For some reason tonight my mind was flooded with questions about God's calling on people's lives. I asked a couple people and then did a lot of praying, researching, reading and thinking. I blogged as I did it so here it is...feel free to comment and add your own imput. There are still questions I have that are unanswered but I think I found the answers to the main questions that will allow me to sleep tonight. I could be very wrong on all of this so if you feel differently please comment and share your thoughts, I am still looking for the answers.
Do you ever wonder if God has called every single person to live some crazy awesome and influential life or if he only chooses certain people? Because if he does have that plan for everyone then there wouldn't be any ordinary people. And if there were no ordinary people how would you know what is extraordinary because that's how everyone lives? So does God have favorites and calls some to extraordinary lives and some to just ordinary? Or does he call everyone but only some except?
What is the difference between being called and being chosen? If only some are chosen does that mean God loves the chosen more? Does God have favorites?
Matthew 22:14 says "For many are called but few are chosen." As soon as I thought I had grasped that sentence I read it in context and now I am lost. I will come back to that later...
Who is Paul talking to/about in Romans 8:29 when it says
"For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brother and sisters. And having chosen them he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave the his glory."
Who exactly are God's people? Is it just the Israelites? Is it anyone who accepts his Son? Is he just talking to the Romans and not really to us now?
How do you tell when reading the Bible if when the writer is saying things like, I have chosen you, I have set you apart, go and do this or that; how do you know if he is talking to you particularly or if he was only talking to the people the book was originally written for?
"God has such an amazing calling on your life and he's going to use you to do things more incredible than you can imagine!"
Ever heard that before? Is that just the latest Christianese saying or do the people that say this actually know for a fact that this is true? Or maybe they are just trying to speak it into existence. I don't know about you but I can imagine some pretty crazy and incredible things. If God's call on my life involves things greater than I can imagine, along with all the other people in the world that have been told that...thats gonna be a lot of incredible callings. If everyone in the world is called to do incredible things then who are they going to impact if everyone is impacting?
If it is true and God has bigger things planned for me than I could ever imagine, why me? I'm sure there are plenty of other people in the world that want to be called to something great, want to live an extraordinary life. Why would I get chosen for that? Why can't more people experience and do the things I have gotten to experience and do and will do and will experience?
God has to call some people to greater things than others. But how is that determined? And does that mean he loves those people more? Why do those people get to have the cool callings?
Romans 9:20-21
"Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created , "Why have you made me like this?" When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?" - ouch
So is it wrong to ask God why he created you the way he did? To ask why he called you to one thing and didn't call someone else?
1 Corinthians 12:12-31 talks about the body of Christ and how it has many parts but is one body. And I think what it's saying is that just because you may be a foot and not an eye (or a soccer mom and not a missionary) doesn't mean you are not important. Because if the body didn't have feet then it wouldn't get anywhere (or if there were no soccer moms then the kids that are supposed to grow up to be missionaries would never be raised the way they need to be) In verse 17 it says that if the whole body were an eye then how would it hear? (If every Christian decided to be a missionary then how would they have support for their ministry?)
So we are all called to something. God has us all called to be a part of the body. But we can't all be the mouth or the eyes or the parts we might think are important. The real question is, can you learn to be happy with and live out to the fullest being a knee cap and not the head?
I could be wrong but I would think that if God called you to be a part of his body he would put the desire for that part in you. Maybe not at first but if you trusted him and worked at that part you would realize it's what you've wanted all along.
Romans 12:6
"In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well."
I understand a little more what Paul meant when he wrote, "How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice" - Romans 11:33-34
That was thought vomit spilled out in a ridiculously long blog. I feel better getting it out though so whether you actually read all that or not at least I feel a little better lol
Now I need to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day. Another chance to try and understand this wonderfully, genuisly *yet sometimes frustratingly confusing* book that is God's Word.
zzzzzzz....
4 comments:
Dude good stuff. What you have hit on is the age old struggle between Calvinism and Arminianism; the struggle between Pre-Destination and Free Will. Going a step further I would have to ask does he predestin some for heaven and others to hell? If he knows all then he knows if we are going to choose him or not and why would he even put us here if he knew that we wouldnt choose him and if he puts us here knowing that we arent going to choose him then how can he be ALL good? Its all very confusing. Know that none of these questions are foundational just something fun to kick around and play with.
Calvinism has a model- Tulip.
T- Total Depravity. We cant save ourselves, we are in a pit, we have no say in the matter, we cant choose. God chooses us.
