Q4. Gifts and Callings

[Krissi]

How does Paul view his call to preach?

I don't think, after he was blinded and prayed over to be sighted, and more importantly, after he had personal experiences and conversations(?) with Jesus, that Paul ever doubted his own calling. His was an inviolable calling. Set in stone. His future was determined. Of course, he could have walked away from it, and perhaps he was tempted to do so at times, but Paul knew in his core who he had been created to be -- an apostle to the gentiles.

Paul's personality was "all-in" anyway. As a Jew, he cheered for the murder of Christians -- as a Christian, he gave his life.

How much choice is involved for him?

I love how Paul views his own calling as a compulsion. He can't help but to do his calling, the assignment God has for him, one chosen before his conception. He is to church plant. To teach. Specifically, he is to leave the group of his birth, the Jews, to enter into new cultures and peoples in order to bring them the gospel. 

How much honor?

I don't know how to answer this question. Was being an apostle an honor? Of course. But Paul would be comparing his new status as an apostle for Christ to that of his old status as an up-and-coming Pharisee. In the eyes of the world, Paul took a big step down after he submitted to his calling. In the eyes of God, he was obedient.

How should this understanding affect our understanding of God gifting and calling us for ministry?

I cried when I read this section and am wiping away tears now. I desperately want God to clearly call me to a specific role in His kingdom, to give a purpose to my life by receiving a meaningful assignment. 

What is the opposite of faithfulness when it comes to using God's gifts?

The opposite of the faithful-using of God's gifts is not the unfaithful-using of those gifts, but rather NOT using the gifts at all. Often, God calls us to an atypical, unacceptable and difficult life. But for many Christians, to live an ordinary life is the biggest goal that God is allowed to give them. To do no more than what's expected is about as good as it gets, to them. Their gifts lay on the shelf, unused and dusty.

God must hate this mentality. He must look down from His throne in heaven and see human-ants moving incessantly and pointlessly. He must see timid bores who are unresponsive to his calling and unwilling to color outside the lines for Him. He must see cloying conformists. Organization men.

To follow Him means giving up easy and predictable social expectations; it means assuming His expectations for our lives.

The reason why the world isn't evangelized is because most Christians have not taken His great commission seriously -- after all, evangelization isn't as important as driving little Austin to his trombone lesson, buying the perfect dress for your husband's Christmas party or bringing a pretty casserole to the next women's meeting. Priorities, ladies!  /sarc