As we mentioned last week, the very nature of our profession involves the pressure to compromise our calling. You are called by a divine power to act within time for a purpose that challenges the way of life of most of the world. To go against the stream is going to be costly. The truth is that that cost rarely comes in the form of dramatic choices. It is usually in the mundane, ordinary challenges of daily life. However, little by little, these small choices begin to wear on your spirit. If the biographies of our great spiritual leaders are evidence, there will be a number of times in your life when you will find yourself wondering “what’s the point?” Let me suggest some small steps when you experience those feelings.
First step. Recall your story of your call. It may have come as a growing awareness or a dramatic moment, but it happened. Either with a trusted friend or by writing or computer, try to describe your sense of call. Put into words how you experienced it. As you describe it, try to include what you thought you were being called to. What was the purpose toward which you were called.
Second step. Once you have recalled both the experience and the understanding of the time of the purpose of your call, now describe any changes that have occurred over time in your understanding of that call.
Third, read the story of Jesus temptation in Matthew 4:1-11. Note that this happened immediately after Jesus baptism in which his call was affirmed. As you reflect on the story, how would you describe the temptations to compromise his call that Jesus experienced. Note, by the way, that it was the Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness. Being tempted to compromise is not necessarily evil in itself.
Fourth, begin to identify some of the pressures or temptations that you experience in the ministry to compromise your call.
We will continue this conversation tomorrow.
