What is God calling you to be?
As young Christians, we can sometimes get caught up in figuring out God’s calling for our lives.
We may ask, “Is God calling me to missions? Is He calling me to medicine? Is He calling me to the arts? Politics? Business? Technology?”
At times it can be fun as you try new things. However, sometimes it can get discouraging as you see your friends venturing out getting internships and first jobs while you don’t know what to do.
This figuring out can make us forget what our basic callings are as young Christians. And there are four callings, four things every young Christian is to be:
1. We are called to be respectful, obedient children.
Throughout the Bible, God makes it clear that we are to be obedient, not only to our parents but to all those in authority.
Society tells us that our parents are ancient humans whose opinions and teachings are not to be respected. We are to be rebellious, apparently.
But we are no ordinary people. We are a chosen generation, and that means we are to do what pleases the Lord. Colossians 3:20 says, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”
Notice how it says “in everything.” This really means everything, not just when you are trying to get them to give you something or let you go somewhere.
2. We are called to be loving, caring siblings.
Most of us are blessed with brothers and/or sisters. But how many of us have taken a moment to actually think of how wonderful it is to have them and the responsibility that brings us?
We are to be role models to our younger siblings, and even our older ones.
Jonathan and David were the best of friends, yet the love that they had was so strong that Jonathan was willing to go to extra lengths to help David escape his father’s evil plots (1 Samuel 20).
Now, our relationships with our siblings may not be life and death situations, but we can still display great love through simple actions like helping with piano practice or being the listening ear that our brother may need.
3. We are called to be committed and active in our churches.
It’s so sad that young people today see the church as boring and irrelevant. There’s even a mentality that says, “Christians don’t have to go to church.”
However, in Hebrews 10:25, we see that we are not to “neglect meeting together.” It is in these meetings that we are able to learn and grow together and function as one body.
Consider what Donald S. Whitney says in his book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life:
“There’s an element of worship and Christianity that cannot be experienced in private worship or by watching worship. There are some graces and blessings that God gives only in ‘meeting together’ with other believers.”
Going to church isn’t (and shouldn’t be) a once-a-week thing. Getting involved in a Wednesday bible study or youth group or the music ministry is a great way to learn more and ask questions. It is also a chance for you to get to know and care for people.
4. We are called to be diligent students.
Moving to England after almost eight years living in Ghana, I was shocked to see how little children valued their education.
You see, in Ghana (and I think most developing countries) most children travel for miles to school just to learn their time tables or how the heart works.
Education is a privilege, and some people in Western culture fail to see that.
All the jobs that we want to do when we are older involve us working extremely hard. Praying to God is vital, but if we do not study hard for them, God is not going to give us passes on a silver platter.
Throughout the book of Proverbs, Solomon tells his son to “pay attention” to his sayings. He mentions this quite a lot. Similarly, we must also pay attention to all of our studies.
Some of us want to work in a church or ministry setting, but that doesn’t mean other subjects such as math are not important right now. Paying attention means that our teachers, whether they are our mothers or someone we see for an hour a week, need our attention and support.
Finally, we may not know what we want to do in the future, but that’s okay.
We can know what God’s will for our lives is right now when we turn to His Word and see the four things we should be.
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Thanks for writing, Erica! I’ll try to keep this in mind as I do my school today, especially in the subjects I don’t like 🙂
Yes, thank you, Erica! These are some great reminders and they will be helpful for me. #4 will be great for me to remember during school today! 🙂
Thank you for writing Erica! This is all very good! The part about siblings is so true, and I have the privilege of having five of them.
Thank you so much, ZeePt3! Yes, we should all cherish or brothers and sisters.
Thank you so much for this! It’s really easy to get lost in how faithful I will be in such-and-such theoretical situation without being faithful where he’s called me to be right now. This was very helpful in a grounded, real life sort of way. Thanks again!
Also, accents are the best! Me and my brother are trying to get into voice-acting; it’s hilarious/crazy fun. Can you do American? (My English voice is awful.) 😂😂
Thank you Okie Gal! My American accent is so bad that its gets to a point where I put the rrr sound in every word. I particularly like the southern accent, and my favourite word is showat(short)!
Is that what us southerners really sound like? Wow, I really need to start paying more attention…
By the way, awesome article! Never stop writing!
Thank you, Cricket. I won’t stop writing. And I don’t know if the ones I hear on programmes are exaggerated but that’s how it sounds like.
Yes! I don’t get to hear a southern accent very often but I lover them. A lady in my church who’s from Texas always says “bye” like baaah’.
Thank you for this encouragement! You are a very gifted writer.
Thank you for the encouragement, Millie! Delighted.
Keep writing Erica! It is definitely hard to remember that what I am studying now is necessary for what is ahead. It seems like studying what I want to study in college, would be easier, but it will take just as much work!
Very, very intelligent writing from a fourteen year old! Excellent job Erica! You really get what the Reb is all about.
Dang, girl! That’s deep! Good point. The world needs more intelligent people like you.
Hey, no pressure but it’d be cool if y’all could check out my channel on Disqus. It’s called McKaylee M. I pretty much talk about anything. From little kid movies – random deep, spirtitaul thoughts. Thanks! Love y’all, God bless ya fellow Rebelutionary’s!
Great reminder, thank you so much!
Those are all very good points!
Very well written!
Question: What is the right level of confidence and how do I get there? I usually have really low confidence, but whenever I try to encourage myself I get a little prideful and then I discourage myself and end up where I started. How do I fix this ’cause that can’t be healthy.
I can relate. Would it help to maybe try to view yourself as Jesus would view you? we’re all totally messed up, but God loves us passionately. That’s where we get our confidence. From Jesus Christ.
I would also say that putting yourself down may be prideful as. It’s like you are putting yourself down to feel good about how humble you are.
That’s a good point.
This is a very good reminder. Sometimes I get so caught up in wondering what God is calling me to do with my future, that I forget about what he is calling me to do right now. Thank you for this article.
This is something I have been struggling with lately, and I needed to read this.The article was great. It really made me feel guilty about certain areas of my life that I need to work harder on. Thanks for writing!