A Most Common Question

"What should I do with my life?"

It's funny throughout the years of my life and interaction with people few questions have been asked more. The question comes most commonly to us at significant moments.

Should I marry this guy/girl?

What should my major be?

And now as a church planter I get calls/emails/etc. regularly from guys wondering if they have what it takes. In and out of, for that matter, pastor circles it is known as the question of calling.

Should I be a church planter?

The odd part of the question for me is most folks want to be called in some mystical, miraculous way. But it doesn't happen like that very often, at least not for me. Jesus didn't shine the cross shaped symbol in the night sky and stand on a roof waiting for me to arrive. I didn't flip open my Bible to II Hesitations, drop my finger on Chapter 3 verse 5 and read replant this dying church. My call came from jail. Literally. Late on a Friday night a friend called, asked me for a favor and without realizing the implications of saying yes, I accepted. The craziest part was...I wasn't even looking for a calling. I wasn't asking the question. All I was doing was trying to faithfully serve right where the Lord had already put me.

And that to me is the real answer to the question of calling. Are you already being faithful?

If you can't be faithful to the girl while you are dating....God doesn't want you to get married.

If you flunked out of Algebra....God isn't calling you to be a math teacher.

If you aren't serving with integrity and faithfulness in a local church, making disciples, gathering people who want to follow you & haven't read your Bible in a week....God isn't calling you to church planting.

The reason we see so many men get their calling out of the wilderness is because the Lord was teaching them that faithfulness always come before fruitfulness. Most guys need to serve right where they are first and worry about the call second. I have seen few folks through the years who were simply walking with Jesus everyday being faithful to what was in front of them who didn't get the call when Jesus rang.