“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
Ephesians 4:1-6 NLT
What does it mean to “live a life that is worthy of (y)our calling?” For many Christians, this has come to mean, “living up to your potential in your capacity for work.” Many think that this is a statement about trying to do the right thing at all times. It is about living up to one’s potential. Although we are called to be good stewards of that capacity given us as image-bearers, this passage is not about that. Paul calls believers to heed the end of Chapter 3 when he starts with, “Therefore.”
The case that he was building was not a case about human potential, but rather about God’s character. Christian unity is a matter of calling to that character. But many, in practice, believe that it is a matter of freedom from that character. The truth is that following Christ was enlistment into a regiment with discipline and part of this discipline is adherence to God’s character. We don’t become like God by doing godly things. We become like God by thinking like God and allowing those thoughts to work outward into living as he lived in Christ. God is internally consistent. God, as a triune being, is bound together in peace. He exists in a state of polity. Christians must be this too. It is not a matter of choice. It is a part of our charge, honor and discipline to live up to the fact that we have been chosen and called into pursuing God’s character. Many Christians will not ever live up to their calling because they don’t understand it.
JOSH McGARY. COM 