279. Worthy of God’s Calling
2 Thessalonians 1:11a Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling,….
This promise to count you worthy of this calling is conditional upon praying for it. Paul is praying always that God would do this. This verse gives us a clue that this would be a wonderful prayer request for us to pray both for ourselves and for others. Pray that God would count you worthy of this calling; pray that He would make your spouse and children worthy of His calling. In general, this would be a great prayer for us to pray often: make me a better person, make me a person who desires and does Your will, make me live a life worthy of the noble calling to which you have created me and for which you have saved me. In other words: “Thy will be done in my life on earth, as it has been decreed to be in heaven.” Or, as Jesus says in Matthew 7:11, “How much more will you Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Do you think the Lord wants to answer this prayer, and that He wants you to pray like this?
The first truth we must admit to is that I cannot make myself worthy of the calling of God. God makes me holy; I can’t make myself holier. It’s all God’s doing; but He wants you to ask Him for the goodness, which He has already laid out for you to walk into. The second truth we must agree with is that God can do the impossible: make me a better person, or, give me good things. Repentance, faith and prayer is the condition: if you pray for this, then God will count you worthy of this calling. Recognize the high calling to which God called us when He saved us: we shall be holy, as He is holy. I regard holiness as an impossible goal, but God does not see it that way. Just because we can’t be holy does not mean that the Lord also has given up on this project. “Lord, count me worthy of the righteousness which You have already imputed to me by faith,”
We don’t want to give up on this prayer just because it is impossible. We always pray for impossible things; God does the impossible. Could it be possible that we are not close to the calling of righteousness because no one (myself included) is praying that God would count me worthy? God is in the business of saving us for good works and producing good works in us. God will surely answer the prayers that He told us to pray. “When you pray, say:” God’s name is kept holy when we lead holy lives according to the Word of God; God’s kingdom comes when we lead godly lives here in time; and the good and gracious will of God is done among us also. Imagine what would happen when we pray this way: “Count me worthy.” He will.