Your character vs your calling
A FRIEND shared a concept with me which I thought was really interesting. Apparently we all have a divine calling from above that should ideally form the basis of our ministry here on earth. It is the basis of our purpose, it is what we are on this earth to fulfil on God’s behalf.
Very few people actually ever really fulfil their purpose. Most of us are a bit like Jonah; always running and saying “Lord not me, it’s not time yet.”
Those that do listen have to fight their characters which sometimes defy their calling.
They mean well, they are anointed and they are called for a higher purpose, but somehow the person they are cannot let go of the issues around life that prevent them from fulfilling their calling.
So many times we wonder and cannot understand why we seem to keep hitting brick walls at every turn. Somehow the father will be trying to get our undivided attention, but our characters get the better of us.
The story of Jonah is a story that we are all familiar with, Jonah was asked to go and spread the Gospel in the city of Nineveh. Instead of doing what had been asked of him, which was in line with his calling as a prophet, he chose instead to allow his character to get the better of him.
He decided to run from the call of God, he firmly believed he could run as far away as possible and if he could do just that, he would be able to escape from the clutches of heaven. He boarded a ship headed for Tarshish which was in the opposite direction from Nineveh.
While he was aboard, a violent storm erupted on the ocean. The sailors questioned why this was so and who had brought this bad luck to their voyage and Jonah admitted to being the cause. He was thrown into the water and a whale swooped in and swallowed him.
He was in its belly for three days before it emptied Jonah on the shores of Nineveh, the very place he was running from. There he began to fulfil God’s mandate of preaching to the city as had been asked of him.
Character defines who we are, but does not in any way have to entrap us to a life that is far from God. We are called to a unique work that we must perform on His behalf and for His glory.
Be blessed.