By Jeff Cranston

The Bible is the story of God calling people: God called Noah and Abraham; Moses and Nehemiah; Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel; and David and Solomon. In the New Testament, God called Peter and Paul and Mary (if you chuckled at that you’re a child of the ’60s!). And God has a call on your life and mine! Here are four things from God’s Word about His calling on your life:

1. Your calling is a gift from God.

You don’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. You don’t work for it. You don’t bargain for it. You don’t barter for it. It’s just a flat-out gift of God’s grace. When He created you, He called you, and it’s all by grace. Galatians 1:6 says, “God, by His grace through Christ, called you to become His people.”

What is grace? Grace is undeserved kindness. It’s when God gives you what you need, not what you deserve. Grace is the fact that God knows every dumb mistake you’re going to make in life, and He still chose to create you. He knew all the times you were going to disobey Him, and He still chose to create you. That is the grace of God.

2. You are called for God’s purpose.

God did not make you for you. You were made by God and you were made for God. Until you understand that, life is never going to make sense. God’s calling is about His plan for your life, not your plan; His dream for your life, not your dream; His purpose for your life, not your purpose or your parents’ purpose or your boyfriend’s purpose or your husband or wife’s purpose. It’s for God’s purpose for your life.

You have a calling that is unique to your life. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them.” In other words, you’re made for a purpose!

3. God chose your calling before you were born.

Your calling is a gift from God, and you were called before you were born. Paul says, in Galatians 1:15, “God had special plans for me and set me apart for his work even before I was born. He called me through his grace.”

Through the prophet Isaiah, God said: “I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born!” (Isaiah 44:2, NCV) What does that mean? Among many others things, it means you’re not an accident. You were uniquely chosen, created and called by God. That means you’re deeply loved. God thought you up. He wants you here. He wants you in relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus.

4. Your sins and your mistakes don’t change your call.

It doesn’t matter how messed up your life has been. No matter how many dumb decisions you’ve made in the past, it hasn’t changed God’s call on your life at all. Your sins and your mistakes DO NOT change your calling!

The apostle Paul wrote, “[Jesus] considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:12b -13, NASB).

Paul is saying that he did a lot of really dumb, harmful stuff growing up. But haven’t we all? The reality is: Your sins and your mistakes DO NOT change your calling!

God is calling you. Have you been ignoring it? Maybe today it’s time to discover, develop and live God’s calling on your life.

Jeff Cranston is lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, S.C.