Who are you here for?

[NewCreation435]

The pastor where I go to church had a message where he said sometimes people ask the question "Why am I here?" or "What am I suppose to do with my life?" and he suggested that instead of asking that question a better question would be "Who am i here for?"

We discussed this in my men's group tonight and I mentioned to them that I found out about 10 years ago that my calling and my job title were not the same thing. My calling is a description of what God has called me to do. For me, God has made it clear I am to work with those who are broken. At different times in my career that has meant both physical and sometimes emotional health. Certainly it means spiritually broken as well. But, my job title has changed numerous times throughout my career. I don't get as uptight about those changes anymore like I use to. What I am mainly concerned about is is this consistent with what God has told me my calling is?

What is your calling? How did you discover it?

Who are you here for?

 

[Josiah]

Interesting....

While I consider sites like CH to be a ministry, I don't really feel a personal "calling." Perhaps your pastor is right.

I come to this site because I'm VERY (maybe obsessively) interested and concerned with matters of Christian faith, and the simple truth is most of the people in my world aren't. I come to an interdenominational site (I NEVER visit Lutheran discussion forums) because I want to be challenged, I want to learn new and different perspectives - it's how I grow and change. And sometimes discussions help me think things through.... maybe even change my thoughts about something. IF that happens in reverse - that's a plus, but generally I don't come to impact others (to be honest, I lack the ego for that).

I'm not here for any individual (well, me maybe). Yeah.... I suddenly feel selfish.

 

[Andrew]

I have no clue.
God wants us to be everywhere and anywhere in business, we cant let the bad guys run all business. Im not talking about bad business but when you see saints at the top its a good sign for the people under them. It really changes the company because it is very very difficult to climb with out crushing the heads beneath you and being a total jerk. Thats what I would like to be, but if ministry or missionary work is my calling then thy will be done.
I have no clue maybe I should start asking

 

[NewCreation435]

Interesting....

While I consider sites like CH to be a ministry, I don't really feel a personal "calling." Perhaps your pastor is right.

I come to this site because I'm VERY (maybe obsessively) interested and concerned with matters of Christian faith, and the simple truth is most of the people in my world aren't. I come to an interdenominational site (I NEVER visit Lutheran discussion forums) because I want to be challenged, I want to learn new and different perspectives - it's how I grow and change. And sometimes discussions help me think things through.... maybe even change my thoughts about something. IF that happens in reverse - that's a plus, but generally I don't come to impact others (to be honest, I lack the ego for that).

I'm not here for any individual (well, me maybe). Yeah.... I suddenly feel selfish.

Yeah, I think the sermon series has challenged me to get outside my comfort zone and help others. I volunteered tonight to go help out at a agency that helps those in need with clothing and furniture. I am starting Saturday morning

 

[NewCreation435]

I have no clue.
God wants us to be everywhere and anywhere in business, we cant let the bad guys run all business. Im not talking about bad business but when you see saints at the top its a good sign for the people under them. It really changes the company because it is very very difficult to climb with out crushing the heads beneath you and being a total jerk. Thats what I would like to be, but if ministry or missionary work is my calling then thy will be done.
I have no clue maybe I should start asking

I think you have a lot of good things to share with others. Just be open to God directing your path and He will in His time.

 

[faramir.pete]

Calling. Now there is another emotive topic, jsimms I am really happy for you that you have a clear understanding of your calling, although you have not actually answered the full question that you pose in your OP. How did you actually discover your calling?

For me this topic has been a difficult journey and my calling has moved as I have grown in my Christian faith so it is far less clear or defined than yours appears to be JS. When I was still a regular church goer and still quite young in my faith I prayed for a revelation of my calling and I felt that I was called to serve others. So I took on the role of a steward at our church, which effectively made me the church handyman! I was the guy folks asked to do the jobs nobody else wanted, I stacked chairs, I swept floors and I fixed up and tidied and cleaned up. I didthis a for 4 years, then my wife got tired of the fact I spent so much time doing stuff for the church and so little time doing anything for the family. So I resigned because and I believe I ‘heard’ God tell me that He wanted me to be the best father and husband that I could be. So I dedicacted my next 30 plus years to that calling.

Now my kids are grown and married and I am heading for retirement in the next few years, my calling now? I am not sure, I still try to be a good husband and father but it is certainly less demanding and I expect to discern a new calling sometime soon.

So who am I here for? My God and then my family. And I know there will be some that will quote scripture to show that this cannot be a calling, but to you I say only that this is what God called me to do and I have done the best job I could, not to theexclusion of other things but my underlying purpose in life has been to be the best father and husband I can be.


Pete from Peterborough UK

 

[Imalive]

Who am I here for?
When I had noone anymore, cause I didnt see my parents, ex wanted to divorce and take the kids I reckoned I'd better be in heaven then w my other 2 kids, so I tried to kill myself and God did not agree, so I told the Holy Spirit I'd live here for Him.

 

[Lamb]

We are here for God and our neighbor.

