:10-12. “There shall not be found
among you any one that
maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the
fire, or that useth
divination, or an observer of times, or an
enchanter, or a witch, Or a
charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or
a wizard, or a
necromancer. For all that do these things are an
abomination unto the
LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD
thy God doth drive
them out from before thee.” Saul in his impatience
of waiting on God
while facing a battle chose to consult with a
witch and it cost him
his call as King of Israel. I Sam 28:4-7.
Choices are often made out of lustful
desires that bring
havoc into lives of those we love. Samson, the
famous judge over
Israel, made his choice to walk away from the call
by choosing out of
his lust a ungodly woman for his wife. Jg 14:3.
After she was killed
for bringing trouble on her people he went after
the harlot Deliah
that ended his being a judge for Israel. Jg 16:1.
It cost him the call
of being judge, his eyes, his life and brought
many problems to
Israel. Jg 16:21. Samson repented and mercifully
God used Samson once
more in his death. Jg 16:30.
One young man was truly called to do great
things for God. He had
walked faithfully and passionately with Jesus for
many years when he
met a young woman in church. She had given her
heart to Christ, but
clearly remained smitten with areas of the world.
As we were praying
one morning I saw a vision of this young man and
that women. I saw him
with his eyes towards the center of the cross.
Then I saw his eyes and
head turn towards the young woman. She got up and
walked out of the
aisle to leave the church and he followed. I
shared what I saw with
him, but he made the choice to marry that young
woman. What I saw in
that vision is exactly what happened in his life.
There is a difference between the called
(klętoi) and the
chosen (eklektoi) called out from the called.
Among the multitude of
those that are called by the gospel unto holiness
and obedience, very
few obey that call. The way of the call of God is
narrow, as opposite
as the way that leads to destruction is wide. Mt
7:13,14. In this
portion of Scripture in Matthew our Savior makes
the distinction
between the public and private roads. The public
roads in Jerusalem
were allowed to be sixteen cubits broad, the
private ways only four.
Each city had gates with roads or paths. We enter
into the kingdom of
heaven through the strait gate that declares no
one comes to the
Father, but through Jesus Christ. Joh 14:6. After
we enter the gate
leading to eternal life by accepting Jesus Christ
into our hearts we
have a choice of following the narrow path of
holiness or the wide
road of self- indulgence and lukewarmness.
The narrow path is steep, filled with
self sacrifice and cost
with every step. It is a path with many perils
whereas the wide road
is easier, but filled with many more obstacles
that obstruct the call.
The devil looks for every opportunity to ensnare
Christians and he
uses people. Mt 19:3; Mt 19:7. Although there are
many believers, few
on the wide road actually fulfill the call of God
on their lives and
complete their mission on earth.
Jesus holds out to us the way to eternal
life. Once you have
entered the Way your eyes are opened to see the
Kingdom of God. Joh
3:3. His footsteps are still fresh in the written
Word of God, the
Bible. All we have to do is follow. That is much
easier said than
done. The spirit is usually willing, but the flesh
is weak. The Bible
tells us to pray that we may not enter into
temptation. Mt 26:41. The
Bible says that we must strive for the narrow
path. Lu 13:24. We must
leave behind our sins, lusts, worldliness and
worldly pleasures for we
cannot carry them on the narrow path. We should be
serious and earnest
about the business of overcoming our sins. Instead
currently we find
many within the believers who laugh at sins and
make light of them. In
today’s world there are few that actually read
their Bible and know
what sin is.
Following Christ means we must swim against
the stream of the
world. Men search and pervert the Bible for
excuses to indulge in
their sins and throw Christians off of their
beliefs. Christians today
are exposed to many dangers for the time is short
and the devil is
working overtime.
The world is fun, but the end is
spiritual death for those
who fall into the temptations it contains. Evil
habits must be put
off, old friends who walk in sin need to be left
along the road. We
must lift up the name of Jesus and deny ourselves
worldly pleasures
that even the churches are saying we deserve. The
character of Christ
is our wedding garment and all the chosen must
wear it. “And that ye
put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and
true holiness.” Eph 4:22-24. True holiness is a
changed nature.
Holiness comes from the sincere following of “the
truth of God”. (Ro
1:25; 3:7; 15:8). It opposes the lusts of the
flesh. Daily we must
chose to put on Christ as our garment and to stay
covered as we face
temptations. Ga 3:27. The way of the cross is to
crucify the flesh
with its affections, appetites and desires. Gal
5:24.
Every man chooses a way. What way will
you choose? Will you
choose to follow Jesus all the days of your life
to the fullest? I
pray so.
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