When asked why I was going on the World Race, I often found myself saying that I felt called to do so. I asked God to lead me on the path He intended for me, and I heard/felt Him calling me down the road to this adventure. In the Christian world of missions and outreach, regardless if it’s local or international, it’s common to hear a person talk about his or her calling, referring to his/her work or ministry. Until recently, I hadn’t realized the inherent problem of following our “calling”. In actuality, we should be emphasizing the “Caller” and not the calling. In his book The Call, Os Guiness says, “We are not primarily called to do something [such as teaching, politics, preaching] or go somewhere [such as the inner city or the remote villages of Africa]; we are called to Someone [God].” Further, he says, “There is no calling unless there is a Caller.”
This is important to differentiate because it is easy to follow our calling and get so caught up in it that we forget He whom called us to it. Persistently pursuing our calling over our Caller can be troublesome because then we become more devoted to something than we are to God. Throughout the Bible, we are reminded to be cautious and to not fall victim to idolatry. “Be careful to not forget the covenant of the Lord your God that He made with you, and make an idol for yourselves … For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:23-24). The Bible, however, clearly supports our call to the person of God: “You are among those who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. God loves you dearly, and he has called you to be his very own people” (Romans 1:6-7).
In seeking to live out our calling, we can forget that the best way to do so is to stay connected to the Caller – God. It’s important to make sure that our perspective doesn’t shift from Caller to calling. Our calling shouldn’t take priority over our personal alone time with God, the Caller. Our tasks and assignments cannot become more important than our relationship with God. Ultimately, God is the lover of our souls, and He wants time with us. He should be more important than what he called us to do. This was something I had to remind myself because I can get so caught up in doing ministry that I place more emphasis on ministry work with and for others than on my personal relationship with God. My time spent pursuing my Caller seems to come second to following my calling to do His work. I now have a better understanding that I should pursue God first, then my calling, what He has called me to do. It’s definitely an adjustment for me, but I know that it will only help me achieve that much more. Just as I quoted earlier, “There is no calling unless there is a Caller.” I can’t fulfill what God has called me to do without recognizing him as the Caller.
So when providing my reasoning for going on the World Race, I ought to explain that I’m living out my calling provided to me by God. God called us, Christians, to follow him and to go out into the world, into the nations, and to make disciples of men and women. I wasn’t called to go on the World Race. I am called to God, thus I am pursuing Him and his desires for me. By being here, on this adventure, I am living out the calling God, my Caller, gave me.
