Calling (Klasis, Ephesians 4)

   One thing that has been on my mind lately has been this idea of "Calling" or "Called."  In our language it means a name or that which we are known by, but I like this definition that I found through the Greek translation.  The word "call" in the Greek denotes an invitation, but it also takes our understanding of the word a little deeper.  The word goes deeper too "the receiving of a name."  Another study of the word "name" shows that name is a form of identity. To know one's name is to know the person, speaking of the relational knowing that comes from spending time with that person or thing.  For me intimacy comes to mind in the sense of knowing and being known.  To be called is to be given a name, an identity.  In the acceptance of Christ into our lives we have been given the name of "Christian," or Christ follower, and that is where our identity stems from.  Paul talks a lot about this, particularly to the Ephesians.  He maps out what a life "worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1, NASB) in the first 16 verses of Ephesians 4. 


     Taking this further than just the name, there is also an action.  Now, and possibly even before, God has called or invited us into a role, not that that role isn't also a name but the name that he has given us comes with a gift, and with that gift comes an active involvement.  Again Paul writes about what some of these names and gifts might be.  In Ephesians 4:11, Paul states that God has gifted "some as apostles, some as prophets, some as pastors and teachers" to be gifts.  These aren't just names.  Each name/person comes with a certain gift set that can be used to equip others within the church to do the same (verse 12), all working toward the unification under Christ.  Paul likes to use the image of the body, with Christ at its head, to help explain this.  Each limb on its own can't properly function, but with the help and work of each of the other parts the limbs can work and function at a much higher efficiency than on their own, but even then the body has no direction without the head. If you pursue your connection with the head, you will gain direction, whether you see it or not (Jesus is the lamp unto my feet, light to my path), into that which you are called.

A Prayer

"MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone." - Thomas Merton

Love (John 3:16)

What is it? Why is it so special that Jesus would base his entire ministry on this one main emotion? How has this, then, been taken and changed into the society that we now have today? You see love covers all. No, not just the crappy Hollywood "love" that it's movies love to show, but the Greek agape: the all-consuming, unconditional love. Sometimes I forget what unconditional means. Without condition. You see "God so loved the world," his creation (one that has turned on him time and time again falling just short of all of his expectations), "that he gave his one and only son," His own person (direct relation, blood and bone of himself, only son there is none other.), "so that all who believes in him," giving that world that he created and is sole owner of a choice (the choice of moving away from him or moving closer to him, The true love: choice. To love is to risk pain, not to love is to guarantee pain.), "shall have everlasting life," true and wholesome life lived in the presence of a love that reaches out to his own creation giving them a 2nd chance. That love, John goes on to say was sent to save the world. Not condemn it. So now when I see signs of any type saying that "God hates. . ." or that "all ____ are going to hell" it makes me question their theology. How can a love that was sent to save and not condemn, condemn? How can we, completely imperfect beings, condemn that which the most perfect being in the world condemn? There seems to be a need for a revolution of love. It bothers me that the word love is just one word. The Greeks and Hebrews had at least 3 if not 4 words for love alone, each one with a different meaning. Love today has become a large farce, mainly used to get what one wants without any thought to its actual meaning. How can a word that is used to describe this great and powerful being/presence also be used to show emotion to inadequate temporary things like food or a game?