Recently, our family has begun using Charles Spurgeon’s “Morning & Evening: Daily Readings” for our family devotions. The other evening, we went through his devotion on 1 Corinthians 7.20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called”. For this month’s article, I would like to ‘reproduce’ this devotion in my own words and add some of my own ideas.

            Pastor Tom spent some weeks preaching the doctrine of providence. This aspect of who God is needs to be comforting to each us as we realize that God is indeed in control over all aspects of our life. In his devotion on the 1 Corinthians passage, Spurgeon elaborates on God’s providence in our callings in life and how we need to be content with where God has us. Being a pastor, I often hear from people what a holy and satisfying position I hold, and some have even suggested that my prayers would be more readily answered because of the Geneva robe I wear each week! How sad it is that people think the best way to live a life for God is only in pastoral ministry. If that were true, how many people would be shut out from glorifying God? As Spurgeon says, “Beloved, it is not office, it is earnestness; it is not position, it is a grace which will enable us to glorify God”. Our good Lord has called each of us to our position in life, and it is when we accept this position in life that we can begin to truly glorify God. A pastor does not have advantage over a farmer! We are each called to a certain place and situation in life and it is from there that we can truly glorify God.

            Some of my heroes of faith are not even pastors – they are laymen who seek to glorify God in all that they do. I realized this a few years ago, and it sent me spiraling into doubt over my call to the pastorate! However, the Lord has brought me to the place where I can really see how great these men and women are who glorify God in their positions as farmers, lawyers, teachers and stay-at-home mothers. It is these people who really do a lot of good ministry in the church – they are the good neighbors always willing to lend a hand … they are the good relatives always ready to give you whatever they have … they are the good folks in the community who are always ready to do what is best for where they live. Spurgeon says “God is glorified by our serving Him in our proper vocations”. Are you glorifying God in your providentially assigned vocation?

            An idea that I have been formulating for some time now is the “I/Me Covenant Family”. The basic premise of the idea is that the covenant family is still taught faithfully from many pulpits in the Reformed world, but many parents have taken the covenant family and have stripped off all parental sacrifice and total and absolute responsibility and left only the shell of doctrinal correctness taught to their children. No longer is there an appreciation that God has providentially called these parents to be parents – no, there are bigger and better things for them to do than sacrifice to be a Godly covenantal parent. The ‘good’ ones do this by involving their selves in so much ministry that their family suffers. One of my practical theology professors in seminary, Dr. Frank Kik, drilled in our heads from day one that we have first been called to be Christians, then husbands, and then, for some, fathers, and then pastors – and that should be how we arrange our lives. I wish Dr. Kik was still alive so he could preach that to the so many families who have abandoned their callings as spouses and parents in order to focus on another calling – and because of that, their other responsibilities fail. I believe the root cause of this idea – and, as I examine this, I notice how much these families suffers, and as these families suffer, so does the church – is the lack of knowledge of God’s calling in our lives.

            One of the beautiful practical applications of God’s providence in our lives is that we know without any shadow of doubt that we are right where God wants us. Shouldn’t this be cause for praise? Shouldn’t this be cause for worship? Why do so many of us try to buck off this providence and tread down a path of our own doing? We are not God, and never will be. Our sight will never be as good as His. Our knowledge will never be as complete as His is. Why is it that we can quote Romans 8.28 out of one side of our mouths, and out of the other side say and do the exact opposite?

            Take comfort! You are exactly where God wants you! As Christians, as we seek to faithfully follow the fullness of Biblical commands, we can take great comfort that we are right where God intends for us to be. For a South Carolina boy, that means right here in the heart of Georgia! For you, it may be something else, but whatever it may be, isn’t it great to be right where God wants you to be! Praise Him wherever you are, doing whatever you have been called to do, serving all that He has put in your way. May we learn this and do this, and may God be greatly praised for His loving and gracious providence.

Soli Deo Gloria, Pastor James