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Enjoy Life, Enjoy God


Dale Patterson

CALLING

November 22, 2012

Think of the ways we use the word, "calling." Calling on the phone, calling you by shouting across the house, and calling--like your job, vocation. What's up with that?

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
                                                --Matthew 4:21,22 TNIV

Jesus didn't command, he shouted across the living room, and "called' James, John, Peter, Andrew, "follow me.' In Latin, he "called" ("vocare") them from which we get "vocation." We are called to follow Jesus. But vocation has been reduced to our job, and I think that's incorrect. Our job is accountant, mechanic, mommy, etc--we don't have the same JOB. But if we are Christ-followers, we share the CALLING--to follow Christ.

We have allowed our JOBs to become our calling, wrongo; our jobs allow us any number of provisions, but our common calling is to follow Jesus. Notice: "and they followed him." That is to heed the calling, regardless of whether we are a butcher, baker or candlestick maker.

Joyfully,

Dale Patterson