Called of God

Today I read Hebrews 5. I have always liked Hebrews 5 because it talks about listening to the Spirit and being called by revelation. I have always found it so interesting that so many of the Christian faith who become ministers or preachers talk about hearing the call and being called. I have always assumed this came from a misinterpretation of verse 4 which says that no man taken this honor unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron. What most people forget though, is Aaron did not "hear a call", but rather his call was communicated through his Priesthood Leader, Moses.

When Moses was at Mount Sinai and conversed with the Lord face to face, he was told to ordain Aaron and his sons. This is the true meaning of this verse. We are not to volunteer our services when it comes to service in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rather we are called by our Priesthood Leader, be that our Bishop, Stake President or even higher up the ladder. Even Jesus Christ was chosen. We are told that God asked who to send down to earth to be our Savior and Jesus Christ volunteered, however so did another. And it was God that ultimately made the choice and chose Jesus over Lucifer.

Some might state that our missionaries are volunteers and not called of God. But those who think such forget that God has said through His Prophets that every worthy 19 year old man is called to serve a mission, that it is a Priesthood obligation. The filling out of the application is merely our way of notifying the Apostles and Prophet that we are ready. They then go the Lord and He ultimately makes the decision where that missionary will serve. This is just one more example of the correct order of things and as we know God's house is a house of order.

I also like this chapter because of verse 8 which in talking about Jesus Christ states that though He were the Son, He learned obedience by the things He suffered. I have always taken this to mean that despite His divine nature, Jesus Christ still had to go through this life just like all of us do. Nothing was given to Him that isn't given to us. He had to learn line upon line, precept upon precept. He just learned it a lot quicker and had divine teachers. So I guess you could argue that He had a leg up on us. However, the fact remains that Jesus had to go through this life just like all of us do. Despite His divinity, He had it just as hard as us. This was of course by design so that He would know how to succor us in our infirmities and weaknesses. There is someone that knows EXACTLY how we feel at any given time. Some people get really upset when other presume to know how they are feeling, however, Jesus truly does know. He's been there and felt it before.

He understands us and is there for us. If we will just reach out through prayer, we can be comforted in our time of need. But going back to the scripture itself, Jesus had to learn to be obedient just like we do. He had to learn to put His desires to the side and do what Heavenly Father wanted Him to do. We know from the scriptures that when it came time to perform the Atonement, He didn't want to do it. He had to put aside His own desires and do what God wanted Him to do. If we want to be like He is, we will have to learn to do the same. As always though, the choice is ours and we are not forced to be like Him. But it is the only way to true and eternal happiness. Until tomorrow.