Purpose Of Our Lives
The theme of the book is all based upon scripture, specifically Philippians 4:13 which reads “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Now, we always want to keep scripture in context. Here, Paul is actually talking to the church at Philippi, telling them that he has learned to be content, no matter the circumstances, and he has contentment through Christ who gives him strength. Even though I want you to keep this verse in context, I want us to remember and keep the theme that anything and everything is possible with God.
I’ve had a necklace with a basketball and this verse on it since I’ve been eight. I’ve tried to make it the theme of my life. I’d love to help you make it yours as we start covering the purpose of our lives, including what is faith, salvation, grace, and truth. The focus and motto is for you to be able to say by the end that you can live out your salvation, purpose and His grace through Him who gives you strength. Now, to be confident of your purpose, we need to talk about where we came from and where this world came from. How do you think you got here? Have you always had a perspective as to how you think the world was created? According to Job 26:7-10, it says “He suspends the earth over nothing. He wrapped up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight, he covers the face of the full moon spreading his clouds over it, he marks out the horizon, on the face of the waters, for a boundary between light and darkness.” Then Job 26:14 continues to say “and these are both the outer fringe of his works.”
To summarize creation, starting with Genesis, it talks about how God created everything from nothing. The heavens, the earth, us, our spirits, and the animals. The earth is beautiful, original, and it cannot be recreated, just like you. Psalm 104:24-25 specifically addresses how through God’s specific wisdom, we were created. God knew before the beginning of time, even before Adam and Eve, he wanted to make you to be living at this specific time right now, how crazy is that?
We established you were created intentionally by God. Now, how do you picture God as being in control? Jeremiah 31:35 says the sun only shines day to day because God tells it to do so. Your Creator is not only all powerful, but faithful, and not only faithful, but loving toward you as your father. Now, depending on your relationship with your parents, or maybe specifically your dad, this can bring up very mixed emotions. If you have a broken relationship with your parents, I want you to know Psalm 27:10, which says “though, my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” I mean, hey, even if you have an incredible relationship with your parents like I do, they are still imperfect, and cannot be the ultimate satisfaction. Sorry, mom and dad, but I know that they would agree and say it for themselves.
Now, do you picture God as a father who’s always angry, just waiting for you to mess up? Or do you picture him pointing to a picture on a fridge that has a picture of you, telling someone how proud he is to call you His child, and how much he loves you? We should view God as this type of parent, that when we mess up, He is the first one we run to as opposed to running away from Him. Now, when we just disobey our parents, if they truly love us, we do receive correction through punishment or guidance. God also needs to be completely just if we are going to call him all loving toward us. The beautiful thing is we can trust God to balance that grace and justice perfectly when dealing with his children because He is a perfect father.
Throughout the Old Testament, God gets angry with his chosen people and children, the Israelites. However, you see this perfect justice and grace come to life, as He always forgives them and keeps his promise to Abraham. He gives them an escape from His anger. His anger was always justified as they continued to disobey. I always look at the Israelites and think will they ever learn?! Will they finally trust God, as He continues to save them time and time again?! Yet they go back to their old ways. Then I realized, I am an Israelite. I am the same way.
God will correct me, show me grace and keep me on the right track…..then I go back to my old ways. Yet, God continues to chase down our hearts to make them new, genuinely new. God pursued the Israelites hearts, all the way up to Christ. Jesus came to complete this justice and His grace, all in one act on that cross. Now, all because of Jesus we have an exact purpose. Jesus is the reason behind everything. Colossians 1:16 says “For in Him, all things were created things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things had been created through him and for him.”
Why can’t God be behind all the science? Why can’t it be that God created us intentionally and specifically, which includes the anatomy and physiology behind our bodies? Psalm 100:3 says We belong to Him. Not only do we belong to Him, but He delights in us. You exist right now, because the idea of you made the God of the very universe so happy, which is also good to keep in mind when we look at others to the only reason another human being exists. We each exist because we were intentionally designed. Job 14:15-17 tells us God longs for His creation. But true love doesn’t force someone to love you back. Which is why we do have a choice, aka freewill.
Freewill is the reason we have been given this choice and why there is so much brokenness and sin in the world. However, the good news is, through Jesus and His grace, we have hope. God has already seen your life from beginning to end. Every choice you’re going to make and every wrong turn will be redeemed if you put your trust in Him. Jeremiah 1:5 says your days were planned, you are known, set apart and wanted before you were born. Even if your parents didn’t plan you, God did. If the enemy ever tries to make you feel like you are too far gone, look at Paul who was formerly Saul. The book of Galatians 1:11-16 says how the gospel he preaches is not of human origin, but from Jesus. He says how he persecuted the church and tried to destroy it. But when God who set him apart at his mother’s womb, was called by His grace, made him an instrument to share the good news with Gentiles. If you’re not familiar, the term Gentile just means anyone who is not of the Jewish origin.
You may feel like you’ve thrown your life away, or maybe you just flat out feel unsatisfied with life. I can promise, you are never going to find your purpose or hope until you find Him, Jesus. We were not designed to be satisfied by this world. Psalm 119:81 says, “My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word.” If we put our satisfaction in other people, as much as I love them, I know they cannot fully satisfy and will let me down in some capacity because we are human. God designed us for relationship with others, but in order for these relationships to flourish, it needs to start with Him.
Psalm 146:3 says, “Do not put your trust in princes and human beings who cannot save.” We get the temporary highs and satisfaction in accomplishments. If we could be that one athlete, get that one outfit, use that one type of makeup, travel to that one place, buy that one house, lose this much weight. Sounding familiar? Get that one job, that one degree ,date that one person, if I could be famous, if I could get married, if I could have kids. As awesome as these things are, and they are great things to strive for, even if you acquire that entire list, you will always be searching for more. Unless God is your purpose behind these pursuits, the pursuit of marriage, the pursuit of that job, the pursuit of that sport; we will eventually crash from the high. We have all been there. Listen, life is not about discovering yourself but who God made you to be.
He designed you to love others, His people, and please continue to pursue anything I listed before if God has put it on your heart. Just understand if your purpose of the love and pursuit does not have Him at the core, it will be temporary and fragile. You are made for so much more than temporary. Jesus says in John 6:35 “I am the bread of life, Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
You may have heard great advice on how to pursue these dreams and goals. Maybe you have had New Year’s resolutions, which are all great, but the difference is when you put Jesus at the center of his goals, He gives you the power and persistence to pursue them. Why not start living out this purpose today? If you have not noticed; time flies. We have been given a brief window here on Earth. James 4:14 says “we are a mist that appears for a little while then vanishes.” We are not going to live forever and the enemy wants you to think you have all this time. Start today. Consult God in prayer on how to start. Our all-knowing and all caring father will guide you and His purpose for your life! What are you waiting for?!
