Lesson 264:
FIND YOUR OWN CALCUTTA
Army of Tennessee Chaplain David Chaltas
He was a man of means. He had considerable power and was used to getting things accomplished. He had money and power, yet he seemed unfulfilled. Something was missing from his life. He was a seeker of his destiny in his mid-life. He had recently been reborn and wanted to do something important to help his fellow man. He wanted to give back to his fellow man. He was on fire to find his calling.
He had read about a little woman from Calcutta who was working with the poor. She was world renowned for her labor and it only seemed logical that this would be an excellent opportunity to assist. He had the resources to go and offer is skills. He decided that he would call her order and see how he might be able to get involved.
Being a man of considerable influence, he became impatient when he did not get to talk directly with Mother Teresa, so he sent a telegraph. He finally wrote a letter to her but to his dismay; he did not receive a prompt reply. A few weeks went by and his secretary brought a card post marked Calcutta. There in Mother Teresa’s own handwriting were four little words. Her reply was simple but profound: Find Your Own Calcutta.
Find your own Calcutta. What wondrous advice! Each of us has been given a life filled with gifts and opportunities to use them to better our world. Jesus gave us a great commission in Matthew 28:18-20: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." He also told the disciples to ‘take up their nets, follow Him and they would become ‘fishers of men’. Notice He did not tell us where to fish.
Sometimes we don’t understand our calling nor when and/or where is our calling. Acts 17:11 is powerful in that Christ speaks directly on denying ourselves and carrying his own cross. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." Luke 14:27-33 states, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
You may ask yourself just how do I know when and/or where am I to go? I believe Mother Teresa answered that with her 4 words. FIND your own Calcutta. Your Calcutta may be serving soup once a week at a homeless shelter. Your Calcutta may be teaching Sunday School or volunteering working with a GED Program. Your Calcutta may well be visiting the sick and shut in or helping a neighbor who is having trouble. Whatever may be your Calcutta, approach it with the same reverence to serving as did Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc, Joseph the Dreamer and our Lord Jesus Christ. You must seek through prayer, meditation, self sacrifice (denial of self), and then step out on faith with your ministry. A disciple never knows the destination of the master. He only knows the direction. Stonewall Jackson knew his goal but few others, but they followed him without question. The Continental Army walked blindly behind the leadership of George Washington. Their Calcutta was freedom, serving God, Country and Honor. What is your Calcutta?
Ask and it will be given, seek and ye shall find; knock and He will answer (Matthew 7:7). Find your own Calcutta and then do God’s bidding, as you understand his direction. Having found my Calcutta, I remain your obedient servant, the old general