Glorious Purpose

“I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.” — Isaiah 46":10-11

Purpose is one of the single greatest aspects of life.  When you understand your purpose for your life. It allows you to move past simpler emotions, like motivation.  Motivation, much like happiness will come and go, it is a fleeting ship caught in the wind.  There will be days when you feel like you can conquer the world and there will be days that are tough to get out of bed.  When you understand what God’s purpose is for your life, it gives you the ability to move through those tough times and it gives you the ability to soar during those good times.  Your purpose is what drives everything in life. 

Unfortunately one of the issues facing our society, and particularly younger people than myself, is this loss of purpose in their lives.     

We live in an age of distraction and people are suffering because of it.  I grew up in a very small town; we didn’t get cable TV until I was in the 6th grade.  My mom, myself and siblings lived with my grandparents.  My grandmother would get on us constantly for watching TV.  We got the dreaded “it will rot your brain” chat on a constant basis.  Sporting events with my grandpa were the only time we could watch TV for an extended period of time.  My grandparents went to see the Lord prior to Netflix, streaming and social media.  I often wonder what they would think about binge watching entire seasons of shows. 

Now, I am not advocating that you never take any time off and relax.  We all need to re-charge. But time is a resource that is always dwindling away.  These distractions are designed to take away as much of your time as possible.  There is a reason why, when you watch videos on social media apps, there is an infinite loop of them.  There is no end to them.  It may be a genius business model, but the side-effects make it not worth your time.  My son is nine and he enjoys watching Minecraft videos on YouTube.  In a proud Dad moment, he has begun to realize how mind-numbing it is to endlessly scroll. 

I encourage you during this season of Lent to spend a lot of quiet time with the Lord.  I cannot tell you what purpose you have here on Earth.  However, I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty that you do have a purpose in Jesus. 

I would encourage you to go through the scriptures and read about the apostles that Jesus chose.  How were the able to make it through all the persecution in the Book of Acts?  They were able to do it because they understood their purpose.  Their purpose was bigger than themselves and bigger than any suffering they could go through. 

How did Jesus make it through the passion?  He was after all fully man and fully God.  He felt the pain of the passion and finally the cross.  He was able to do it because He knew His purpose.  He was able to do it because He knew on the other side of that cross came an empty tomb. 

When you find your purpose life begins to take on a much bigger meaning than simply trying to make it.  Your purpose was sent down from the Lord before you were born and is the very reason you are here.