Does God Call the Qualified or Qualify the Called?
Pithy maxims are sometimes bad advice.
Pithy maxims are sometimes bad advice. You have heard it said: “God doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called.” This saying is often used to encourage someone to embrace audacious tasks even if they feel unprepared. In this way of thinking, the sequence seems to be CALL—>DEPLOY—>PREPARE.
This can lead to many harmful consequences.
It would be more accurate to say that God usually deploys those whom he has been leading on a journey of qualification. (This is a significantly less pithy maxim, of course, so I don’t expect it to show up on anyone’s quote board.)
Someone might express uncertainty, saying, “I’m not sure if I should accept the call to be an Elder in my church. I don’t know if I’m qualified…” That may be the statement of a man who, in humility and trepidation, wants to make sure his life meets the qualifications listed in Scripture. And he might find after some time of consultation with the current qualified Elders of his church that he is qualified to enter that office.
On the other hand, his statement might simply be true. He understands the qualifications and knows that there are some important ways that he falls short and needs more time to grow in the grace of sanctification. Someone might respond: “Well, you know ‘God doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called’ so go ahead and accept the position. It will be fine!”
This would be terrible advice.
Too often, people apply this maxim to embrace public ministry before they are prepared to do so, and many errors, misfires, and outright disasters follow. The more likely and ultimately more healthy scenario is that someone might feel a call to a specific area of ministry and they will then enter a phase of preparation and qualification.
In his book The Reformed Pastor, 17th-century Puritan Richard Baxter writes that "God useth to fit men for great works, before he employs them as his instruments in accomplishing them.” This is the more usual way.
If a man can continue to trust God during this time of “fitting” and not try to run ahead in impatience and unguided ambition, he will find that even in many unnoticed ways, God has already been preparing him for the ministry to which he has been called. A ministry journey embarked upon under these conditions is far more likely to be sustainable and make a positive impact.
So, young aspiring pastor, listen for God’s call, patiently wait as he prepares you for deployment, and be prepared for the possibility of a lengthy waiting period. Sure, in needful circumstances, God can call, prepare, and deploy in a miraculous moment if he so chooses, and we would be foolish to resist such a call, but his more ordinary means is CALL—>PREPARE—>DEPLOY, not CALL—>DEPLOY—>PREPARE.
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Michael Krahn is a Pastor, the husband of Anne Marie, and the father of Madeleine, Olivia, and Sophia. Make a connection on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.