Just as I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, to remain on at Ephesus so that you would instruct certain people not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to useless speculation rather than advance the plan of God, which is by faith, so I urge you now. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:3-5
“Our specific vocation is God’s greatest gift to us. It is the reason for our being created, and is therefore our sure way to happiness. From all eternity the Lord provides each one of us with all the graces necessary to correspond with His will. From the moment the Almighty directly creates each unique and immortal soul, and bestows on this new person a body as well through the cooperation of the parents, He wants something what will have importance in His sight from this gift of life. The greatness of man consists in discerning this will of God and in carrying it out. Each person is called to collaborate with the order of creation and to forward the divine plan of redemption.”
Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 7 (London: Scepter, 1993) 284-285.
On this Saturday, I write to remind everyone to remain faithful in the work God made you to do and in playing the part in the larger story that God made you to play.
That work, your vocation, is God’s gift to you. And you fulfilling your calling is your gift to the world that needs to know the love and generosity of God.
Imagine Timothy learning the part he would play. God wanted him to remain in Ephesus to teach people not to promote a heresy that was the opposite of the plan of God.
Now picture your vocation and mine. We get to do the same thing. We get to be, to remain where God has us and regardless of the local heresies, help people understand God’s plan.
And, like Paul exhorted Timothy, we get to do this with a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. With that posture I delivered a paper yesterday at ETS.
If you want a copy, click here to download it: “Demystifying Gender Issues in 1 Timothy 2:9-15 with Fresh Assistance from Artemis.”