U- Unconditional Election. God chooses us because He is God. We are low.
L- Limited atonement. Christ did not die for all only the elect.
I- Irresistable grace. You cant resist God. If he chooses you, you cant say no.
P- Perseverance of the Saints. You can not loose your salvation. If you claim to know God and then walk away from him it means that you were never saved to begin with.
Arminianism has a rebuttle to each of these and is typically the way that most non-denom churches lean toward.
1. We can come to God. We have a God shaped hole inside of us.
2. God chose us because he knew that we would chose him.
3. Christ died for all!
4. Grace is resistable- you can resist him (free will)
5. Yes you can lose salvation you can come into the knowledge of him and choose to reject him
Okay now i would just like to say that there is scripture to back up each one of the claims in Calvinism and Arminianism. I would have to say yes to both sides and the truth of the matter is is the bible doesnt say it clearly. You have to use interpretation and deduction of the scripture. In some places it almost seems like it contradicts itself.
Fun stuff to think about.
love you!
What brittany says is somewhat there and is certainly interesting to toss around, but I read it from a different perspective. Specifically, the called from brittany being called to be saved and go to heaven. The called i get from you is more "I am saved and i am called to be the next billy graham". I just want to throw my thoughts out more from that angle real quick.
I think the body of christ deal sums up most of your questions nicely like you said at the end. It really is more a matter of learing to live with it and hopefully enjoying it. I know I am called to lead worship and I love it.
Matt 22:14 is a confusing verse indeed. The parable I can understand but I don't fully understand where the comment about called and chosen came from or how it really relates to that parable. Basically the king invited everyone because the jews didnt accept his invitation. the interesting thing about that is that they were made to come as they were and thus they had to have been given the wedding garments. this man who was kicked out must not have not taken them. The man never accepted the gift he was offered. Now the only solution for v14 is that God only chooses those who choose to accept his gift of jesus christ. I dont know if that is right though but its all I got.
I have no comment on Rom 8:29. that is one of the backbones of the Calvinist argument. The way that it is interpreted is that God only saves the ones he chose. The rest will burn in hell and that has been decided since the dawn of time. I don't agree, but I also don't know what it means otherwise.
I would say learning to hear his voice for you and to discern that is how you know whether or not God is pointing a verse at you specifically. I think he uses that but I know it is hard for me to know that too. If you get the same message from several different sources or keep hearing the verse repeated I usually take that as being significant.
I do think that phrase is often just christianese. I know I have used it and had no idea if it was true or not. I have also had it said to me by people I know had no clue. On the other hand I HAVE had it said to me by a very prophetic man during a prayer for me and I absolutely believe that.
The only thing I know about how he chooses who does the great things and who doesn't is that God chooses the willing, not the able. I think he chooses the people who he has gifted for the part and if they dont want it he will pick the person with the next best set of gifts. I don't really know though.
I don't think it is wrong to ask at all. The bible says to ask, seek and knock. It does say it is wrong to argue. I read that more as "Dont go to God and tell him you were supposed to be a gorgeous Vase when you are a trashcan." but I think its ok to go to God and ask him "Why am I a trashcan?" Because the mindset is that you are what he made you and you are simply seeking clarification on that calling. You aren't telling him he was wrong.
So anyways. I love your thoughts and I had this urge to put some of my own thought vomit out there. I hope you don't mind too much. I like confusing, deep thoughts on these things. That explanation of calvinism and armenianism was also very short and basic. I have argued that with my friends alot.
Thanks guys I loved reading what you got from that.
And Dave what you said about Matt 22 makes a lot of sense. I hadn't thought of it that way. I tried over and over to figure out why that man would have been brought it and invited off the street as he was and then kicked out for not having the right clothes on but that makes a lot of sense so thank you for clearing that one up for me.
Thanks again for reading my long though vomit and leaving some of your own
well... I personally love this. I havent heard something this "meat and potatoes" style since my first year, talking things through with people like Angie and Jade. We use to debate different views ((never argue, just debate))
but yes, I love this. You're right on about a few of these things like "why am I a soccer mom, not a missionary?"
really, just finish Driven by Eternity... then blog again. :) hahaha John Bevere shows the importance of being who YOU were called to be. for example...
"Give an account of your stuartship."
"Well, Jesus... I was a full time missionary and saved over 2,000 people in Asia!"
"But what about the 2 children you left at home? I called you to raise them up to be leaders, and THEY would go out and lead over 30,000 to me. You, of course, would have been credited to them all."
major, major burn.
indeed.
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