2024年2月12日
“Living Out Your Calling”
God changes the world through the people who respond to His call with faith throughout human history. In the Bible, we see key figures who lived out their calling from God—such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and David. In the New Testament, Jesus, who is the perfect model of following the Father’s call, called His disciples, taught them about the Kingdom of God, and, after His crucifixion and resurrection, gave them the Great Commission. Jesus also called Peter personally, asking him to “feed my sheep.” Furthermore, Jesus called Paul as an apostle, on the way to Damascus, for the purpose of commissioning him to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. Several decades later, as the Gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire, Paul, while he was imprisoned, wrote a letter to the Christians in Ephesus.
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Ephesians 4:1)
The heart of the Good News is that there is one God, the Creator of this world, who calls each of us personally. What is a divine calling? First, God has called us into life itself, creating us in His image—imago Dei—and giving us the gift of being human.
Our humanness is a response to God’s calling. Second, God has called us to be Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ, with a new identity as children of God and members of the church, the body of Christ. In the previous chapters of Ephesians, Paul teaches that the call to become a Christian is by God’s grace, not by our own deeds. Furthermore, God has already prepared “good works” (Ephesians 2:10) for His believers to carry out. Each of us is called to a unique purpose—whether in work, business, enterprise, or ministry, serving and restoring this world as part of God’s redemptive works. Some refer to this as a “special calling” or “particular calling” toward the missio Dei, God’s mission in the world. Living out God’s call is transformative, shaping us to become more like Christ as we journey toward our final call of this life.
God’s call has profoundly impacted my own life. I grew up in a pastor’s family, which was quite unique in Japan, where only 1% of the population is Christian. By God’s grace, I experienced a spiritual revival when I was 14 years old, and the following year, in the youth-conference, I received God’s call to enter full-time ministry. However, God first directed me toward a career in business as preparation for future ministry. Then, I truly loved the work. The marketplace fascinated me as a place to build a successful career, earn a good income, and gain recognition. While fully engaged in management consulting firm, God called me again with a clear voice: “Michito, what are you doing? I called you to become a pastor.” That moment was my “burning bush.” I stepped away from my business career and finally moved to Vancouver, Canada, to study theology in preparation for full-time ministry. Yet, God’s calling extended beyond becoming a pastor. He gave me a specific calling to contextualize the Gospel into Japanese culture and society, especially to those in the marketplace. Responding to what I sensed were Macedonian-like calls from Christian business professionals, I started the ministry “Klesis” in 2022 (“klesis” means ‘calling’ in Greek) to encourage business professionals in Japan to discover their calling from God in their workplaces. As Paul said in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God’s calling weaves together all our experiences for the purpose of His mission.
From today’s scripture, there are two things we can learn about how we can live out our calling. First, Paul encourages us to “be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (verse 2). Listening to God’s voice and obeying His call is not easy; it’s often more challenging than we expect. In the Klesis fellowship, a Christian entrepreneur honestly shared, “I found that God’s call isn’t glamorous; it’s a difficult path that requires humility and patience.” It can be incredibly challenging to love colleagues and employees in difficult business situations. Without God’s grace and mercy, the guidance of the Holy Spirt, we cannot act rightly in our business. I thank God that these participants have begun the journey to see and understand their “callings” and to respond faithfully within their business fields. Calling is formed through our real lives rather than discovered like treasure; it brings a transformative process toward Christ-likeness.
For me, being completely humble and embracing humility has always been a challenging area in my life. I tend to become a workaholic, overly focused on work—a weakness I inherited from my father’s side of the family. During my pastoral ministry at a local church in Osaka, I struggled to stop myself from overworking under the pressure of responsibilities. In my final year, I worked approximately 340 hours a month, taking only one or two days off. While I was fully committed to God’s calling in ministry, I came to realize that I had completely neglected God’s calling to be a father and husband, as well as to live as a human being in the healthy rhythm of life God has prepared for us. Looking back, I see that my overworking may have caused me to miss opportunities to experience God’s amazing power in the ministry. Being completely humble and embracing humility before God means overcoming selfish desires for recognition, approval, or even the fear of failure. Instead, it means listening to God’s call and faithfully living out His calling in every aspect of life.
Second, “making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit” is essential for the community. Paul says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (verse 3). We are often inclined to focus on “individual” or “distinctive” callings for personal purposes. However, as Christians, we must remember that our Caller is the one true Father, God, who desires unity in the Spirit. Pursuing our divine callings should lead to unity and peace within the Christian community. Cultivating humility and patience, in particular, becomes the foundation of this unity. In today’s world of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity—exacerbated by generational disparities and ideological differences—Christians have the unique opportunity to demonstrate the unity of the Spirit to the world. We do this through divine peace, by faithfully living out the calling given to us by the one true God for His mission and purpose. Our model for relationships within the community is the Triune God, bound together by the nature of mutual love, mutual self-giving, and mutual indwelling. Where in your life, family, or communities do you need to make an effort to keep the unity of the Spirit? May we seek God’s guidance to live out our calling and maintain the unity of the Spirit in every part of our lives.
We reflected on the meaning of living out our calling through Paul’s message in Ephesians. Let us pray to the God who calls us with His grace and mercy, asking Him to give us the strength to live a life worthy of the calling we have received.
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