Highest Calling

Romans 12:10 NLT Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring one another.

Have you ever wondered what your ultimate purpose is as a follower of Christ? The concept of the highest calling is a topic that has been contemplated and discussed by theologians, scholars, and believers for centuries. The biggest obstacle to fulfilling our calling is that we often misidentify what it really is. The Bible speaks of many noble callings and purposes, but Jesus perfectly summed up life’s purpose and the meaning behind all of scripture into two simple but profound commandments: to love God with all that we are, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40).

One dictionary definition of calling is “a strong urge toward a particular way of life or career.” The very word feels like a designation only for special people. But our highest calling isn’t a job we do, a title we earn, or a check we write. Our highest calling is not something to do but someone to be. It is to love others as Christ has loved us—unconditionally. While our faith leads us to accomplish good works, our first and highest calling is to be filled with God’s love and then be an expression of his love to everyone we meet. When we are, everything else—all the doing—begins to fall into place.

Loving God with our whole being results in pursuing His presence above all else and cherishing our fellowship with Him. Each of us longs to know and be known, to love and be loved. Even the most introverted among us feel the pull toward relationships. Created in God’s image, we are hardwired for a love relationship, just like the Father, Son, and Spirit love and delight in one another. When we fully devote ourselves to loving God and loving people, we live out God’s highest calling and fulfill the purpose for which we were created.

Our culture is characterized by a narcissistic preoccupation with self. We live in a world of self-absorption and entitlement, where it’s all about us. In that world, you could not hear a more radically different word than the words from 1 John 3:16, “we ought to lay down our lives for one another”.

The phrase “laying down our lives” easily evokes images of a once-in-a-lifetime noble and heroic act that most of us can’t imagine doing. We think of firefighters or rescuers who enter burning buildings or raging floodwaters, or missionaries to a foreign land who gave their lives for the gospel. But that is not what John is referring to because the very next verse reads, “If someone sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?” (V17). God’s love is best expressed in small, daily acts of meeting someone’s spiritual, emotional, or practical needs. God is calling us to be countercultural, to be willing to lay down our lives, to choose selflessness as an expression of what Christ did for each of us. Love sees the need of a friend, neighbor, or even an enemy, and does something about it.

When others interact with me, do they leave feeling more loved than before? Focus on connecting well so when you are with others, they receive God’s gift of love wrapped up specifically for them. Spend time in prayer, allowing God to influence and reprioritize what you view as most important. Let Him flood the dry and wounded places of your heart, allowing the Holy Spirit to fill you with his heart for those who desperately need someone to reveal God’s love to them. “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To subscribe email: info@livingoaksministry.com                                  Copyright 2024 Living Oaks Ministry

Gary and Sandy Anthony

Romans 13:8 NKJV Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

John 15:12-13 NLT This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Hebrews 10:24 NIV And let us consider how we to spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

1 John 4:16 NIV And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

John 13:34-35 TPT So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.

1 Peter 3:8 TPT Now, this is the goal: to live in harmony with one another and demonstrate affectionate love, sympathy, and kindness toward other believers. Let humility describe who you are as you dearly love one another.

1 John 4:9-12 NLT God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

Romans 13:8-10 NLT Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments say, You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet. These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Romans 12:9-10 NLT Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.

1 John 4: 18-20 NIV We love because he first loved us. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

1 John 2:10 NIV Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

Isaiah 54:10 GNT The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end; I will keep forever my promise of peace. So says the Lord who loves you.