¡@
I was never called to China,
although I served there as a missionary for 18 years!
Often as a young Christian, I heard missionaries from various lands talk about
the need for a ¡§call.¡¨ They closed their messages by asking if we had been
called to Africa or India or China. It seemed a sin for consecrated young people
not to feel the urgency of a divine call to some foreign field.
Despite all you hear of being called to the mission field, you will not find
this type of call in the Scriptures. In Acts 13:2 the Holy Spirit said:
¡§Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.¡¨
True, that speaks of a call, and someone will reply: ¡§There, doesn't that
refute what you have said?¡¨ Notice it speaks of a call, not to a geographic
location, but to a work. Paul was not being called to Africa or Europe or Asia,
but to the work of preaching and teaching.
Often the Macedonian call in Acts 16:9 is interpreted as a call to the foreign
field. However, Paul was already a missionary when he heard, ¡§Come over into
Macedonia and help us.¡¨ This was merely further direction from the Lord. He
had been preaching and teaching in Asia Minor and now he was being ordered to
take the Gospel into Europe. He obeyed that direction.
God has given me the call or gift of teaching. It makes no difference whether I
am in America or China. I am to use that gift for the edification of the body of
Christ. It is true that I must get my direction from God as to where to use that
gift. I am His workmanship created to good works, and I must learn His will and
do it.
I believe your calling and gift are identical. Your call
is what you are to be, which is determined by the gift He has given you. Your
direction is where you are to go. Your calling never changes; your direction may
change at any time. Paul's gifts were preaching and teaching. He used them not
only in Jerusalem, but throughout the cities of Europe and Asia Minor.
What if you feel called to China? When the door to China closes, does that mean
you no longer have a call? No, because your call is what you are to BE,
not where you are to GO. Your calling remains the same from the day of
your birth in Christ to the time you reach heaven.
After the Communists took over China, one of the missions maintained a policy
that all workers stay. One of its missionaries, restricted to her home by the
Communists and not allowed to teach, wrote a letter of resignation to the board:
¡§I can remain no longer. Since I was called to teach, not called to China, I
must go where I can do what God called me to do.¡¨
Some men fail because they enter a work without being called into it. Phillip
Brooks finally resigned from teaching school as he had no control over the
students. But after three years of training, he went into the ministry and
became one of the world's great preachers. He failed as a teacher but succeeded
in his true calling.
If you have been concerned about your calling it is time you became concerned
about what your gift is. Suppose my wife gave me a gift which I never opened. If
you asked, ¡§What was the gift your wife gave?¡¨ I would have to reply,
¡§Why, I haven't bothered to see.¡¨ We do the same things with our spiritual
gifts. God has given every believer a gift. It is your responsibility to learn
what it is (1 Peter 4:10).
A missionary nurse from Australia felt concerned because
she apparently had no gift. I asked her to study the gifts listed in the Word
and pray about them. Also, I encouraged her to discover in what particular
ministry God was blessing her. The revelation of the fact that God had given her
the gift of helps meant much to her whole work. It sparked her Christian life
and medical ministry from that moment on.
You may be concerned about the same thing the nurse was. If so, ask yourself,
¡§In what particular way has God blessed my ministry? What phase of it has He
especially used?¡¨ That will probably be the cue to your calling.
God has given to every man certain natural capabilities. In addition to this He
has given to Christians a special gift of the Holy Spirit. In determining God's
calling, you should first of all reevaluate your naturl talents. If you have a
strong inclination towards music, for instance, it would be logical to assume
that God has some purpose in giving you this talent and wishes you to use it for
His glory.
Your particular calling or gift will complement your personality. At least, this
is the normative situation. But the point to remember is that although the
relationship of natural ability to calling or vocation is normally close or at
least complimentary, it can not be taken for granted.
John Soong was a brilliant young Chinese scientist who obtained his PhD in
chemistry. Obviously this seemed to be his calling, for it was here that his
natural talents lay. But God had other plans. On the way back to China John
Soong tore up his degree and dropped it into the ocean. He went on to become
China's greatest evangelist. Yes, he had a tremendous mind for science, but God
has given him the spiritual gift of evangelism and it was to this task that God
wished him to devote his efforts. Now God may have given you some great natural
ability. Do not neglect this talent, rather develop and use it to the utmost.
But in praying about God's calling in your life, do not assume that it will be
identical or complimentasry to your naturl gift. It may be quite the opposite.
God has also given you, as a Christian, a spiritual gift
and it could well be that He intends for you to devote your entire life to the
exploitation of this gift. Study the gifts listed in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians
12, and Ephesians 4. Then ask God to show you what yours is. If it is the gift
of helps, see that it is used. You can do just as big a job sitting at a
secretary's desk in a mission office here at home as you can do on the mission
field overseas, if He has so directed you.
God needs those who know their call and then get their direction from Him. God
directed me to China in 1933. I had been praying around the world. Each day I
remembered a different continent and prayed for its missionaries and native
workers. My thoughts became saturated with the needs of the world which God
loved and for which Christ died.
As a child I had been frightened by a Chinese and developed an abhorrence for
China. The incident stayed with me all my life, and China was the last place in
the world I wanted to go to. But as I prayed around the world, God stopped me
every Wednesday when I came to Asia. When I heard speakers at missionary
conferences, the only ones whose words tugged at my heart were those from China.
One of my problems was difficulty with language. I felt that God had made a
mistake in laying China on my heart, because I would never master the language.
One morning while I was praying ¡X arguing ¡X with the Lord about Asia, and
reading the Scriptures, I came to Exodus 4:12, ¡§Now therefore go, and I
will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say.¡¨ Immediately I
wrote China across the entire verse.
When I went to China and found the language study tough, I turned to that verse
and claimed it. God gave me the language so that I could spek it fluently enough
to teach in Chinese.
I was never called to China. I saw no flash of light; I
heard no voice from heaven. My call was the call to be a teacher. I used it in
Asia for years. I can use it just as well at home. For almost 30 years God has
directed me in and out of Asia and back again.
I am not quibbling about terms. I am seeking to clarify your thinking that you
might fully glorify God.
Learn what your gift is and where He wants you to use it for His glory. Place
yourself in God's will to go or stay as His Spirit directs you in Asia, Europe,
Africa, South America, the islands of the seas, or here at home. Stop dreaming
about a future call and start believing God and obeying Him today.
<from http://www.mentoring-disciples.org/called.html>
¡@
¡@