Be Faithful to Your Calling

Rose McCormick Brandon

I wrote an essay on spiritual warfare and submitted it to my denomination’s national magazine. After dropping the brown envelope in the mailbox, I berated myself for being foolish enough to risk rejection. All their writers are reverends. And, for the most part, their names are recognizable. And they’re all men, aren’t they?

Three or four weeks passed. A letter arrived from the editor.

“Thank you for sending your article. Please send more.”

Another editor, a man whose work I admired, sent a note: “Please keep your articles coming. I like your style and content. Your work requires almost no editing.”

Encouraging comments from these two men gave me the courage I needed to write more, and to learn more about the process of writing. I then wrote for many Christian magazines in the U.S. and Canada. (Quite a few of these are now defunct – such is the situation in the publishing world.)

I don’t want to paint too rosy a picture lest you think I had nothing but confirmations in my writing. The truth is that my church, for the most part, ignored my articles except for one man who, referring to a certain magazine, said, “I guess they’ll publish anything.” (Stinging comments like that sit in the mind in spite of my effort to forget them.) My greatest encouragers remain my husband, children and a circle of friends.

Whatever your calling, I’m guessing that you too experience both confirmation and rejection. Rejection often comes from the most unexpected sources.

In studying Joshua, a man who began life as a slave in Egypt, then became closest aide to the world’s greatest leader, Moses, and after forty years became his mentor’s replacement, I find this – he faithfully carried out God’s calling to claim the Promised Land and to divvy it up amongst the twelve tribes.

 “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” I Corinthians 4:2

Joshua was faithful to his calling.

Are you faithful to God’s call on your life?

Another point. Joshua never once exhibited jealousy or envy toward Moses. He wasn’t eager for Moses’ retirement so that he could take the reigns of the whole business and lead it according to his personal agenda. He was always on God’s agenda. Always.

Therefore . . . whatever accolades we receive, whatever snide remarks . . . the One who calls us says . . .

Be strong and courageous for you have a work to do. Deuteronomy 31:7

When you get discouraged in your calling remember . . . you’re not alone.

The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.

I Thessalonians 5:24

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One Good Word Makes all the Difference is available here.

A good word at the right time, whether spoken or written, gives hope to the discouraged and comfort to the broken- hearted. God words inspire us to follow in the footsteps of God and give us courage to remain faithful to Him. They heal our wounds and warm our souls. Long after we’ve forgotten the source of encouraging words, their influence remains because good words make themselves at home in our hearts for a lifetime.