Ensure your call

MATHEW PHILIP, Philadelphia, PA.

We do live with certain motives. What are the motives behind our life and service? Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 1: 1-2 talks about one of the motives of Christian life. It is to make sure our calling. We must have the confidence that we are called to live and work for the Lord in the world.

Apostle Paul wrote his letter of 2Corinthians to the Church of God in Corinth together with all the Christians who lived in the region of Achaia. He joins Timothy with himself in writing this epistle. It is not because he needed his assistance, but probably to introduce him with a title called, �Our brother� to the believers. We see a great humility on the part of this great apostle to recommend this young brother Timothy to the esteem of the Corinthians, and give him a reputation and acceptance among the churches. After the introduction the apostle begins with the description of his troubles and God�s goodness, which he had met with in Asia, by way of thanksgiving to God. From the introduction (vv. 1-2) itself we learn three things as far as our life in Christ is concerned:

1. We are called to do the ministry by the will of God: Paul qualifies himself saying �an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.� An Apostle is the one specially commissioned by Christ to do the ministry. Apostle means �sent one,� and not gone out one. If you are the gone out ones, you are going alone. If you are the sent out one, you are not alone, but His authority and presence are with you as you go to live and work for the Lord. Paul claims that he is sent by Christ by the will of God. As God� ministers, our recruitment is a supernatural recruitment. We are the ministers of God and not of any human organizations. In Christian ministry we are prayed by, ordained by and interviewed and recruited by different churches and Spiritual leaders. They are only instruments that God uses as channels of His blessings on us. We need all those things. Actually we are called by God, recruited by God and commissioned by God to do His ministry. As we go for our apostolic ministry, we must go with the same assurance and confidence.

2. We are called to be holy: When he wrote to the church, he addressed them as saints. This shows our position before God. He sanctified us through Christ Jesus. When people accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, God sanctifies them. We will be no more known as sinners, but saints, which is our position. It means that we are set apart as holy to the Lord. But there is another aspect of sanctification that is practical. We need to be holy every day in our lives. So when we start doing God�s ministry, Satan cannot call us any longer a sinner or he cannot accuse us with the old sins that we have committed. As we go for the ministry of the Gospel, we must go with the confidence that it is God who sanctifies us through Christ Jesus.

3. We are called to experience God�s grace and peace: We live and work in the world and this world is not favorable to us. To live in such a hostile world, we need God�s grace and peace. These are Christian qualities that are available only to God�s children. The eternal source of these qualities is God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let�s continue to live and serve with the assurance of God�s call, with the practice of God�s holiness, and with the experience of God�s grace and peace.