If the call of God is an expression of his nature, and not our own, how are we to answer it? Paul writes that he went out to preach the gospel when God called. The call was God’s; the preaching was Paul’s interpretation of it, an action fitted to Paul’s own nature. Paul had always been able to preach, but now, having received the Holy Spirit, he began to use his gift for God’s purposes.
This is what service means: God’s nature awakening and filtering through our own. God’s own nature is supernatural, but our acts of service to him are always part of our natural lives. We may be called to serve him in big ways or in small, through the seemingly unimportant tasks that fill our days. The size of the act doesn’t matter. If we perform it as an act of service, it becomes a sacramental expression. To serve God is the deliberate love gift of a nature that has heard his call.
If I have received God’s nature, if the Holy Spirit dwells inside me, I will hear the most beautiful echo when God calls, the voice from outside resounding on the inside, the two joining together to help me do his work. When the life of Jesus is revealed in me in this way, I will serve God’s purposes all the time, pouring myself out in superabounding devotion to him.
