Discovering What You Are Called To Do

Sometimes ones contributions doesn’t usually get noticed until he is not around to do it. There was a story told of a husband who return home from the office and noticed that his house was in a complete mess. The baby was crying, the dishes were piled up in the sink, the laundry on the floor, the TV was blaring at its loudest pitch, beds were not made, carpets were not vacuumed and dinner wasn’t ready. The house was in a complete state of chaos. He demanded to know what was wrong, his wife said, “You have always asked what I have being doing all day.” I decided not to do them so that you can appreciate what I do days after days which you could not notice. This means that each one should retain their place in life. That doesn’t mean you should not aspire to greater things. It just mean that if you can’t start where you are with what you have, you can start at all.
One day Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who had spent years separated from his family. After being set free, the man wanted to travel with Jesus. But Jesus told him to go back and tell them what has happened to him. In other words, start where you are, use what you have and do what you can. You are the salt of the world. And you know that salt doesn’t exist in its own pleasure. It must be poured on something bigger than itself before its pleasure is appreciated.

But be careful in all of your endeavours, don’t be ego-driven. The quest for significance con be misleading. You can’t do it yourself for yourself , you must do it with God. Ask for his guidance and directives and He will certainly and readily available to help you when the going gets tough.

When God called Moses, He asked him what is in your hand? Moses held up his shepherd’s staff. It represents its livelihood; what he is good at. It represented his income; his flock; his wealth and his family security. God asks everyone that same question. What is it that you have gotten and you are good at. God has given everyone what Dr. Martin Seligman calls ‘signature strengths’. Seligman found that human abilities fall into certain categories. He define them as:
• Wisdom and knowledge (which includes abilities like curiosity, love of learning, sound judgement and social intelligence)
• Courage (perseverance and integrity)
• Humanity (with capacities for kindness and the expression of mercy)
• Justice (the ability to bring about fairness and leadership)
• Temperance (qualities like self control, prudence, humility)
• Transcendence (the appreciation of beauty, the expression of gratitude, the ability of hope and the capacity for joy)

We have the capacity for each of these strengths, but a few resonate deeply in you; they are your ‘signature strengths’. Identify them and begin to understand which of these can harness your rate of productivity in your day to day activities.

Sometimes we think that God couldn’t or wouldn’t use us because of our weakness. No, the opposite is true. No one can speak to those who grieve, better than those who have suffered loss. Chuck Colson was the chief White House lawyer, until Watergate. But it wasn’t until he was a convict that he was prepared to begin prison fellowship. Today, if you let him, God will use you.

Thing To Observe In Identifying Your Calling
1. Your Calling Is Often Connected To What Troubles You Deeply: For Moses it was the oppression of his people. So God used that, and called Moses to lead his people to freedom. For William Wiberforce it was slavery. He devoted his entire life to seeing it eradicated in England, which it finally was shortly before his death. For Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr., it was the injustice of a society that enslaved and oppressed African-Americans. So he dreamed and he preached and he marched and he organized and he boycotted and the Civil Rights Movement was galvanized. If you want to discover your calling, begin with what troubles you deeply. Usually we try to avoid unpleasantness, but if you sensed that your calling involved helping the poor, spend time around those in poverty. Allow yourself to be moved, carry within you the conviction that things must change and commit yourself to be an agent of change.
2. Your Calling Means God Believes In You: When Jesus called His disciples, he did not look for winners. Generally, when people look for followers, they took applications. But not with Jesus. He picked a doctor, a tax collector and fishermen and said, ‘He believe in them’. So whatever you are called to do, you should know that God believes in you.