Hope in a Calling

by Alecia Klauk
(Chapin, SC)

The deaf hear. The lame walk. The blind see.

Did you know these miracles are still happening, right now, in the world we live in? They do. Often, in fact. Everyday, I suspect.

God is still in the business of working miracles.
There are modern stories about angelic appearings and miraculous deliverance. I have even read of the dead being raised.

Indeed, God is still working. He's busy making Himself visible in a dark world.

So what's the biggest miracle? Ears opened, eyes unveiled, the dead raised?

I think there is a winner on the miracles scale. But it may not be what you expect. Wanna know what I think it is?

Ladies and Gentlemen, the most fantastic, wonderful, extreme, miraculous miracle is (drum roll, please) ...

Me. You. The Redeemed.

Huh? Bear with me a sec. Let me explain what I mean.

In my estimation, there is no greater miracle than a heart transformed. This has become very clear to me lately. The greatest miracle is of the heart.

On my own, without the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit, I am full of incredible depravity. I am selfish and completely self-centered. I want what I want and I want it now, in fact, yesterday would have been better. I seek my own way, push my will, even defend my wanderings. There's a fancy word for all that: sin. But it's really just humanity at its worst. And it's all we know on our own.

To take that feeble, self-imploded heart and do anything of value with it: that is the most profound miracle.

I've gotten a glimpse of this lately as I've seen God open new doors to me in ministry. New places He wants me to walk, new words to fill my mouth, new hands to reach out to touch. He's been whispering to me to put my seat belt on for a fantastic new ride, and I trust that this leg of my journey with Jesus will be a fun adventure.
I know He is leading.

Here's the cool part: I want to go. I want to follow. Don't minimize that. This is simple but a really big deal.

Let's think this through together. Keep in mind the yuck that would be in me without the residency of Jesus.

I left an event this week where I got to serve little ones in desperate need, to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, to be an advocate for the oppressed. As I left, my heart was bubbling over with joy unspeakable and full of glory. I felt so good. And then it hit me.

Even the good I was feeling, even just that simple emotion, was not of me! It was a gift to me as much as anything else.

My heart that only seeks to serve itself found joy in serving someone else.

I postulate to you that there is no greater miracle.

There is great hope in the calling that Jesus has placed on each of our lives. We have work to do, assignments from the King, skills to employ, and gifts to exercise. But please don't ever miss that your desire is not your own. It has been given to you.

Some of my favorite images from the Bible are the biggies: creation from nothing, the Red Sea parting, Jericho's walls crashing down, Lazarus coming forth. Heart racing, lump in my throat exciting, take my breath away kind of stuff.

But as wonderful, literally full of wonder, those things are, they pale in comparison to the miracles of the heart. Creation of hunger for Jesus out of nothing. The sea of selfishness parting. The walls of defensiveness crashing down. The dead in sin brought to new life.

Flesh this out a bit with some real people.

A shaking, stuttering Moses figures out how to lead that rowdy bunch. Ruth is willing to look a fool on that threshing floor. Rahab risks the exposure of her reputation to follow a God she didn't know. Scoundrel Jacob leads, just leads. David crawls out of the depths of remarkable indiscretion. Gideon triumphs.

Seriously? These are God's chosen people, His chosen leaders? Really? Could He not do any better? Were the real capable leaders on vacation or something?

Let's keep going. Peter, impetuous to the core, finds temperance and grace. Thomas gets a backbone. Mary anoints Jesus with a fragrance that may have been a lingering, comforting reminder of her love for our Christ as He hung on the cross. Paul quits persecuting followers of the Way and becomes a leader of it!

Again, it is this ragamuffin group that God used to build His church on. Do you ever wonder why? Why did He choose to use such unlikely people: scared, selfish, and prone to all kinds of evil?

I think He did it to give the rest of us hope. If Moses was scared and did it all anyway, maybe I can too. If Mr. Doubting Thomas could find some faith and give us one of the greatest declarations of Jesus' deity, maybe I can find my voice, too. If David could repent and return, maybe I too will be received again. There is such hope in knowing that God uses the lowest among us to do the most amazing things.

And maybe, since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He may also see fit to use anything in my peonic little life. And can I say: your peonic little life. Our submitted, seeking little lives that He can use for His glory: that is a great miracle.

And so I am now seeking, in the midst of season of great excitement and potential for growth and fresh service, to bow down low and know I have no right to anything. I have no claim to usefulness. I have no ability to do anything on my own. Again, back to the self seeking yuck again. I must despair of myself and seek only Christ.

And I am again reminded that the miracle of the heart is the most profound work of God. I want Jesus. I want to serve Him. I want to know nothing save Christ and Him crucified. I want Him to get all the glory.

Beloved, those desires are rooted in the same power that raised Jesus from the dead! It is that great power at work within me, within you, to will and to work the will of God. I am overwhelmed by the base knowledge that I am nothing, not one thing, without my Jesus.

So, my heart seeks to maintain a posture of worship, bowed down low, begging to remove myself from my own awareness, and wanting people to see only Jesus.

Isn't this full of hope? Do you not feel the accessible miracle that God can work something huge and miraculous out of your life?

Moses. Joshua. Jacob. Rahab. Mary.

Alecia. Emily. Tara. Amy. Liz.

All nothings in the hands of Something. Someone. Maybe it's not all that different now than it was with Adam in the very beginning. God takes nothing and makes something beautiful out of it. He makes us in His image, and we begin to so resemble our Daddy so much that people see Him in us. I disappear. He shows up. Miracle.

Dive in. Despair of yourself and know that we will be used only when we aren't impressed with our own press. Get on your face and seek your King. Beg to get out of the way so that only He can be seen.

And get ready. The miracles are coming....