But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, "You are my servant"; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. -Isaiah 41:8, 9
Here the Lord is reminding the people of the history of Israel and how that God went about calling certain people to accomplish His will and purpose. Just as God called Abraham and Isaac, so He also called Jacob – later to be called Israel. That divine calling was then extended to all of Jacob’s descendants, and the call of God is now extended to the entire world – to all who will put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a club with limited membership. Rather, it is intended to be shared with all people; everyone is compelled to come in, and all people are invited to put their faith in Christ.
In the midst of this comes that individual calling: God reaching out to you and me on an individual basis. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” The Lord has always been about singling people out for coming into His kingdom, and the Lord has always been endeavoring to call people into service in His kingdom. Christ is still calling people to come and follow. Just as He called the first disciples, so He calls us today. Resist the temptation to be alike a lot of people who think they can just try Christianity on for size, and if they don’t like it, they can just walk away. The call of God doesn’t work like that at all. Jesus made it clear that we are either in or out; on His side or on the other side; for Him or against Him. When it comes to service in Christ’s kingdom we are called to be wholly and totally committed. There can be no sitting the fence in the Lord’s kingdom. He has called us; singled us out for His service, and we are challenged to follow Him. Our lives will never be the same when we take that step of faith and begin to follow the Lord Jesus. As Jesus’ followers we will suffer persecution, the world will hate us, we may be mocked and ridiculed, and we may even be martyred for our faith. But in the end we gain eternal life, and while we are here we have the peace of God in our hearts.
Jesus posed the question about what it profits a man if he gains the entire world but forfeits his soul (Mark 8:36). We might gain the world and all it has to offer, but if we forfeit our eternal souls we have lost everything. Following Jesus is not something we put on then take off. We are called to put on Christ, take up His cross daily, and follow Him. Have you ever owned an article of clothing, a shirt perhaps, and one day you were out and you saw someone else wearing the same shirt? And you didn’t like what you saw, so you no longer wanted to wear the shirt? God forbid that we treat Christianity that way. There are people in the world who are not doing a good job of representing Christ to the world, but we cannot allow that to discourage us. We are called to take the faith with the utmost seriousness, and we are called to be the light of Jesus in a sin-darkened world.