We are here to love God and do His will and we are here to love our neighbor. We have many vocations that God puts us in throughout our lives. Recognizing that our neighbors need us usually ends up in our volunteering at some point to help them, hence another vocation. Our neighbors need us and we need them, we're all connected.

 

[NewCreation435]

Calling. Now there is another emotive topic, jsimms I am really happy for you that you have a clear understanding of your calling, although you have not actually answered the full question that you pose in your OP. How did you actually discover your calling?

For me this topic has been a difficult journey and my calling has moved as I have grown in my Christian faith so it is far less clear or defined than yours appears to be JS. When I was still a regular church goer and still quite young in my faith I prayed for a revelation of my calling and I felt that I was called to serve others. So I took on the role of a steward at our church, which effectively made me the church handyman! I was the guy folks asked to do the jobs nobody else wanted, I stacked chairs, I swept floors and I fixed up and tidied and cleaned up. I didthis a for 4 years, then my wife got tired of the fact I spent so much time doing stuff for the church and so little time doing anything for the family. So I resigned because and I believe I ‘heard’ God tell me that He wanted me to be the best father and husband that I could be. So I dedicacted my next 30 plus years to that calling.

Now my kids are grown and married and I am heading for retirement in the next few years, my calling now? I am not sure, I still try to be a good husband and father but it is certainly less demanding and I expect to discern a new calling sometime soon.

So who am I here for? My God and then my family. And I know there will be some that will quote scripture to show that this cannot be a calling, but to you I say only that this is what God called me to do and I have done the best job I could, not to theexclusion of other things but my underlying purpose in life has been to be the best father and husband I can be.


Pete from Peterborough UK

It was both a process and an event. I went through a period of waiting while God pruned me and made me into a person he could use. That period lasted about 5 years. It would have been shorter, but I resisted all along the way. I thought I was wasting time. What I realize now is that in order for God to use me he had to prune me and get me ready. Until then he would not open some doors, no matter how much I protested.
I was open in 1997 to God to begin to use me. He opened a door to working in a nursing home. I didn't want to do it at first. But, then I remember the scripture where Jesus said when we do it for the least of these we are doing it for him. That motivated me to say "yes" and then doors started to open. Then I realized as I worked with those who are hurting that I had a calling to work with people who are broken. There is something in me that relates to something in them and I feel compassion. Even sometimes when I don't particularly like them. I also don't like some of those same qualities in me. So, I guess part of the answer is that I was open to doing what God wanted me to because he got me ready for it and then as I walked in obedience and was faithful God opened more doors.
The one who is faithful with little will be given more.

 

[Josiah]

We are here for God and our neighbor.

We are here to love God and do His will and we are here to love our neighbor. We have many vocations that God puts us in throughout our lives. Recognizing that our neighbors need us usually ends up in our volunteering at some point to help them, hence another vocation. Our neighbors need us and we need them, we're all connected.

Good point. I like making the "who" plural; yeah, here for everyone! In a general sense, I agree. There's no individual poster here who is my "mission" and "calling".... but yeah, I guess I do HOPE that my involvement here blesses more than just me (which it does). Coming to this community does present us with a "vocatio" here....


- Josiah

 

[MennoSota]

"Why am I here?"
"What am I suppose to do with my life?"
"Who am i here for?"

What is your calling? How did you discover it?

Who are you here for?

1) I am here because God willed it.
2) I am to do what God wills.
3) I am here for the glory of God.
4) My calling is to glorify God no matter where I am.
5) I read scripture and God says to walk in step with the Spirit. I learned to be content in all things.
I don't think God is all that concerned about the career we go into or the activity we do. I think God is more concerned with relationship. It was either AW Tozer or CS Lewis who said "The place where heaven and earth meet in a real experience is in the NOW. Not the past and not the future. These are gone or may never be. But in the NOW, God is present and it is in the NOW that you want to be."
Make plans for the career you like. If that is not God's ordained will, God will close the opportunity. In that time God will walk with you and you will walk with God. Be content with God and don't become anxious. In God's time you will be where God intends you to be.
Our task is "in all things do them to the glory of God."

 

[tango]

So who am I here for? My God and then my family. And I know there will be some that will quote scripture to show that this cannot be a calling, but to you I say only that this is what God called me to do and I have done the best job I could, not to theexclusion of other things but my underlying purpose in life has been to be the best father and husband I can be.


Pete from Peterborough UK

Honestly, if you announced that your calling involved abandoning your wife and children my first thought would be that it probably wasn't from God. I know a few people (not a huge number admittedly) who have made enormous life changes for the sake of their calling and every single one of them have involved their entire family in the process of testing the call. One guy had three children in school when he quit his successful career to go to Bible school and become a pastor - it would have been irresponsible in the extreme to simply dump that on them (and on his wife) without involving them in the decision.

Some might say that's allowing small children to overrule God, I think I'd say it's helping to validate the calling.

 

[Imalive]

I've seen couples doing the ministry together while they had 3 children whom they dumped on a woman from church. I always saw her w em in the swimming pool, anywhere. So antisocial. Look at me! I have a big ministry! I'm so important for God and the adults!