New thought on being “called” into Ministry
Because of the nature of my job as a college pastor I encounter many young people a month wrestling with a ministry calling. “Am I called? Do I have a message? Do I have the right motives?” I have met so many young men and women who were very capable and desirous of serving in vocational ministry who never enter because they are not sure if they are “called by God.” I recently read a passage of Scripture that I have found helpful in guiding them.
Jeremiah 23:21-22 21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
This passage is a huge rebuke to the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day. There were false prophets who were leading the people of Israel astray. These false prophets would come in the name of the Lord, but the Lord never sent them. They would proclaim, “Thus says the Lord….”, but the Lord never spoke to them. Motivated by greed and personal ambition, these false prophets were leading the people of Israel astray. God was going to wipe these decievers out, rightly so.
Yet tucked in this passage is a precious truth I wish more young people wrestling with a ministry call embrace. Read again the beginning of verse 22. “But if they had stood in my council….” These false prophets were not called by God, did not carry the message of God and did not possess the heart of God.
- They were not called, but God was willing to use them if they would stand in God’s presence.
- They did not have the message of God, but He was willing to give it to them if they would stand in His presence.
- They did not have the heart of God, but He was willing to transform them if they would stand in His presence.
What if God is willing to use ANYONE in vocational ministry who will stand in His presence, in His secret council? (The Hebrew word for “council” is awesome it means “secret.”) What if we should not encourage young people to wait and see if they are called? Instead, what if we encouraged them to stand in God’s council and push forward as if they were called? Perhaps we encourage young people to wait for God’s call when He is all along waiting for young people to call upon Him? The passage has me thinking.
