Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. John 6:35-38
How do you think Jesus knew his personal calling? Often, I think we dismiss the process Jesus went through to discover his personal calling as the Saviour of the World. I’m not of the opinion Jesus knew who he was from birth, nor do I think the Father dropped this information into his subconscious one night in a dream. I believe Jesus went through a human process of discovering the will of God as he learned the way of his Father in Heaven and stepped into his purpose through obedience and empowerment by the Holy Spirit. This is how Jesus shows us the way of finding our personal calling.
With that in mind, reread today’s passage.
Perhaps Jesus discovered his personal calling from the story of his birth and the way his life matched up with all the prophecies in the Old Testament. Perhaps Jesus learned from his mother and father as they told him who he was and as he noticed his unique qualities starting to develop over time. Perhaps Jesus marvelled at the level of love and compassion he gained for every person on the face of the planet. Here, we see Jesus uncovered how his deep purpose was to submit himself to this world and offer his life for the benefit of others like bread.
We, like Jesus, can discover our personal calling by noticing some of the same things. We can map out our story and ponder the nuances that are uniquely characteristic of us. We can explore what makes us angry, breaks our heart, or moves us to action. We can layer our story over our passion over our talents (see yesterday’s Daily post) and we may be able to identify the area God can designed us to engage in for his Kingdom Renewal. Take a few minutes today to look at where your story, passion, and talents overlap by answering these questions:
- What have you experienced in your life that has shaped who you are?
- What makes you most angry, sad, disheartened about the world at large?
- What talents do you have to offer in this area of passion?
- How might you step into this space this week?
By Yvonne Biel
