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As amazing as this sounds, you and I have been sent to the respective university where we each work.

In John 20:21, Jesus tells His disciples following His resurrection: “As the Father sent me, so I’m sending you.” Jesus was merely passing on the same sense of calling He had—a sense made unmistakable by the forty places in the book of John, where Jesus referred to Himself as being sent by the Father.

If you are a Christ-follower, you have been appointed, commissioned, and sent to represent Him in words and works. Christ-followers who represented Him well have always possessed a “clear sense of sentness.”

A Sense of Sentness
Do we have this “sense of sentness” in our roles as faculty?
What about our faculty colleagues who know Christ but have never thought of themselves as “sent” individuals?

One of the best things we can do is remind ourselves and others that we’ve been God-sent.

How might we do that?
We must break down the Secular – Sacred Distinction in Our Minds.
Unfortunately, many of us mentally hold to a secular-sacred distinction in life. Such dualistic thinking subtly separates our calling as faculty from our spiritual life. Our “religious” life becomes merely an ecclesiastical hobby. The Scriptures constantly remind us that before God all of life matters—especially the work He’s assigned to us (Colossians 3:17).

We remind ourselves over and over that God has chosen us.
It’s on almost every page of the Scriptures. God keeps saying, “I created you; I chose you; I called you; I’m sending you; I’m appointing you.” The Apostle (“the sent one”) Paul opens his most famous pastoral letter reminding the Ephesians of their own condition as chosen, called, redeemed and sent selves (Ephesians 1:3-14).

We tap into God’s Energy and God’s Equipping.
As faculty, we need to constantly rediscover the Spirit-filled and Spirit-equipped life. God hasn’t just called us, He empowers and equips us for the places He has sent us. To that end, God has given us all unique spiritual gifts, abilities, passions, personalities and experiences for the good works He prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

We join God in what he’s doing.
If we are sent men and women, we are by definition deployed for a God-intended purpose. Thus, we should be asking God for more understanding of that purpose.

“To what end have you sent me here, Lord?” is not a bad daily prayer.
— FC Editorial Team