READ: 2 Corinthians 1:1 NLT
'This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.'
Paul had a stormy relationship with the church in Corinth. He had had the privilege of establishing the church in that busy and famously immoral city but they gave him a consistently hard time. It is, therefore, crucial for Paul to establish the reason why he is writing this letter. He is doing so because he is sure that he has been chosen by God for this role. Humanly speaking I’m sure he would have loved to have steered well clear of them. But Paul is committed to doing whatever God called him to do, however tough it might be.
It is vital for us all to know what God is calling us to do. I remember a ministers’ meeting years ago. About fifteen of us were present and we all shared how we had heard the call of God to become ministers. It was fascinating and probably very different from what you would imagine. A couple of people could point to a particular verse of Scripture which was important for them and which had clarified their call to ministry. Others spoke of the way in which they had been encouraged by others to explore ministry. One person said that he had entered ministry because his mother told him to. And a couple of others couldn’t now remember how it had all begun. What was significant was that they were all absolutely clear that they had been called by God to minister.
Paul’s call to follow Christ on the road to Damascus was clear and decisive and many people seem to want a similar blinding flash of light. But the reality is that God calls us to serve him in an incredibly wide variety of ways. If you go and talk to youth leaders, or Sunday school teachers, or Street Pastors I will guarantee that they will all have a very different story of how God called them. God doesn’t have just one way of speaking to us. He meets us as individuals and lets us know what he wants us to do.
QUESTION: What has God called you to do?
PRAYER: Thank you, loving Lord, that you have called us to serve you and that you promise to equip and strengthen us as we obey you. Amen.

Released on 7 Dec 2020