What is Your
Purpose?
“You
[Timothy], however, know all about my
teaching, my way of life, my
purpose, faith, patience,
love, endurance, persecutions,
sufferings…” (2 Timothy
3:10, italics mine)
Have you lifted up
your eyes from your day-to-day rut
and noticed just how stress and tense
“our world” has become?
Distress is everywhere. More and more
people are doing stupid things.
People are hurting themselves and
other people because there is no
rest-day or night. Every minute is
crammed full of something. Our brains
are over stimulated and our senses
overloaded. The whole world
seems to be going crazy. Road rage
and excessive speeding tells me that
people in America are frustrated. But
wait! The problem is appearing in
national politics as well!
The leaders of the
United States government are also
showing signs of frustration and
distress. The Senate has reached a
place where it can barely function.
The rancor between the two parties is
truly horrible. Political interviews
are full of bitter disagreement at a
time when the U.S. is confronted with
problems that threaten its very
existence! Ironically, the problems
are getting larger and the
nation’s ability to work
together is getting weaker. The
leaders cannot agree on a solution to
stop hordes of illegal immigrants
from entering the country, porous
borders, a stalled economy, the
out-sourcing of millions of jobs to
china and India, the costly war in
Iraq, a crisis in Social Security
entitlements, and the escalating
energy prices. I do not think we will
ever return to the peaceful and
genteel time we remember from the
past. Human nature will not allow it.
Our inability to control ourselves or
the technologies God has given us is
leading to our own destruction. For
many reasons and excuses, we convince
ourselves we cannot take time to rest
and recuperate. We go – go
– go, buy, buy – sell
– sell – sell, work –
work – work and play – play
– play. There is no interest or
time to rest – rest – rest.
We have become like little gerbils
that run their tiny legs off on a
spinning wheel that goes nowhere. No
matter how hard we kept running,
there is no end in sight. Isn’t
time to begin asking, “Why are
we killing ourselves?
Carnal Religion Is Not
Helping
“For the time
will come when men will not put up
with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit
their own desires, they will gather
around them a great number of
teachers to say what their itching
ears want to hear. They will turn
their ears away from the truth and
turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy
4:3,4) It is paradoxical that
religion, for the most part, is not
helping. One would think that
advanced knowledge of God would
produce a better world! Actually,
religion is magnifying the problem we
face. Religious differences have
caused tensions between Islam and
Christianity that have become very
strong. Even though the world has
seven great religions and an infinite
number of deviations within each of
them, there are only two kinds of
religious experiences: internal and
external. I define the external
experience as a carnal commitment to
defend, to the death if necessary,
our love and knowledge of God. A good
example of the external experience is
Peter’s statement:
“… Lord, I
am ready to go with you to prison and
to death. Jesus answered, ‘I
tell you, Peter, before the rooster
crows today, you will deny three
times that you know me.’”
(Luke 22:33,34) Under the right
circumstances, Peter would have been
willing to die for Jesus because
Peter loved Jesus as he loved
himself. The problem is that Peter
could not love Jesus more than he
loved himself because he had not
surrendered himself to God’s
will. We know that it was God’s
will that Jesus die on the cross and
Peter was not willing to allow it!
This is why he drew his sword and cut
off the ear of the high Priest’s
servant. Words are cheap. Only a test
will reveal the true motives of the
heart and Peter’s first test
came in the form of humiliation.
Peter denied that he knew Jesus
because he did not want to share in
the shame and insults that Jesus
received. The external experience is
so human – so universal.
I define the internal
experience as a miraculous
transformation that enables us to
fulfill the purpose for which God has
called us. Here are two examples:
“During the days of Jesus’
life on earth, he offered up prayers
and petitions with loud cries and
tears to the one who could save him
from death, and he was heard because
of his reverent submission. Although
he was a son, he learned obedience
from what he suffered and, once made
perfect, he became the source of
eternal salvation for all who obey
him.” (Hebrews 5:7-9, italics
mine) Jesus was submissive to His
Father and because of this particular
trait; He was willing to die on the
cross if that was the Father’s
will. (Luke 22:42) Similarly,
Paul became submissive to
Jesus and this is why he wrote,
“You [Timothy], however, know
all about my teaching, my way of
life, my purpose, faith, patience,
endurance, persecutions, sufferings
– what kinds of things happened
to me….” (2 Timothy
3:10,11) Paul wrote that a total
submission to God’s will must
occur before the internal experience
of transformation can take place!
As a young man, Paul
loved the external religious
experience. He wrote about his
external religion saying,
“… If anyone thinks he has
reasons to put confidence in the
flesh, I have more: circumcised on
the eighth day, of the people of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the
law, a Pharisee; as for zeal,
persecuting the church; as for
legalistic righteousness,
faultless.” (Philippians 3:4-6)
Later in the same chapter, Paul
reflected on the days after he met
Jesus and wrote that his religious
achievements meant nothing. You know
how it happened. One day, while
zealously persecuting Christians,
Jesus Himself confronted Saul on the
road to Damascus. That meeting
shattered Paul’s arrogance.
Blinded by the glory of Christ, Paul
soon discovered that he was truly
blind about the ways of God. Then and
there, Paul surrendered to Jesus and
was inwardly transformed by the Holy
Spirit. As a result of the
experience, Paul became a champion
for the cause of Christ. In fact, no
human being has influenced the
development of Christianity more than
Apostle Paul.
Submission
Jesus invites us to
enter into a deep and abiding
relationship with Him. The terms and
conditions of His invitations are
simple. Jesus says, “Come unto
me and I will give you rest…
Walk with Me, spend time with Me,
learn of Me, obey My commands, study
My Word, submit to My wisdom, allow
Me to work out a great plan for your
life, for no one loves you more or
has the best interest at heart!”
We respond, “But Lord, I have
too many things to do! In fact, I
have so many things to do that I
can’t sit still!” The
problem with this response is the
issue of submission. We are really
saying, “Lord, I cannot say
‘no’ to all the things that
I have to do. I like going here and
there, I like doing this and that,
even though subconsciously, I know
they are killing me.”
Jesus does not propose
to come down to our level; He
proposes to lift us up to His. Jesus
requires total submission every
moment of every day. (John
15:14) His purpose for our life can
only be fulfilled if we consistently
submit to His authority! True, no one
but Jesus has been able to live in
perfect submission to the will of God
every moment of every day,
but Paul makes it very clear that
through the power offered by Jesus,
we can grow into the character of
Jesus. (Ephesians 4:11-32)
So, What Is God’s
Purpose for Your Life?
To daily surrender
unto Jesus Christ. Then watch your
life begin to change in ways that you
did not think possible! Ask for this
power, and God will freely grant your
request.
