Is God Calling You?

One of the fundamental principles of Christianity is that no one becomes a Christian of his or her own volition.

For a religion built around the instruction to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19), that condition might seem a bit limiting—but Jesus was emphatic:

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).

No one includes you and me.

Oh, we can call ourselves Christians and go to a Christian church without God’s involvement, but the actual motivation to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ doesn’t start with us.

And that distinction matters, because just looking Christian isn’t enough in the end. Jesus was emphatic on that point too:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Many will say that to Christ.

Not a few. Many.

They’ll have done some impressive, Christian-looking things. They’ll have checked a lot of the boxes. But Jesus will call them out for “practicing lawlessness”—living a life that habitually disregards God’s standards and instructions.

“Many are called,” Jesus told the crowds who followed Him, “but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).

What is a calling, exactly?

In Christianity, “called” and “calling” can take on an almost mystical aura: words laden with deep meaning but never clearly defined.

But maybe you’re reading this article because you’ve found yourself wondering, “Is God calling me?”

And if that’s the question on your mind, enigmatic jargon and fuzzy definitions aren’t much help.

Paul’s writings remind Christians to “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1), remembering that God “called us with a holy calling” (2 Timothy 1:9).

It sounds important.

It is important.

But what does it mean?

In a world where many are called and few are chosen—and where the seemingly straightforward act of coming to Jesus is a process that can be initiated only by God Himself—and where, ultimately, Jesus will openly disavow any connection with those who claim to be His followers but disregard God’s commandments—there’s a need for clarity when it comes to talking about a calling.

In biblical Greek, to call someone is “to urgently invite someone to accept responsibilities for a particular task, implying a new relationship to the one who does the calling” (Louw and Nida Greek-English Lexicon, 33.312). The calling itself is an “invitation to experience of special privilege and responsibility” (Bauer, Danker, Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, “klēsis”).

When God calls us, He invites us to enter into a special relationship with Him, complete with new privileges and responsibilities. God’s calling is an invitation to live forever in His Kingdom as His sons and daughters.

(Learn more in our free booklet The Mystery of the Kingdom.)

Paul urged Timothy to “fight the good fight of the faith” and so “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called” (1 Timothy 6:12, English Standard Version). He said it is an “irrevocable” calling (Romans 11:29)—one which God will not retract once offered. He talked about “the hope of His calling,” anchored in “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” and “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-19).

God’s calling is huge, and it is precious, and how we respond to it has eternal consequences.

But we can’t initiate it.

We can’t, through our actions, compel God to call us—or call anyone else, for that matter. We can only choose how we respond.

How can you recognize a calling?

So . . . is God calling you?

That’s a great question.

The bad news is that I don’t know the answer.

The good news is that you probably do.

God’s calling may not show up in our lives as a physical invitation in the mail, but that doesn’t make it some undetectable, unknowable thing. Remember what Jesus said?

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”

That process of being drawn toward something—that’s something we experience. We feel it; we’re aware of it. God has to light the spark within us, but the flame that results is real and tangible.

Do you find yourself asking questions about God you never wondered about before? Are you driven by a need to understand why you’re here and why the world is the way it is? Does the future you see on the horizon leave you feeling disconcerted or discontent?

If those questions are pulling at you in a way they never used to—if you’re opening the pages of the Bible and finding yourself peering closer and pondering deeper—then there’s a good chance that’s all courtesy of the Father drawing you in.

Piercing the veil between spirit and flesh

Paul wrote about a spiritual barrier that naturally exists between us and God’s Word—an incompatibility between our natural human minds and the spiritual truths our Creator wants to share with us. “The outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so” (Romans 8:7, NET Bible).

There’s a veil that exists between humanity and God, preventing us from seeing and understanding spiritual things. “Only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” (2 Corinthians 3:14-16, ESV).

Without God’s intervention, none of us is inclined to turn to the Lord. But that all changes when He calls us and draws us. He begins to pull back the veil we didn’t even know existed and starts to show us truths we didn’t realize we were missing.

But flesh is flesh, and spirit is spirit. The natural hostility of our human nature doesn’t just vanish. The incompatibility still exists between us and God.

So what do we do?

If it weren’t for God’s mercy, the answer would be “nothing.” There’s nothing we can do from our side to bridge that gap. But God provides us with a way forward:

“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38).

The goodness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). After we acknowledge and repent of our sins—the “lawlessness” Jesus identified in those He “never knew”—the process of baptism opens the door to yet another gift from God:

The Holy Spirit.

His Holy Spirit, placed within us, slowly transforming us from the inside out—helping us to overcome our sinful habits, removing our human imperfections and helping us to build perfect, godly character.

The unveiling

Because of these needed changes, it can be a bumpy road when God begins to call us. This is the transformation He is drawing us toward, unveiling spiritual things by His Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

He wants to help you become like Him.

Because He wants to offer you eternity. Never-ending life as His child. A future of beauty and hope and purpose.

We can refuse, of course. God won’t strong-arm us into that future. He lights the spark, but we still need to feed the fire. He draws, but we still need to step forward. He calls, but we still need to answer.

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,” said Jesus—but that’s not the end of the story.

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44, emphasis added).

Jesus had already told the crowds something similar: “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (verse 40).

If God is calling you, there’s a reason.

He has a future and a hope to share with you.

Want to dig deeper? Our free “Journey Starter Pack” will take you on a 28-day journey to explore who God is, what He’s doing with us, why it can be so difficult and what we need to be doing in the process.