If someone can talk you into it, someone else will talk you out of it

Your God-given calling is likely to be tested. Yours may be a call in business, education, government, community service, the church, your family, your neighborhood, the arts, entertainment, media, sports or a combination of two or more. No matter what your vocation, it is inevitable that there will come a time when you begin to doubt yourself and what God has called you to do. If you are like me, you have gone through times of doubt as you struggled to find a sense of purpose in your life’s work. You may begin to doubt if you have a calling at all. Don’t despair! God will not call you to something he does not give you the grace to do.

Eric Liddle was a Scottish runner who competed in the 1924 Olympics. He had a calling as a missionary, but he also had a calling to run. When he was challenged by his sister to go immediately to serve as a missionary in China rather than competing in the Paris Olympics, Eric said, “God has made me to be a missionary, aye, but he has made me fast, and when I run, I feel God’s pleasure” (From the movie, Chariots of Fire). He knew that for this particular point in time, God had called him to run, and when he ran, he felt God’s pleasure. What do you do that makes you feel God’s pleasure?

You must know you are called by God. Then you can say, along with Paul, the apostle, that you are “chosen by the will of God…” (1 Cor. 1:1) and “not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself…” (Gal. 1:1) If someone can talk you into something, someone else will talk you out of it. You must know that God has called you.