arning: As doctors are fond of saying, this might sting a little.
Since I have to leave the house in exactly thirty minutes, so I can
make a meeting I plan on attending, I will make this short and to the
point. No, it could not wait, it burns in me and wants to be let out.

It seems to me that modern day Christianity has become a bastion for
mediocrity. After men have failed at everything else in life, they
seem to gravitate toward ministry, and depending on how much scripture
they are willing to twist, how much they are willing to compromise,
they even become moderately successful in the eyes of the world, and
fellow believers alike.
Although the men of God in scripture varied in age, formal training,
educational background, even size and shape, one commonality is that
they were all chosen of God.
One does not choose ministry, one is chosen, and called into ministry.
Throughout the Word, those whom God called in to the work, into
ministry, realized what it was they were being called to.
It was not a life of glamor, of fortune or fame, but a life of
rejection, of being misunderstood and hated, of being beaten,
imprisoned, hunted and persecuted.
This is why I often wonder about those who sometimes approach me with
sunny dispositions, and say they want to be prophets, and watchmen. I
wonder if they realize what it all entails.
It is because those who have not been called, or sent have gained
prominence in Christendom that there is so much confusion, so many
ruined lives, and shattered hopes.
One who is chosen, is not called to enjoy but to endure, he is not
commanded to placate but to rebuke. A chosen vessel, one who is
accountable to God, already knows the path will not be easy, that few
will heed, and many will dismiss the Word, but he has no choice, for
to refuse the calling would be to disobey God.
Every man chosen of God realizes and acknowledges his shortcomings.
Some such as Moses even attempting to point their limitations out to
God, in the hope that He might find a more suitable candidate.
If we truly realized, deep in our hearts what it means to be chosen,
there would be allot less people jumping up and down shouting, 'pick
me, pick me!'
The sun shone down as Elisha labored, with twelve yoke of oxen, he
plowed the fields, and as he lifted his eyes, wiping the sweat from
his brow, he looked toward the desert and saw a man approaching. The
man walked with hurried purpose, and as he passed by Elisha, the man
threw his mantle on him.
In one instant, in the span of a breath, the life he would never lead
flashed before Elisha's eyes, the appreciation dinners that would
never be given in his honor, the familiarity of his own bed night
after night that he would never know, the anonymity that came with
simply being a man plowing his fields he would never enjoy. All the
simple pleasures of a simple man, gone. All that he had envisioned his
life would be, all the dreams and plans, all of them disappeared in
the span of a few seconds as he felt he weight of the mantle upon his
shoulders.
Apologetically, Elisha spoke to Elijah after running and catching up
to him, and explained that the wanted to go and bid farewell to his
mother and father, to kiss them one last time, then he would follow.
Then Elijah looked upon the man whom God had chosen as his
replacement, the one who would now lead the school of prophets, and
shrugging his shoulders he said, 'go back again, for what have I done
to you?'
In essence he was saying, 'you don't have to explain yourself to me, I
am not the one who chose you.' Elisha turned back from Elijah, took a
yoke of oxen, and slaughtered them, cooked the meat, and gave it to
the people to eat, then arose and followed Elijah and served him.
When God calls, when one is chosen, he must be prepared for both labor
and sacrifice. In order that we may obtain the crown, we must first be
faithful in both the yoke, and the cross of Christ.
Too many desire the crown, but refuse the yoke, and since the cross of
Christ can often be heavy and cumbersome, they substitute it with a
miniature one they can carry in their pockets, or wear around their
necks.
One who is chosen learns very quickly that you cannot be sent of God,
unless the knowledge that walking with Him presupposes the yoke, the
burning, and the cross, is firmly established in the heart.
Many go whom God has not sent, many speak when God has not spoken, and
many consider the mantle to be the means by which they will achieve
popularity and fortune.
It is the reason for which so many ministers and ministries that seem
to have started out on the right track, with godly principles, wander
from truth so often, because rather than pray for humility and
endurance, they revel in the thought that their ship has finally come
in.
When one is truly chosen, and called into the ministry, he does as
Elisha, he goes and with one last kiss severs the ties to the life
that might have been, arises and follows after Jesus, wholly
committed, wholly engaged, wholly obedient.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.