Called to be different

I had the privilege recently of attending the memorial thanksgiving service for an incredible man of God. We heard about his life; the way he reached out to people with the Gospel and saw them saved, the acts of kindness he showed to the poor and needy. He was an elder and then pastor of a church and ran an organisation reaching out to Muslims. He was also a wonderful husband and father.

We can either be incredibly intimidated by such testimony or wonderfully inspired. We are intimidated when we compare ourselves to people like this and find that we are woefully falling short of the example they have set. 

However there are no comparisons in the Kingdom. Each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made and we are unique; there is no one like us either in personality, looks, gifting or calling. God wants us different; he made us that way.

We need instead to be inspired. The theme running through all the testimonies of this man was his enthusiasm for God and the Kingdom. That is something we can all have. It may manifest in different ways because of our different character and personality but we can all be really enthusiastic for God and the calling he has placed on our lives.

For some this will be a natural exuberance but for others it will be a deep joy manifested in much quieter ways. God will not ask us when we stand before him why we were not like another. Instead, as the parable of the talents shows, he will talk to us about the calling he placed on our lives and how we used what he gave us. 

This seems to be a season of God confirming and strengthening calling and then encouraging us to pursue it in ways that suit our personality. God only wants one of each of us because he made each of us unique. Together we make up the whole picture. Together with each of us playing our part to the best of our ability this world can be reached with the love of God. Together we can see our family and friends saved; we can see the hungry fed and the lonely placed in families. We can see the overthrow of the giants of our day; secular humanism, political correctness, the cult of fame and celebrity, violence and godlessness.

All it takes is each of us to love the Lord our God with enthusiasm and to walk in what he has called us to be and do with no comparisons but honouring and celebrating our differences and recognising, with thankfulness, our God given uniqueness.