Accept HIs Call!

There can be no question that God wants us to turn our lives around. But this leads some of us to another question, why? Why is it necessary to change anything about our approach to life and how we respond to its’ issues? Well, if you are living the dream and feeling fulfilled, then changing your approach to life may not be necessary, but if you have the nagging sensation that life was meant to be more, change is more of a necessity than you could ever imagine. Discomfort is the calling card for change, and when there’s a deep level of turbulence in our souls, it means there’s a message we need to receive, and it’s not getting through. Life isn’t perfect and neither are we, but God created life to serve the purpose of His love. The further we move away from this, the more disconnected we are from Him and the person we are meant to be.

Romans 8:28 affirms that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. If the Creator of the universe calls you for His purpose, common sense would have it that the best bet is to heed that call. The last thing any of us should ever want to do is hang up the phone when God is on the line. But the sad truth is that most people don’t pick up the call; they ignore it.

Proverbs 4:7(NKJV) tells us, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” Wisdom is fundamental in building a quality life, and the Source of all wisdom is God and His Word. We can’t make sense of our lives without the Father’s help. Ephesians 1:4-5 says that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He knew about us long before we passed through our mother’s womb, and the extraordinary confidence booster is knowing that He’s predestined us for adoption. He knew that humanity on a whole would not use the gift of free-will the way He intended. Most people have not chosen to align their wills with His Will, but for those of us that have made the choice to get on board with His agenda, we can be confident that God knew we would.

Heavenly Father adopted us through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And although it is almost too good to imagine, God has also given us all the rights and privileges of our Big Brother. God did this because it is what pleased Him. He didn’t have to do it, but because of His overwhelming love, He’s united every believer together with Christ. After Adam and Eve messed up big time, God could have said, “That’s it! I’m going back to the drawing board and creating a new batch!” He didn’t do this. As a matter of fact, He knew all along that Adam and Eve would yield to the devil’s tricks. Did God prevent them from betraying Him through their disobedience? Did He knock that ol’ apple out of Eve’s hand? No! God is love, and through Adam’s and Eve’s colossal mistake, He demonstrated to us how love behaves. Love doesn’t force, imprison, or restrict choices. Love offers liberty and light.

Adam and Eve were given access to every good thing anyone can imagine, but they were lied to by the devil and chose to believe a lie over the truth of God’s Word. And because they began to doubt God, they yielded to temptation, died spiritually, and lost everything. But even though they made a big whammy of a mess, Heavenly Father looked at Adam and Eve and saw the finished work of Christ. He saw in them the masterpiece of what all of us would ultimately become.

Making sense of our lives requires us to know that we are indeed works in progress. We’re predestined by God and although the work of our transformation has been completed by Christ, we all have quite a ways to go when it comes to wearing his transformative work like a second skin. Ephesians 4:22(NLT) tells us, “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.” Most of us do this slowly, bit by bit—getting rid of that old dead skin of bad attitudes and behaviors a smidgen at a time. Heavenly Father has woven clues through our environment that are designed to wake us up—to tell us that it’s time for another spiritual growth spurt, and if we don’t pay attention, we’ll head in a dangerous direction. This is the information from our spirits that most are ignoring. We have an inner sense that something isn’t right, and we feel that the tone and texture of our existence is out of alignment, but we dismiss these warnings as sadness or an off day.

Most people were not taught that we can experience the Divine—that we can encounter Him in all His bliss. And because we haven’t been taught this, we misinterpret our hunger for this connection as one for the physical rather than the spiritual. Heavenly Father wants us to recognize that He desires a relationship with each of us, and this relationship isn’t based on us being perfect, because we’re not. He desires to help us on this spiritual journey in Christ. Adam and Eve closed the door, but Jesus Christ opened it for us. But we must be extremely cautious in this hour, because the door will not always be open. Luke 13:25(NLT) reminds us, “When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!' But he will reply, ‘I don't know you or where you come from.'” The Lord is so gracious. He is willing to help us turn our lives around, and the most loving and important thing we can do for ourselves is to accept His call. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“Accept His Call!” by Alexandra Copeland. Copyright© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.