Judy Garland was the child star of the Wizard of Oz. Her voice and talent have never been in question. She was born to be a star. However, she became famous way before she was a fully developed woman. She was shoved into her calling without the character she desperately needed to survive. She was only 13 years old (such a tender age for a girl) when she signed on with MGM. She was the ripe old age of 16 when she played Dorothy and was thrust into the spotlight. She was given nothing but chicken soup, black coffee, cigarettes, and diet pills to sustain her. Producers thought she was too fat.
She was rich, famous, and was invited to all the right parties. Yet, By the time Garland was 47 years old, she was nearly penniless, destitute, and deeply in debt. A life of self-doubt, substance abuse, and grueling physical and psychological torture had taken its toll. In June of 1969, Garland was found dead in her London apartment. The cause of death was an overdose of the drugs she had become addicted to as a child.
Calling without character will kill you; sometimes literally.
We have all witnessed it over and over again, both with child stars and people who finally achieve fame. When we find our identity in anything other than our Creator, it never ends well.
God has a calling for every single one of His children.
It may be a hidden calling or it may be a call to be on a stage. Every single call of God is a privilege. Every single call is needed. When someone has let God shape their character, everything they do will carry a bit of heaven with it. When someone looks at the work in front of them as a stepping stone to something great and gets upset when something great doesn’t come their way, it’s a sure sign character is lacking. God loves us enough to try to keep us low so we don’t destroy our lives and everything we touch.
God loves to put His people in power.
One of the greatest examples of this is Daniel. He was used to shape the world when God exalted him in Babylon. He was only a boy when he was carried away into captivity. God had a man in Daniel who was going to be true to Him. God let him be tested early with food. He chose not to defile himself with the king’s food and asked to be served vegetables instead. He was full of grace and was not pushy. He had a very important quality; tact. God let him grow up in that pagan land, and gave him time to have his character developed. It became so stellar, that jealous people knew the only way to take him down was to try to use his relationship with God against him. He cooperated with God and let God fulfill his destiny one day at a time. He never sought to be great. Daniel sought God. Therefore, God made him great.
Character (Greek definition)-proof of genuineness (“approval, through testing”), a brand of what is “tested and true.”
Dear Lord, help us all. I thought “saved by grace” meant it’s all done and I can live happily ever after. Well, on one hand we can, but on the other hand, God’s got some work to do.
I see people get saved and think they are ready to run a church or a ministry (I did). Sure enough, it may be their calling…someday.
Calling without character will kill you.
Joseph had a call on his life to run the country of Egypt and be the head of his family (as the authority in Egypt). God showed him his calling at seventeen through dreams. It didn’t happen for over a decade. God had to shape his character. It was brutal but so effective. He made him into one of the greatest men to walk the planet.
Moses was called to lead God’s people out of Egypt. He tried to do it on his own and murdered a man. He fled to the desert, and for forty years God shaped his character as he learned desert life and became small in his own eyes. God knows what He is doing, even when it seems crazy. Moses also became one of the greatest men in history.
Moses and Joseph ended well. They lived by faith and they died by faith.
Solomon and Saul are two men who didn’t go through much character training. Solomon worshipped idols and married over a thousand women. Saul lived in pride and ended up being an enemy to God. Both of them had successful lives from the outside but their character was a shipwreck.
Our character means more to God than our calling.
I have had to go through lots and lots of character building. I wasn’t disciplined correctly growing up (my parents did the best they knew how), so when God saved me, He had to hide me. He had to put me in the midst of a lot of different things to shape my character. Character building takes so much time. We are all in a horrible hurry to find our purpose.
Our purpose is to seek God and let Him worry about our purpose.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33
When we seek His kingdom and righteousness, He gives us all we will ever need or want. If all of us knew how bad our character was, we would quit. God doesn’t show it to us all at once. He is a good Father who disciplines and shapes us slowly. He is never cruel and He does not inflict more pain than is necessary.
In the same way, I used to spank my children out of love and compassion. I hated it every time, but I knew (because the Bible told me) discipline would save them from destruction. I knew it would eventually make them peaceful and happy (and it did). I did it by faith. Now I get to see the fruit of it in their lives.
Romans says it beautifully.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5
- Suffering
- Perseverance
- Character
- Hope
Suffering produces perseverance (we are easily discouraged and quick to give up). Prolonged suffering in the will of God produces something golden to God; character. How we suffer, shows the world (and us) what we believe faster than any other thing. Once we have character, we won’t care what God does in our lives. We will only care who God is and live from that place. That place is called “hope.”
Hope is a pinnacle. True hope means we are sure of God above all other things and we are single focused. When we have this kind of hope, God is free to pour His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
God longs to lavish us in love from the very beginning of our walk with Him. Think about how we feel when we bring our infant home from the hospital. Our hearts are bursting and we have nothing but good intentions toward that little human. We kiss and love on it all day long. We can never imagine having to spank that little perfect bottom…until about 18 months later.
Little Johnny turns into Chuckie. There is a self-monster inside that baby that would shoot us if he had a gun. That’s when a good mother digs in and looks past all the temper tantrums to see the man of God she is shaping that little soul to be. She will often seem or feel like the bad guy through the years but she keeps going by faith. Even if she is misunderstood and hated at times, she continues doing what is right for little Johnny. She loves him above herself. She gives herself for her son and tries to always do what’s best. That’s exactly how God shapes our character. He is willing to look bad in the short term for our long term good.
We all bring different gifts to the Body of Christ.
Some gifts, He will start using immediately. Deeper callings will take time. That’s ok. There is nothing wrong with the wait. The wait is never wasted. It is our Father’s joy to raise us right. He takes our cynical heart and lets us mature at the pace we are willing to let Him.
We are all anxious to fulfill our calling. Jesus wants to call us higher but He can’t if we barge toward the front.
But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 14:10-11
Character and humility go hand in hand. I wish I were further along in it. God is so faithful as He shapes our character. He is laser beam accurate as He shapes it and He will leave no stone unturned. God is not upset with our lack of character. However, I assure you, once we belong to Him, He will not leave us that way.
I had a dear friend say after she was saved, “I didn’t sign up for this.” Well, it doesn’t matter. Once we belong to God’s, it’s like getting on a rollercoaster. We may change our minds, but once the bar has locked and it’s moving, we ain’t gettin’ off.
Just like the rollercoaster; we can hunker down and hate it. Or, we can lift our hands and enjoy the ride.
