2 Timothy 1:9

 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

Remember that our God is the God of order. First and foremost no one is called until after they are saved. This is why salvation is so important. This is why the preaching of the Good News must come first. Find the lost soul, preach the gospel and allow the seed to do what only the seed can do, change the heart in which it takes root.

Then and only then can a believer discover their own particular holy calling. It is holy only when that calling serves the purpose which Christ Jesus has for us. Christ is the only one who can identify each particular calling because He set them in place from the very beginning.

His grace is patient with us as we fumble along trying to walk by faith because He knows what each of us has to overcome in order to discover our holy calling.

This is where “our works” comes into play. When I was first baptized I had church elders telling me I should become a missionary. They had no missionaries in their lineage and they felt they needed to fill a quota. “Faith without works is dead.” They hammered that into my head.

Their error was in thinking just because I was baptized I was saved. Their traditions became their work but they were not careful to follow God’s prescription for making disciples. Discipleship is not baptism. The word of God prescribes the order and methods which leads newborns into a life of growth according to God’s will, not their own.

They failed to see if I was born again. Just because one is baptized does not mean they are born again. Order must be established and maintained according to God’s plan not the works of man.

When my granddaughter wanted to be baptized her youth pastors and elders tried to talk her out of it. I thought that was strange until I realized they were testing her faith to make sure she was born again and not just going along because everyone else was doing it. Going along to get along is no reason to get baptized. It is a prescription that is written on the heart of a newborn by their Lord.

Now so many years after my first baptism I am born again, I am a disciple, I was baptized rightly, have matured and know my holy calling. How do I know?

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

A gift cannot be earned, it can only be received through faith.

Isaiah 2:2-4 English Standard Version

2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

These are not the latter days, as much as I would like them to be, they are not. How do I know that? The King of kings has not come and made His place on earth to settle all our disputes.

Verse 3 says many will come to receive instruction. That hasn’t happened even if we who walk with the Lord count our numbers as many. We need not now ask of His ways because He is our Lord seated on the throne of heaven, not on Zion.

Our paths do not lead us to the King of kings, we walk the earth according to His will and His way.

Proverbs 8:20

I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice,

Micah 4:2 repeats the message of Isaiah but adds in verse 5 “For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”

Our  path is in the here and now, not our forever future.

Is the path we walk just?

It will be if we walk in the way of righteousness.