Content In Your Calling

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.”

 John 4:34-38, NIV.

Do you know that you have been placed on this earth with a specific calling from God? Do you know what that calling is?  Jesus addresses how we should walk in our calling in the above passage.

This brief teaching moment came just after Jesus had ministered to the woman at the well in verses 7 through 26.  Jesus had come to the well tired and thirsty (v.6), and from all we know He never did get the drink that He had requested.  However, when Jesus had finished speaking to the woman and the disciples had returned, we see a new energy in Jesus.  The disciples urged Him to eat, and He stated, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 

What was Jesus referring to?  Where did He get this sudden burst of energy? We find the answer in verses 34 through 38.  Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish his work.”  Jesus was saying that as long as he did what he was called to do then the Lord would always take of him and provide for everything he needed.  He even found that he was not as tired and thirsty as he had been previously.

The next few verses begin to describe people who have taken their focus off of their calling.  “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’?”  In this statement Jesus was referring to those who continually make excuses as to why that are not doing God’s will.  People say things like, “Well, they probably won’t go all the way and pray the prayer, so I just won’t say anything.”  Or  “I just don’t know that I would have the right words to say, so I will let someone else come along and talk to them.”  Or insert all of the other excuses in the book as to why people don’t obey God’s call.

Friends, the truth is you were all placed on this earth with a specific calling, and no one can fulfill the calling like you can.  God gave you your gifts and abilities for a specific reason, and he will bless you when you step out and do his will.

Jesus said that there will be some who sow and others will reap.  Many don’t step out in their calling because they might not see the results that someone else is seeing.  When in reality, Jesus said that some have only been called to plant the seed and may never witness the harvest.  Friends, it is not your job to compare your success (or lack thereof)  with the success of others.  You cannot allow yourselves to quit when you can’t even get one person to pray a prayer while your neighbor seems to be reaping a great harvest.

If you have been called to sow and plant, then plant seeds every chance you get.  If you have been called to water the seed through kind words, acts of obedience, and encouragement then water every seed you can find.  Jesus never expected everyone to do the same thing and to reap the same harvest.  We can’t all be arms or legs or heads.  But we all have a part to play in the body of Christ.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Galatians 6:9, 10, NIV.

This verse from Galatians encourages us to continue doing God’s work and to never give up.  I can promise you one thing.  If you don’t do God’s work, you won’t see results. If you give up prematurely, you won’t reap the benefits.  But God has promised that if we are faithful to do the things to which he has called us, we will reap a harvest.  But it might just be that someone else is the reaper.  Everyone’s harvest looks different, and it is not our job to compare our harvest with another.  It is only our duty live out God’s calling on our life with fervency and urgency, and God will provide and bless.

When the woman at the well left and went back into the town, she began telling everyone about her experience with the Christ.  Some believed, but still some needed more proof.  But as the doubters came and personally heard the words of Christ they, too, believed.  The woman went home with a new-found calling, but her calling was not to convert everyone.  It was simply to testify and lead them to Christ. 

John the Baptist had a great ministry, but even he admitted that he was simply a forerunner for the Messiah.  He was content to be a water-baptizer.  He was not trying to be the Christ, nor was he trying to reinvent the baptism wheel.  He knew from the beginning that Jesus was going to come and do much greater things than he and even baptize in a new way.

Friends, let me encourage you to find out what God’s calling is for your life, and then do it.  Don’t try to imitate someone else.  Don’t seek to be someone you are not called to be.  Do what God has called you to do and be nourished and content as you fulfill his purpose.