You are Called to Be Loved

By Jeff Cranston

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 teaches us that each follower of Jesus has a calling and a purpose in life. And as we discover what those are, we find solid answers to the question, “What on earth am I here for?”

The first purpose of your life is to be loved by God.

The first purpose of your life is not to serve God, not to trust God, not even to obey God. The first purpose of your life is not even to love God. Whoa! The first purpose of your life is to let God love you—to have that immeasurable love of God flowing into your heart and life.

We have been created by God to be receptacles, receivers and benefactors of His love. God didn’t create you in the first place to do something. He created you in the first place to receive something. If you understand this revolutionary truth, it’s going to transform your life. 

The first call of your life is to enjoy a relationship with God. 

The number one calling in your life is not to a role, not to a responsibility, not to a bunch of rules and regulations, not to ritual, and not to religion. It’s to a relationship.

This may surprise some of you: Christianity is not a religion. Now, we’ve done our best over the centuries to make it a religion. But Jesus never came to earth, never went to the cross, never rose from the dead in order that He might establish a religion. Jesus invites us to a relationship. God sent Jesus to us so you could have a relationship, not a religion, with Him.

What kind of relationship does God want you to have with him? Has God called you exclusively to be his slave? No. His servant? No. His soldier fighting for right and wrong? Nope. Has God called you exclusively to be his warrior? No. His worker? No. Has God called you to be his employee? No. How about His underling? No. God has called you to be His daughter. God has called you to be His son.

In Romans 1:7, Paul writes, “I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people.”

The relationship that God created you for is to be His son or His daughter!

That is the most amazing truth you will ever hear in your life! The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator of the universe, doesn’t want you to be His slave, servant, soldier, but His son, His daughter, His child.

1 John 3:1 says,  “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”

Your number one purpose in life is not to accomplish something. Your number one purpose in life is not to make something of yourself or to make a lot of money or achieve fame. Your number one purpose in life? God created you and called you to be loved by Him and to experience that love. 

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