Fulfilling My Purpose for Life

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Several years ago, I ran across this summary of the life of David found in Acts 13:36:

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption.

The phrase, “he served the purpose of God in his own generation,” has forced me to ask myself what I am living to accomplish with my life. One question that struck me this week was, “What do I want the preacher to say about me at my funeral?”  That seems a morbid thought, but in reality, we preach our own funeral by the way we live our lives.

A couple of good diagnostic questions we can ask ourselves are, “For what do I want to be known, and how do I want people to remember me?” 
We can find a plethora of good things with which to occupy our lives. It is a noble intention to be good spouses, parents, teachers, workers, friends, and citizens.  In the end, however, will I be able to say honestly, “I have served the purposes of God for my lifetime”?

I guess the more important questions are WHY and FOR WHOM do I do the things I do.  Do I live my life each day to fulfill my own agenda, or do I live for God’s purposes?  When God made us, and specifically when He redeems us, He hardwires us to bring Him glory.  Much of the emptiness and frustration we feel in life is because we devote ourselves to things other than His things for us.

Take some time today to get alone and ponder the direction your life is going.  Ask yourself how you can use the everyday events of your life to reflect glory away from you and toward Him.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:36

TGIF

Read this. Slowly. Several times today. You cannot help but be moved.

 Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.

3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

11 He shall see the labor of His soul,and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.

The Simplicity of God at Work in Us

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And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:6

One of the reasons followers of Jesus lose hope is that we forget that God is at work in and around us.  Specifically God is doing a GOOD work.  What happens to us may not seem good, feel good, or appear good, but because God IS good and because God IS sovereign, what is happening to us IS good.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28

Another reason we lose hope is that we fail to recognize WHERE God is at work.  He has begun a good work IN you, not to you, around you, for you, or about you… IN you.  God is much more interested in our holiness than our happiness, more interested in our character than our comfort.  God is in the process of conforming is to the image of Jesus.

For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. – Romans 8:29

Since God is working IN us, what then becomes our role?

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. – John 15:4

Each day, spend time in God’s Word allowing Him to use that word to interpret our circumstances (not vice-versa) and to transform us into who He wants us to be.  

Yes.  It really is THAT SIMPLE.  Dig into God’s Word, observe our lives, learn how to apply God’s Word to the circumstances of our day, and over time God transforms us into the image of Christ. No shortcuts.  No gimmicks.  God’s Word applied to everyday life.  We do our part, God does His part.  We bear fruit and God receives glory.  I encourage you to start today.  Let the good work begin.

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples. – John 15:8