The Scripture speaks of calling in three forms
or aspects. Theologians use the term
“vocation” to encompass each of these
and all of them together. In each case,
the Lord speaks by His Word and Spirit to
the soul of one of His elect, to give
instruction, guidance, counsel, and commands
specific to each individual saint.
Thus all believers are the called of God,
called first to Him, His Kingdom, and His glory.
This is effectual calling, and it can
not be resisted, for the grace by which
it works endows the called ones to believe
in Jesus Christ, gives them a new heart, and
conveys them from the sin and darkness of
their unbelieving lives into that realm
where Jesus rules at God’s right hand and is
about the work of making all things new.
Each saint is called by God and set apart
to Him for holiness, and we pursue
this way of life within the context and
condition God assigns us. Every saint
exists within a network made up of
relationships, responsibilities,
and roles, to which God sends us day by day
as His ambassadors and witnesses.
This calling is conditional, and comes
to every follower of Christ, without
exception. It describes their place in time
and life where they pursue the work
appointed to them by the Lord, all done
unto Him, for His glory, and to make
disciples, build His Church, and further His
dominion on the earth as it exists
in heaven. Thus, effectual calling is
the same for all who come to faith in Christ.
The operations of the Spirit and
the Word are everywhere the same. But each
believer’s life condition is unique,
and though a certain raft of disciplines
and special protocols and practices
outlines our work as God’s elect, the way
we carry out this calling will reflect
abilities and opportunities
unique to each of us who knows the Lord.
This introduces the third aspect of
vocation: situational, that is,
the day-by-day and every-moment way
we make the most of all the time God gives
to work our calling. Each condition will
present new situations for us to
apply God’s grace and truth in wisdom for
His glory. In each form or aspect of
our calling, God suffuses and invests
us with innumerable and incessant thoughts,
and speaks His Word to draw us to Himself,
that we might find in Him the strength to do
our work with gladness and effects. The called
life knows two states above all else: the state
of work, for which God has redeemed us, and
the state of rest, in which we are refreshed
in Him. And, strange to tell, to some extent
we live in both these states at once, as God
has called and sends each one of us to our
peculiar work, to rest in Jesus and
abide in His own Spirit. Work and rest
define our lives at every moment as
we follow Jesus where He calls and leads.
Since calling, therefore, is the proper way
to view our lives as Christians, it behooves
us to make sure we understand what this
requires and how it works, especially, it
would seem, relating to that calling or
condition which the Lord assigns as the
arena in which we must seek Him and
His Kingdom, and perform our daily work.
