Edmund Clowney's- Called to Ministry

 God used the book "Called to Ministry" by Edmund Clowney to confirm by calling and desire to serve him in ministry.   He reminded me that we are first called when he surrender to God in our conversion.   We are also called by specifically called by our specific names that God gives us.   Clowney clarifies calling to relation to the certain gifts that God gives us.   Our calling is confirmed by how we use our gifts in the church.   

Being a servant of others is an aspect of calling we should take on as we seek to embody Christ.  Jesus was the true servant because he laid down his life for us by dying on the cross for us.   Jesus humbly served his disciples by washing their feet in John 13:1-17.   This shows how we should humbly serve our people.   Jesus came humbly through Bethany on a donkey.

Clowney also shows us the importance of relying on God's wisdom in relation to calling.   We are rely on God's wisdom in relation to our specific calling.   In another sense,  we are to use godly wisdom as we live out our calling.   Clowney discusses how God's wisdom is through seeing his glory through and recognizing who he is.  God's wisdom is to be a treasured possession and compared to a jewel in Job 38.  When we desire godly wisdom,  then God's kingdom is glorified through us.  

Lastly,  we should die to ourselves daily since we are called to the ministry.     As ministers of the gospel, we live out our calling by how we fully surrender to God.   Jesus says in Luke 9:23, "If anyone desires to come after me,  let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."  Jesus calls to to surrender those desires not of him every day as we seek to serve others.  We are to prune out sinful thoughts that we have that are not of God.  

In another sense,  Paul says, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."  The apostle Paul did not want to live in this earthly body anymore but desired to be with Christ.    As we live out our calling, we are to surrender to God's will for our lives.   It is important we pray not our will be done but Christ's will for our life.  This process of daily surrender will open us up to God's kingdom as seek to serve him in our calling in ministry.