Gifts and Callings

This post is not about what you think it’s about from reading the title, and in fact it’s about something far more edifying and important. Did you think for instance that the title implied something about having spiritual gifts and being called to preach or to exercise those spiritual gifts? If you did, it’s understandable, but let’s look at something more important here. In speaking of the reality that God will eventually turn again to Israel, to restore his people of old, the apostle Paul said something very integral to the faith of every believer: “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Rom. 11:29). This is one of the most emphatic statements in regard to the very essence of God, that is in the Bible, and also a vastly overlooked statement. To understand this beautiful declaration of truth, we must realize first that the ‘repentance’ mentioned in the verse is referring to God, and not to man. What it means is that when God calls someone to come to him and serve him, or when he gives something; he does not change his mind! To repent means to turn away from something, and God is not double minded that he would turn away from what he has purposed. Want to know why the earth is still going round, with all of the vast corruption and moral decay that is present therein? Because "the gifts and calling of God is without repentance.” God made the earth and all that is in it, and gave it to man to have dominion over, and to have thankful blissful fellowship with him while doing so. Man has messed everything up, and still God has not turned from his good intent toward him, and therefore the opportunity is still available. God gave man the capacity of free will, and the ability to choose, and man has chosen to be opposed to both God and himself, through unbelief and disobedience to the will of God for his own good.

God sent his Son to make a way for fallen man to be reconciled back to himself, and escape the penalty of disobedience, which is to be separated from fellowship and communion with God. Man has rejected that way, and still God “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing for any to perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Pet. 3:9). God is so good that he will allow you to have your own way against his will, if that is what you prefer. And that is exactly what the whole world has done, and so man has reaped God’s judgments against his sins and unbelief (Gen. 18:25; Psm. 105:7). So if God is so good, as to give man his own way, why does he still judge him for his sins? Because "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” No one can be saved apart from being a partaker of true holiness, and God judges man for his sins so that he might see the folly of his ways and repent before it is too late to do so, and be saved ultimately (Heb. 12:8-10,14; Mat. 5:8; I Jn. 3:3). But the deepest beauty of our text scripture [Rom. 11:29] is this: Has God ever done anything for you, or given you anything? Well that’s really a stupid question, but I’ve asked it for a reason. The truth is he has done EVERYTHING FOR ALL OF US, and he has GIVEN EVERYTHING TO ALL OF US. And if he has called you and put faith in your heart toward him, well that’s just some seriously sweet icing on an already delicious cake, now isn’t it? Seeing that the answer to both of these questions is unequivocally YES, then everything is settled. He is obviously FOR YOU, so, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31,32) If God has called you and given you a drawing to seek him, he has not and will not change his mind about it. Period!

God has never changed his mind about the people that he has made upon the earth, he has never changed his mind about Israel, and he has never changed his mind about you or I. He wants and intends nothing but good for all of the above (Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17; Heb. 13:8). God is love, and he never stops being love (I Jn. 4:8). We on the other hand have the ability to choose to continue to respond to his call and goodness, or to turn away from it in unbelief. Only we can deprive ourselves of the untold joy of being in fellowship with the Creator, and being a partaker of the exceeding great benefits of doing his will in our lives, and making him the love of our life (Psm. 103:3-6; Psm. 37:4). He is also gracious enough to let us take that path if it is what we would rather do. He is also gracious enough to judge us for our unbelief so that we might realize both the desolation of being without his fellowship, and the obvious betterment of being with it (I Cor. 11:31,32). So in the end it comes down to this: We can absolutely trust God completely, that he is all power, and that he has nothing but love and good in mind for us. If we do this and obey his will, then “as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Cor. 2:9). So what is the result of our depriving God of the love and bliss that he longs to share with us, and depriving ourselves of the glory of personally experiencing that love and glory daily? “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8). It’s God’s world and God’s plan my friend, and all of his plans for us are nothing but good. To reject that kind of enduring love and longsuffering, and to refuse to submit to that grace for our own good, is well worthy of the reward earned. And so it is for the reward of the faithful who have reciprocated that love and continued to do so, regardless of the price (II Cor. 3:12; Rev. 12:11). Amen.