Called

Posted On February 18, 2024

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.”

Isaiah 43:1 NLT

“For each of us he laid down his life, the life which was worth the whole universe,
and he requires in return that we should do the same for each other.”

Clement of Alexandria

Who comes to mind when you think of someone being called by God? Maybe Abraham or Moses? Maybe Jacob or Samuel? David? Paul? These are all good answers. But they are not the only ones. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that being chosen by God is not an elite honor bestowed upon a select few. It’s an integral part of being a believer. We are all called. We have all been chosen to serve. What makes the difference is whether or not we choose to answer the call.

“You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God,
who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9 NCV

Our plan for 2024 is a new format that blends an ongoing fiction story with a devotional each week. Our current story is a science fiction tale I’ve named Awakening. It’s a story about faith, with a focus on the core beliefs of Christianity. This week, our adventure continues with Chapter 5. The doctrinal focus is God the Son. (Click here for Quick Links to previous chapters.) As a reminder, I am using colored boxes to set the story apart from the rest of the post. So, any text that has a colored background is part of the fictional story. And any text that does not, is not. The video below gives a short recap of the story so far. I hope you enjoy Awakening!

Awakening
Chapter 5: Called

Faith closed her Bible and let her newfound childhood memories dance through her mind. Like snapshots spilled haphazardly on a table, the images came in no particular order and without context: Playing at the beach with her parents when she was a small child — she wore a floppy yellow hat and carried a small plastic shovel. Sitting in church as a teenager singing Amazing Grace with the congregation — her best friend Mai sat next to her and harmonized beautifully as they began the final verse. Playing with her dog Samson in the front yard of her family’s home in the Atlanta suburbs — she was about ten years old, watching him chase his favorite hover disc, when she heard her mother call her in for dinner: “Time to wash up, Cassie.”

Cassandra Irene Davis. That was her name. She knew that her first name meant “helper of mankind.” She remembered her father telling her so. And she knew that her middle name was a tribute to her maternal grandmother. The thought of her grandmother brought another memory to mind: Baking Christmas cookies with Nana Irene in her small kitchen as It’s a Wonderful Life played on the vid screen. She still couldn’t remember everything about her life. It appeared that the only memories she had regained so far were from her childhood. But she remembered enough to begin rebuilding her identity. She was Cassie Davis, raised by loving, Christian parents Sam and Joanna Davis. She had had a happy childhood. And from an early age, she had longed to serve the Lord.

Of course, it hadn’t escaped her that the initials she had seen before in her journal now confirmed her suspicions about her marital status: CM. That’s how she had signed her journal entry. Not CD. The M suggested the existence of a husband she still could not bring to mind no matter how hard she tried. It seemed her memories stopped at about age eighteen. She could remember her high school graduation, but then nothing else until waking up in the cryopod a few days ago. She trusted that the rest of her memories would come back in time. And she was grateful for all that she could now recall. But still … Wondering if she had a husband out there searching for her was the main question continuing to plague her. She decided to ask Peter about it when he came back to check on her. Michael had said Peter was the only one on Nova who knew their true identities, so maybe he would also know if she was still married.

In the meantime, she tried to push the question out of her mind and focus on her studies. One thing she did remember about herself is that she had always been a good student. She loved learning and she was an avid notetaker. She went to the computer and pulled up the list of files she had been reviewing from her missionary training. As she scanned the list, the words Michael had spoken to her just before he left still rang in her ears: There is evil here. I don’t know what lies ahead for any of us. But the most important thing you can do right now is to keep preparing and to keep strengthening your faith. That’s what she intended to do. She chose a file and got to work.

Notes from Christian Doctrines Course
ICMC Training – Week 5
6 February 2318

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
-John 1:1-5 ESV

We celebrate Jesus’ birth in human form at Christmas, but we must not forget that the Son existed long before He ever came to Earth. As the second Person in the Holy Trinity, Jesus is fully God and He is eternal. He was active not only during His earthly life, but also before then, and He is still active today.

“In the Old Testament, the Word (or ‘word of the Lord’) refers to an aspect of God’s divine being that has a life of its own. In Genesis 1, the Word of the Lord brought creation into existence. In the stories of Abraham (Gen. 15:4), Elijah (1 Kings 18:1), Jeremiah (Jer. 28:12), and others, the Word of the Lord came to individuals, bearing messages from the Almighty. The Word acts as God’s agent in accomplishing God’s will. In New Testament times, the Greek word logos, or ‘word,’ was used to describe that which holds together the universe and gives it meaning. These are the concepts John drew on in John 1:1.”
-Robert Jeffress

The role of the Word in the Old Testament included creation, bringing light into the darkness, and revealing God’s truth. And God made Jesus the subject of thousands of years of biblical prophecy before His coming. In New Testament Christology, we see Jesus revealed as Word, Christ, Son of Man, suffering servant, Son of God, and Lord.

Jesus came to Earth not only to save us, but to be an example for us to follow. He was chosen to serve, and He chose to serve. The same is true for us. We are all called to serve the Lord, but we must choose to do so willingly. Embracing Christ means embracing the cross. That is, we must be willing to die to self and follow Him no matter the cost. In a sense, we are all called to be “suffering servants,” to humble ourselves so that the light of Christ can shine through us. This is the path we must be ready to walk.

“Thus there was born true God in the entire and perfect nature of true man, complete in his own properties, complete in ours…. He assumed the form of a servant without the stain of sin, making the human properties greater, but not detracting from the divine…. Each nature preserves its own characteristics without diminution, so that the form of a servant does not detract from the form of God.”
-Pope Leo I

Faith studied old ICMC course notes and journal entries until her stomach started to growl. Realizing she had been at it for hours, she decided to take a meal break, reading from her Bible while she ate. Even though her eyes were starting to fatigue, she couldn’t seem to get the words into her fast enough. Apparently childhood memories weren’t the only thing that had been awakened in her, but also an urgent hunger to learn more and more. The physical bread she ate while she read was a fitting metaphor for the bread of life she now seemed to be starving for. It wasn’t just Michael’s warning about the evil in this world that drove her, but a need to connect with her Creator. She longed to feel His presence, to hear His voice, and to understand her purpose here. A silent prayer kept replaying in her mind as she read: God, please speak to me. Tell me what I need to know.

Finally, her eyes started to grow heavy, and she decided she better get some sleep. She went back to her quarters and reflected on all she had learned as she got ready for bed. There was so much to process, and she still had so many questions. A list began to form in her mind of all she wanted to bring to God as she climbed into bed. But as soon as she lay down, she started to drift off almost immediately. The only words she was able to form in her mind before she fell into a deep sleep were the same words she had been praying all day: God, please speak to me. Tell me what I need to know.

Then she started to dream …

First, she dreamed about the wormhole. She saw it form. It began as a barely visible distortion in space that turned into a slowly swirling cloud of gas and dust. The nebula spun faster and faster until it formed a tunnel of light.

Then, she dreamed again of the explosion at the ICMC, every detail the same as before. It filled her with sadness and anger and shame. Why hadn’t she stopped it? Why didn’t she save those people?

She also dreamed of another explosion. This time, it was a tall tower, still under construction, in the middle of a beautiful garden. But it didn’t explode from the inside. It was struck from above. Some kind of lightning or supernatural fire from the sky rained down on it, destroying it completely while the surrounding garden remained mostly untouched.

She dreamed of a man. An evil man with dark eyes who hungered for power. He seemed to be full of darkness and she knew he would bring destruction to this world if she didn’t stop him. He terrified her.

Finally, she dreamed of her husband. She didn’t see his face, but she felt his warm embrace as he walked up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her. His breath was soft and warm as he leaned down and whispered in her ear: “I love you, Cassie. Be strong. You have been called to serve, and the cost to you will be great. But I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” She turned and glimpsed his soft gray eyes just before she woke up.

“Follow my example: Even the Son of Man did not come for people to serve him.
He came to serve others and to give his life to save many people.”

Mark 10:45 ERV

This week’s Scripture passages remind us that we have all been called. God chose us before the creation of the world to do His work. If we choose to answer His call, He will work everything we experience for good in His plan. But He doesn’t promise that it will be easy. Christ is our example. He teaches us how to love. He teaches us how to serve. And He reminds us that to follow Him means we must be willing to offer our lives to save others.

“For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.”

2 Timothy 1:9 NLT

References:

• Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind — Readings. Abingdon Press, 1999.
• Jeffress, Robert. What Every Christian Should Know: 10 Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World. Baker Books, 2023.
• Wallace, Ronald S., and Gene L. Green. “New Testament Christology.” The Portable Seminary, edited by David Horton and Ryan Horton, Bethany House, 2006, pp. 128-134.

Images & Audio:

• Images created using Midjourney Bot AI image generator, midjourney.com
• Audio clips from mixkit.co