The theological roots of this concept of “vocation” are found in the biblical doctrine of creation and divine sovereignty. We are by God’s creative decree shaped in His image and thus designed to reflect in all our endeavors the purposeful activity of God Himself. All Christians, therefore, should ideally embrace their “work”, however secular and uneventful it may appear, as a calling of God, a responsibility for which they have been uniquely endowed that is designed in its own way to glorify God. One’s “job” or “career” or “occupation” thus has a meaning beyond mere personal fulfillment. “Ministry” is therefore not what the majority of Christians perform as “a discretionary time activity – something done with the few hours that can be squeezed out of the week’s schedule after working, sleeping, homemaking, neighbouring, washing and doing the chores” (Stevens, The Other Six Days, 132). It is, rather, all of life when discharged in faith.
Sam Storms

80 RIGHT WITH GOD

80 RIGHT WITH GOD F O O T ================================

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READING

80 RIGHT WITH GOD

PRAY Open my eyes, dear Lord to see the beauty and the vastness of your truth. Take my breath away with the wonder of it. —————————————————————- READ Romans 5:1-11. —————————————————————- THINK What might a person expect once he or she has been put right with God? —————————————————————- FOCUS Have you ever climbed through a forest up the side of a mountain? Patiently you make your way through the gloomy undergrowth, clearing the obstructions; then, suddenly, you break out on the summit; you are in clear air, the view is breathtaking, all is free and open. That is how it is as we come to this point in the epistle. In the first four chapters Paul has led us through the dark ways of sin in the human heart and shown what it does to the world; he has pointed out the blind alleys of attempts to please God by keeping the law. Now we reach chapter 5. Look at the view! See what it means to be ‘put right with God through faith’ (1). OVERRIDING PEACE (1,2). Sometimes quarrelling nations make a ‘peace’ which is only a cover for continuing strife and disputes; but the peace with God, which Jesus has made possible is absolute and final. No outside power can break or disturb it. OVERCOMING HOPE (3-5). Once we are right with God everything else falls into place; even our troubles become the raw material from which we develop endurance and hope. OVERWHELMING LOVE (6-10). ‘Is God really a God of love?’ The answer is in verse 8. Questions about God have to be looked at in the light of Christ’s death. OVERFLOWING PRAISE (11). Instead of being enemies of God, we are at peace with him. Now that’s something to celebrate (11)! Praise is the outcome of faith. —————————————————————- PRAY Open your mind and spirit to praise God for the initiative he has taken to win people’s love.