There are a lot of people who have been called by God to do great things for the Kingdom but they are sitting on their hands. Too many of us live in the shadow of other Christians who seem to have it all together, who are charismatic, who seem so important to God. We have this built-in thing about being star struck with the talented people of this world. We are so busy gawking at the "successful" people that we forget what we are suppose to be doing. Those who are effective workers in the Kingdom do not allow other people to affect what they have been called to do.
We see this in Paul's letter to the Galatians. It may seem rude but Paul was not being rude. He respected people but he didn't overly concern himself with position when it came to his calling:
As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message. (Galatians 2:6)
If you remember from yesterday, Paul had gone to Jerusalem to share his revelation about the gospel of grace. Paul was not awestruck that he was meeting with the great pillars, Peter, James (brother of Jesus) and John. As important as these apostles were, Paul was not about to let their importance diminish his own. Paul knew that appearances are only appearances and God judges the heart. Paul knew his own heart and relationship with God and he knew his calling was separate from these other men. It didn't really matter what they had to say, Paul would continue on his obedience to the Lord.
In fact, as Paul persisted with his revelation and his calling to the Gentiles, he soon discovered that the others also recognize his calling. Sometimes what we are called to is not recognized by others because we do not persevere in it; we hide in the shadows of those who are more established than we are. Yet, there is something fundamentally important for us to recognize. We have to stop making people's callings about personality and get back to focusing on the most important element: God's anointing.
For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. (Galatians 2:8)
There is too much work to be done for us to have people neglecting their calling because they think there are others better qualified. No one is better qualified for your calling than you. We have to stop being awestruck by people's talents and abilities. Just as Jesus is working in them and through them, he is working in you and through you. You have to stop thinking that you don't matter and that you will never be center stage. If anyone is center stage they are in the wrong place. The only one who is suppose to be center stage is Jesus. The rest of us are supporting cast, playing secondary roles to highlight his star performance. However, our roles, our calling, are important because they were given to us by Jesus and God is working through us.
It doesn't matter what you think and what you want to do. It is the Spirit of God who calls us and equips us. Our role is one of obedience, not giving a second thought to whether we can do it or not, or how we will look doing it, or what other people will say. We are important to Jesus and he has been given us a work to do and he needs us to be obedient in doing it. If every Christian in this world would do what we are suppose to do, in obedience to Jesus, the world would be a much different place, all glory to God.
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