You’ve got a High Calling

¹⁸ And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. ¹⁹ However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” ²⁰ And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.  Mark 5

In this passage the Lord had just set a demon-possessed man free.  Jesus had compassion on him and changed his life forever. The man responds the way many of us would; he wants to leave his home to follow the One who set him free. This is certainly noble but Jesus has other plans for the man.  Jesus wants him to stay home and share the good news of what Jesus had done for him with his friends and family. Being a true disciple, the man is obedient to what Jesus has called him to do.  

You may not be called to vocational ministry (being a pastor or a fulltime missionary for example) but you have a calling on your life.  It is the very same calling as the man in this passage.  “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”  This is God’s plan for church growth. More people are saved by this method than by mass crusades. Chances are you were introduced to Christ by one or two people sharing with you what the Lord had done for them.

Your life is your mission field. Whether you’re a mother, father, son, daughter, friend, co-worker or employer, your mission field is in your home, at your workplace and where you socialize. God has sovereignly placed you there and wants you to tend to that field.

This is a high calling. It may not be flying off to the Congo to save souls, but the souls in your own backyard are of equal value to your Heavenly Father. One thing that Americans have in common with the people of the Congo is that when either dies apart from Christ they perish. Our job is to snatch them from the fire by telling them the Good News of Jesus Christ!  

The man in Mark 5 wanted to go with Jesus so much that he begged Him. When Jesus denied him and told him to stay home, the man could have sulked and not done anything.  However the man was faithful to follow His Lord’s instruction, and the people of his region heard the Gospel.  Our job is to be faithful and bring the good news to those in our lives.  Time to ask ourselves, “Am I being faithful to my calling?”