Finding Our Place

Proverbs 27:8 says:

“Like a bird that wanders from its nest is a man who wanders from his place.”

Have you ever seen a bird that got out of its nest and could not get back in again? Nothing is more weak and pitiful than that. This image aptly illustrates what it is to be out of your place. I have counseled many people whom I simply had to tell, “One of your problems is that you are not in your right geographical place. This is not the place where you ought to be. You will never really flourish until you find your place.”

However, “your place” is not primarily a geographical location; rather, it is a place in God, a place in the body of Christ. Scripture says that every one of us should be a member of the body. As a member, each one of us has to fit into the right place for that member. A hand looks ridiculous at the end of a leg. A foot looks ridiculous at the end of an arm. You have to find out what kind of a member you are so that you will fit into the place that is appropriate for you.

“God… has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Timothy 1:8–9)

That is a tremendous passage, almost unsearchable in its depth. It says that God “has saved us,” but it does not stop there. There is no punctuation; he continued immediately, “and called us.” To be saved is to be called. There is no one who is saved but not called.

There are multitudes of Christians who are saved and do not know their callings. But it is not because they are not called. When you are saved, you are saved to a calling. You will be frustrated and unfulfilled until you find and fulfill your calling.