Monday, August 07, 2006

A life worthy of the calling?

This Sunday morning the message was from Ephesians chapter 4 and it made me think, so I have been rereading the passage. I'm pretty sure I don't live up to v1-3:

"I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of Spirit through the bond of peace."
I do try to be humble, gentle and patient but I don't always succeed. I'm trying to love others but I'm finding it tough with some! The bit that struck me is to "live a live worthy of the calling you have received", what if you are not sure of your calling? In many ways I have felt teaching to be my calling, but then when you are caught up in the detail and bureaucracy of school life, you tend to lose your enthusiasm. Maybe there is some other calling that I haven't realised yet or should I be praying to regain my enthusiasm?
"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ." v11-13
If my calling is to teaching, should I be thinking on the lines of these verses "to prepare God's people for works of service", is my teaching preparing anyone for God's work? I'm not sure that teaching maths is achieving much for God, its not that a non-christian would teach it any differently. I suppose its not just the teaching but the whole contribution to school life, I am a fair trade rep, I organise various charity events and I try to encourage the girls to think of others and how they can help, but I don't think I'm really making much of an impact. What can I do "so that the body of Christ may be built up"? Maybe I' m looking at this all wrong, its not just about some big thing I can do, but about us all doing our bit, our calling, so that together we make a big impact, "we all reach unity in the faith".
"From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." ch4 v16
This verse reinforces what I was thinking about it being about all the little things we do according to our calling that together make the whole body, like the passage in 1 Corinthians 12 v12:
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ."
My mind is full of all sorts of thoughts and ideas, but maybe I should save some for another day, I need to reread the rest of Ephesians and get it all in context.

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