Post of Honor

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus, lies a significant plea and challenge to the reader. These two words alone, don’t quite capture the spirit and urgency of Paul’s request…it’s more than a plea or a challenge…it’s a call to action. 

Ephesians 4:1 – NIV”I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received”.

This is no simple ordinary request Paul is offering up here. He’s throwing down a very intentional and specific call to action. This message isn’t just for the church leadership of ancient Ephesus, and doesn’t stop with the followers of Christ in that region…it’s an all call…to all Christians…in all locations…across all generations. 

There are two key things to note here in Paul’s request in order to accurately capture the gravity of the message he is attempting to convey. What does it mean to live a life worthy of the calling? To answer this question, we first need to define ‘calling’. This is a word that gets thrown around a lot, turning it into a form of ‘christianese’ leaving the hearer to speculate their own translation. 

Though God created each of us with specific gifts, talents, and passions in which we are tasked with utilizing in specific ways…all Christians have the same overarching calling…to follow Jesus. The very first words of Jesus’ official ministry were…”come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19). He ‘called’ his first disciples to follow him, so the ‘calling’ each of us has received is to do the same. 

Next, what does it look like to live a life worthy of this call? How can we live our lives in such a way that fully expresses all that Christ has done for us on the cross? A great man once answered this question. After fifty years of walking with Jesus he said; “I have tried to live every day of my life in response to the immeasurable gift I have received in Christ”. That one sentence says it all…and provides all the motivation we need to do the same. We are to do all we can to live out each day of our lives in response to the same immeasurable gift we have received in Jesus Christ.

This great man, was my late Father-in-Law Rick Blickenstaff. Rick referred to this calling to live a life worthy..as a Post of Honor. This was a term he had learned in the military. To be asked to stand a Post of Honor was no small thing. It was a dangerous task, requiring great courage. This post came as a great privilege, but it also came with a cost. To stand this post could cost you everything…even your life. If you were asked to stand this post, it meant you may very well be offering your life to save another. If you were asked to stand this post, it was because they deemed you worthy of such a task…more than a task…a calling.

This is what Jesus did for us when He offered himself up on that cross at Calvary. He laid down His life, to save us…so we could live. He counted the cost, and did it anyway. Rick did the same. He knew that standing his Post of Honor was going to cost him. He too counted the cost…and did it anyway. To live a life worthy of the calling we have received…to stand our Post of Honor…is no small thing we are being invited into. Standing this post, is going to cost us…it will cost us everything. As followers of Jesus…this is our calling. 

Rick went to go be with Jesus on 4/1. Fitting that he would go home on the day that matched this 4:1 Ephesians address that he lived by. Every year we honor him by celebrating 4:1 day. This is the day we celebrate the way he stood his Post of Honor, and commit to continue to faithfully and courageously stand ours. 

As we celebrate 4:1 day this year, I would like to invite you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. I challenge you to stand your Post of Honor…and live every day of your life in response to the immeasurable gift you have received in Christ. It will cost you…it will cost you everything…count the cost…and do it anyway. 

Be strong and courageous!

-Dennis Oberg