Skip to main content

Worthy of the Calling


         As a prisoner for the Lord, then, 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 the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

        What does it mean to live a worthy life? Since you’ve already read the passage above, you know where this is going, but to be honest, those attributes (to which we will return) aren’t what I think of when I think of worthy. My problem is the same kind I had with the word noble. When I went to see Fellowship of the Ring with a friend, she commented about how noble the characters were.
      “Noble?” I thought. “They’re filthy.” The incongruity of those thoughts started me thinking about what it means to be noble. I wouldn’t have said that it meant traveling through a swamp and over mountains without getting your fingernails dirty, but that was my reaction.
In a similar way, I have some ideas about what “worthy (of the calling)” means. The first thing that comes to mind is courageous. Other terms include honest, steadfast, noble, righteous, holy. And what all of those have in common in my mind is that they are big and strong. Someone who is all those things could say, “Look at me.”
But now when we look at the list of what Paul had learned about being worthy of the calling, we get another list:
Humble
Gentle
Patient
Bearing with one another in Love
Keeping the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace
United in God.
        Ugh… it all sounds like dirt under the fingernails stuff. I find myself thinking, “But, God, I just spent four years as a caregiver. I am grateful that I was able to do so, but isn’t it time for me to emerge from the swamp? In other words, “Is it my turn yet?”
          And God’s answer, it seems is, “It has been being your turn. You don’t understand. I like dirty fingernails. They mean you’re putting the self to death. When it’s time, I’ll wash them like I washed the disciples’ feet.” And then He adds, “And tear- or sweat-tracked faces are just as important as dirty fingernails.”
         Lord, make me worthy of the calling.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more