Vibrant: A Life of Callingनमूना

The call to live a vibrant life is not, at its core, about what you choose to do, but rather it is about who you choose to be. You are called to be like God. When someone imitates God, it is as much about duplicating His actions as it is about disciplining their heart to match His loving and kind heart. 

It is impossible for a person to imitate someone whom they have never observed. In order for you to imitate the Father, you must observe Him, and the way that you are able to do that is by reading your Bible. If you want to know the heart of God, read the Word.

As the Lord’s dearly loved children, we are the recipients of His kindness, grace, and mercy; as those who have been instructed to imitate Him, we should also be the vehicles through which His kindness, grace, and mercy flow. We should be splashing kindness on people like it’s free…because it is! We should be running over with grace like it is abundant…because it is! We should be throwing around love like it is easy…because it is! And we should be slow to anger because we learned that from our Dad. The same Father who is slow to grow angry at your shortcomings will give you His emotional DNA to enable you to be slow to anger as well. What a wonderful life we are called to drench ourselves in!

You are so unconditionally and thoroughly loved by the One who fathered you that He could think of no better or more appropriate name than the precious identity of Beloved, which in Greek is agapetos. The root of this word is agape, which describes the love of God toward His children. Agape is an unconditional, thorough, complete, and enthusiastic love from the Father that blankets us with His character. Agapetos, which is your God-given name, means “beloved, esteemed, dear, favorite, worthy of love.”

I hope that starting today, you will wear your name, Beloved, with honor and joy. I hope that you will declare your name out loud when the enemy tries to rename you with a lie. My prayer is that you will know who you are and you will know the God whom you are imitating.

Practical application:

Write to Carol at carol@carolmcleodministries.com and let her know how she can pray for you to live a vibrant and abundant life.