Life Worthy of the Call

With a twist, I tighten the screws that hold my canvas to my easel. I loosen the lid on my jar of gesso; it crackles where the canvas-prepping substance has dried around the rim, sitting outside in the Charleston heat. I grab my biggest brush, dip it into the white gel, and begin spreading it all over the canvas, covering over every old crease, seam, and imperfection. When I’m finished, the dried canvas is just as white as it was new. It’s ready for new life.

In the same way that the canvas is given new life with a coat of gesso, we are given new life when we are saved by God’s grace. However, gesso is just the first layer of a new painting. There are still layers of grounding, under-painting, and so many brushstrokes until the masterpiece can be called complete. Like gesso, salvation is a clean slate, but only the beginning of a longer process of living the life we are called to.

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Ephesians 4:1

Paul’s words to the church in Ephesus are just as applicable to me and you. We must live a life worthy of the call.

You’ve Been Called By God

Before you were born, God knew his purpose for you. Like an unfinished canvas, we aren’t sure of what lies in store or what we will look like when we are complete. It might take a long time and a lot of layers to begin understanding the way that God, the master creator, is taking us.

The apostle Paul is a perfect example of this– in his letter to the church in Galatia, he describes how he thought his life would go, before God stepped in and changed everything.

“I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.”

Galatians 1:14-16

I love how Paul emphasizes that God set him apart before he was even born. God knew Paul’s purpose when He created him; He knew our purpose when he created us. And as believers, we are called to serve His purpose.

You could be thinking, yes I get that, Rachel, but I don’t know my purpose, or yes, I know, but I don’t have anything special to bring to the table. But that’s the best part. The pressure’s off– it’s not about you. It’s about what God can do through you.

You Didn’t Earn It

Again, this is like, the best part! We didn’t earn the calling!

Just like God’s grace, the calling is not something we’ve earned, it’s something we are striving to live worthy of.

I don’t know if you have seen the show Yellowstone, but I’m only slightly obsessed with it. The show centers around the fight to save a seven-generation ranch. While Yellowstone isn’t what I would call Bible study appropriate, I think there are some interesting concepts that we can explore as Christians taking in worldly media. For example, the brand.

Several of the hands on Yellowstone Ranch are set apart from the rest. Marked with a smoldering cattle brand, their left chest bears the Yellowstone “rocking” Y symbol. The brand is not for everyone who works there, but it represents a loyalty to the Dutton family and whoever wears the brand is under their protection.

Unlike an initiation or rite of passage, the recipients of the brand haven’t completed a task or shown their loyalty to the group. In one episode, Rip, John Dutton’s right hand man, asks John if another character deserves the brand. John replies “the brand isn’t something you earn, it’s something you live up to.”

The same is true of God’s calling. It’s not something we’ve earned. It’s something we live up to.

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,”

Titus 3:4-5

Living Up to the Brand

Ephesians 4:1 tells us to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” So what is our calling? In a practical sense?

Our most important commandment, as described is this:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:30-31

We are called by Jesus to love God and love our neighbors. God has blessed us with gifts — both spiritual and physical — that help us achieve this ultimate purpose.

As we take steps through trials and towards his purpose, we collect brushstrokes and layers of paint on our way to becoming complete. We don’t know what the finished masterpiece God has planned looks like, but we can be confident living for His name.

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28