Do you ever feel discouraged with your direction in life? Maybe even in your spiritual life, you feel like church is the weekly fill-up but it doesn’t really move you forward? We all reach that point at different stages in life. We are seeking for a calling, a direction or a purpose for the things we are taking on daily. A reason for change or a reason to stay the course. We crave motivation.

And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.” Matthew 4:19

In a very significant way, the thing that brought us into the Jesus-follower movement is the same thing that keeps us here; we found a Teacher that shows us truth, gives us hope and demonstrates His care for us. That part is a constant. It’s easy to take for granted, but it is still central to our relationship with Him.

Older men are to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Titus 2:2-8

This series of directions from Paul’s letter to his coworker Titus shows us that there are stages in our lives where our function in the Church changes, not because of our personal desire for change or mere superficial boredom, but because the role we are occupying changes.

Here’s my suggestion: if you feel uncomfortable in the place where you are, it may be because you’ve outgrown it. It’s not that the role itself no longer has any value but that you now have a new purpose, a new challenge to take on.

We need to move toward that; waiting for change to come hurts more than any discomfort we would ever feel stretching into a new role! You already had your calling, now it’s time for the next phase.

Ethan Kirl

Originally Published October 29, 2020