"I am not called." I am not called?

Last night I went to post this, but then realized that what I wanted to post was in a book in our kids room.  So, I am posting a lengthy section from a book I am currently reading.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  Sorry, it is a long read....but good stuff! Enjoy.

"I wonder if we have in some ways intentionally and in other ways unknowingly erected lines of defense against the global purpose God has for our lives.  It's not uncommon to hear Christians say, 'Well, not everyone is called to foreign missions' or more specifically, 'I am not called to foreign missions.'

When we say this we are usually referring to foreign missions as an optional program in the church for a faithful few who apparently are called to that.  In this mind set, missions is a compartmentalized program of the church, and select folks are good at missions and passionate about missions.  Meanwhile ,the rest of us are willing to watch the missions slide shows when the missionary comes home, but in the end God has just not called most of us to do this missions thing.

But where in the Bible is missions ever identified as an optional program in the church?  We have just seen that we were all created by God, saved from our sins, and blessed by God to make His glory known in all the world.  Indeed, Jesus himself has not merely called us to go to all nations; he has created us and commanded us to go to all nations.  We have taken this command and reduced it to a calling--something that only a few people receive.

I find it interesting that we don't do this with other words from Jesus. We take Jesus' command in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nations and we say, 'that means other people.' But we look at Jesus command in Matt. 11:28 "come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." and we say,'Now that means me.' (same with Acts 1:8 and John 10:10)

In the process we have unnecessarily and unbiblically drawn a line of distinction, assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity for us all.  In this way we choose to send off other people to carry out the global purpose of Christianity while the rest of us sit back because we're "just not called."

Now, we know that each of us has different gifts, different skills, different passions, different callings from God.  God has gifted you and me in different ways. This was undoubtedly the case with the disciples.  However, each follower of Christ in NT, regardless of his or her calling, was intended to take up the mantle of proclaiming the gospel to the end of the earth.  That's the reason why He gave each of them His Spirit and why He gave them all the same plan: make disciples of all nations.

In Romans 1:14-15, Paul talks about being a debtor to the nations. He literally says, 'I am in debt to Jews and Gentiles.'  The language is profound.  Paul is saying that he owed a debt to every lost person on the face of the planet.  Because he is owned by Christ, he owes Christ to the world.

Encompassed with this debt, though, in our contemporary approach to missions, we have subtly taken ourselves out from under the weight of a lost and dying world, wrung our hands in pious concern and said, 'I'm sorry. I'm just not called to that."

The result is tragic.  A majority of individuals supposedly saved from eternal damnation by the gospel are now sitting back and making excuses for not sharing that gospel with the rest of the world.  But what if we don't sit back and wait for a call to foreign missions?  What if the very reason we have breath is because we have been saved for a global mission?

And what if anything less than passionate involvement in global mission is actually selling God short by frustrating the very purpose for which he created us?"

Radical by David Platt

I was one of those people who always thought only some were called to missions.  But when I read this I realized that I was not having a biblical mindset.  We all should be involved in spreading the gospel globally in some way.  This section spoke volumes to my heart.  What are your thoughts?

Ask yourself this, "How can I lead my life, my family and my job, etc for God's glory in my home town and around the world?"