Calling and Purpose

John the Baptist was my kind of guy. He had a beard. He ate unusual food. And he called people to repent, to be baptized, and to live for the Almighty. Now, while John’s calling was made clear before he was conceived, my calling has taken a more unexpected path. But either way, there’s freedom knowing that God’s purposes will be achieved no matter how things may look at the moment.

The Bible doesn’t record any of the conversations between John the Baptist and his parents Zacharias and Elizabeth when he was a little tyke. No doubt somewhere along the way they broke the news to him that God had big plans for his life. Hey, his calling was so special that the Lord sent an angel to deliver a message about him before he was even conceived (Luke 1:5–25).

That’s a big deal. There’s only a handful of times in the whole Bible when an angel arrived on the scene to predict the birth of a child. When it came to talking to John about his calling, maybe Elizabeth whispered the story in his ears while rocking him asleep like a baby. Perhaps when he was a toddler she told him about the time he leaped for joy in her tummy at the sound of his Aunt Mary’s voice because she was pregnant with his cousin Jesus the Messiah. Or maybe when his beard grew in and his hair grew out and he asked to get a trim, his father explained why that wasn’t an option. You see, John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Promised One, was called to be a Nazirite, which meant that he was never to cut his hair or drink wine or strong drinks. His lifestyle was a symbol of his godly calling. John must have come to understand his calling in his youth.

As an adult, John pursued his mission of preaching to and baptizing the masses. He never once compromised his calling. But some folks in his day didn’t go for his teaching (Matthew 14:3–5). John was eventually arrested and thrown into prison. While there, he might have wondered whether or not he had somehow missed his calling. He sent Jesus a message, asking, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3). Look, throughout his life, John the Baptist believed that his purpose was to announce that the Savior had arrived. If Jesus came to set us free, can you blame John for wondering what he was doing in prison?

While Jesus did affirm John’s prophetic role (Matthew 11:7–10), there’s a lesson here for you and me. When the Almighty calls us to do His will, we can rest assured that nothing will prevent His purposes from being accomplished — regardless of how lost or stuck we feel.

Taken from The Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible