"Out of that vast organization called the world, out of the great mass of individuals belonging to it and involved in it, clean out of that, God has called us. Thus comes the title 'Church', ekklesia, 'God's called out ones.' From the midst of the great kosmos God calls one here and one there; and all who He calls, He calls 'out.' There is no such thing as a call from God that is not a call 'out' of the world."
Watchman Nee
Our spiritual history is based on just such a call:
"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to a land which I will show you.' So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him... Abram was 75 years old when he departed."
Genesis 12:1-4
"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed...
By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land..."
Hebrews 11:8-16
Abraham confessed that he was a stranger and exile on earth, he made it clear that he was not seeking a country of his own; he was seeking a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God was not ashamed of him and not ashamed to be called his God; for He has prepared a city for him and for all who trust Him and obey.
What is His call to us today?
"Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
'I will dwell in them and walk among them;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'
'Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,' says the Lord.
'And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will welcome you.
And I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,' says the Lord Almighty."
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
And what is our answer? All the people said, Amen!
The call joins a spiritual truth -- God's people are "called out-ones," with a spiritual exercise -- God's people obey when He calls. And just as with Abraham, the call to each of us is personal and specific, it is a call to move out to a place where we must live by faith. There we will learn the things that Abraham learned -- that we are strangers and exiles on this earth. And then God will not be ashamed to be called our God.
A personal note: A family commitment.
We will not love the world nor the things in the world. We will set no worthless thing before our eyes. Whatever we set our hands to do each day, we will say, "If the Lord is willing!"
If we should prosper spiritually or humanly, we will not fashion our prosperity into our pride or joy; we will not worship the work of our hands, our hearts or our spirits. We will allow no dream, success, possession, or person to entangle us.
The world has many songs to sing but we choose to sing this song:
Where He leads us we will follow,
We'll go with Him all the way.