“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” – Frederick Buechner
I sat in a Bible Class recently with a bunch of cute kids and talked about the story of Esther. After our lesson I asked the kids to say, “God has a purpose for my life.” After each child spoke this beautiful truth I repeated it back over them emphasizing their name.
The world has a mission to make us believe our lives don’t matter. It tells us we aren’t good enough, rich enough, attractive enough, or smart enough. It encourages us to feel lonely and afraid. It whispers that we don’t belong and people wouldn’t miss us if we were gone. It’s great at deception and too many are buying the lies. God, however, tells us that, not only do we matter, he has called us and given us purpose. The Apostle Peter states that God’s children are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.
I love that every follower regardless of whether you’re male or female, rich or poor, have a theology degree or never even finished high school can preach the goodness of God. Regardless of who you are, where you are, and what you’re going through right now, if you have been saved by Jesus, you have a calling to proclaim his name.
In a children’s Bible Class sometimes we skim Bible stories for good reasons. Esther’s whole story is more sinister than we like to admit and one we certainly couldn’t tell a child. A young, Jewish girl orphaned and thrown into the twisted sexual fantasy of a pagan monarch becomes the Savior of God’s people. The world told Esther her purpose was to satisfy man but God showed her that her purpose was to save them and because of him, she did. God didn’t put her in harm’s way but he never left her when she was there. Esther was a terrified, young woman who focused more on her faith then she did on her fear.
If you’ve watched the news recently you’ve seen the brokenness. So many tragic stories, some don’t even make the headlines. We are a broken, hurting people at war with each other. When evil saturates every part of a person’s life, when it whispers nothing matters, when it has our neighbors in it’s cruel grasp, when hell is all they see, our purpose is to give them hope. We must be people who speak words of life into a world engulfed in death.
Like Esther, you are royalty here for a reason. You may not be where you want to be or with the person you want to be with. You may have suffered tremendous grief. You may have been abused and misused at the hands of others but know that you are loved and have a responsibility to love others.
Please prayerfully consider your calling. Ask God what he would have you to do at this time, in this place, and with the people around you. How can you love them? How can you serve them? How can you make their life a little better? Think about it and then do it. That’s your calling.