Today's society has held to a notion that there is no purpose to life but purposes. One may find millions of purposes for something but have no norm to which to judge how a thing has purposes. What I'm saying is people like to say that you can have no purpose but have purposes to live for. My question is, How can you have purposes without a purpose?
Some of the religious say that God has a purpose for your life and then they explain how to find it and how to live it out... a fulfilled life, if you will. The lie is that you don't have a purpose, but purposes. Although, their language sounds correct because at first they say that 'since God created you, you have a purpose, so therefore you must live your life like you have one,' or something like that. Maybe I'm a little off but it's still the same when you look at the outcome of those spiritual guru books for Christians dilemmas.
The Church as bought into this lie. The lie in society is that life has no purpose, life is a cosmological accident and has come together by chance. You're life is purposeless, but you can have purposes in the things you do. So it's your choice! This is the positivists approach to a meaningless and purposeless life. What they are intentionally saying is that your life can have purposes without a purpose. That doesn't make any sense. And this idea has seeped into the churches. The same idea is applied to a life which has a purpose but tells you that you must make purpose in everything you do so that you can be fulfilled and live a happy life. 'Just do what makes you happy' is the modern motto. Dr. Voddie Baucham put it this way, "Get what you can, can what you get, and sit on the can." That's the lie that some of us have bought into and we don't even know it. So I'm writing here to show you how to identify it. That's a shameless life to live and totally self-gratifying.
The ways the purpose driven lifers try to tell you how to live is completely selfish. The motive is to obtain happiness and joy. Now I'm not saying it's wrong to want joy in your life, but that's not what the gospel is about. God wants us to be happy, but it's not in this life. The purpose as I have said before is to have the chance to be reconciled to Him. Jesus died so that we may have eternal life. The goal to get a happy life and following some step-by-step book to joy and happiness is not the answer, it's self-driven and self-gratifying. The main purpose should be to find that joy in God, in His Son. The Holy Spirit can help, that's why He sent him--we couldn't do it on our own.
The truth is that you have a purpose, and the purpose is to be reconciled to God. If you have decreed your servitude to Christ in surrendering your will to the Father, by which I mean as not just 'asking Jesus into your heart' or 'accepting Jesus as your saviour,' but directing your life unto God and giving it up in accepting what the Bible says about Him and the works He has done in the Messiah for your sake.
Here is a new drive for you; live your life like you were chosen by God, because well... you were chosen. I can't tell you how to live but I can ask you to direct yourself to the New Testament and take a look at how God asks us to live. Look at the way a person would live by the spirit and that's the way we ought to live and look at the way we would live if we were living in the flesh and work to put those ways to death.
It may be difficult because we live in a carnal body and our soul is in constant warring against the flesh, but by putting those hidden or beset sins of our youth we can live a more joy-filled life from the Lord as was intended for mankind. Not that it's possible to have a fulfilled and happy life in this life but we can surely enjoy God's grace in this life. You can enjoy Him now, even though not fully as promised when we are ultimately reconciled and restored in our new bodies with Him.
In the Old Testament the Lord left for us Solomon's proverbs to his son who would soon heir his throne. Just as we are adopted heirs to the Lord through Christ, we too can learn how to think and live a Christ or God centred life. Maybe I just coined a new phrase? (Tongue in cheek)
The proverbs say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The only way to know how to live a life dedicated to the Lord is to know Him, and to know Him is to read or listen to His Word. Any book in scripture is full of knowledge even if you don't notice it at first, study and find out! I'd say it's not possible to learn everything about the scriptures in one life time or many life times, God's knowledge is far beyond our human capabilities. But don't let that discourage you. The scriptures, and I'd like to point out especially the proverbs and the gospels and letters in the NT are very good, all of scripture is God inspired and good for the soul, for man does not live on bread alone, but on the Word of God.
It is Sunday and I have missed a day of church due to working the weekend to make up for the 7-day national holiday in China. So I'm so thankful that the Lord has inspired me today and given me some time to write to you. But I must go, I don't want to keep too much time from my wife.
My last tip is: serve others without thinking so consciously about how you might feel others might think about you. Throw yourself out of the picture and focus on the Lord and how He wants you to act; unselfishly.
With Love & Compassion,
Michael
Some of the religious say that God has a purpose for your life and then they explain how to find it and how to live it out... a fulfilled life, if you will. The lie is that you don't have a purpose, but purposes. Although, their language sounds correct because at first they say that 'since God created you, you have a purpose, so therefore you must live your life like you have one,' or something like that. Maybe I'm a little off but it's still the same when you look at the outcome of those spiritual guru books for Christians dilemmas.
The Church as bought into this lie. The lie in society is that life has no purpose, life is a cosmological accident and has come together by chance. You're life is purposeless, but you can have purposes in the things you do. So it's your choice! This is the positivists approach to a meaningless and purposeless life. What they are intentionally saying is that your life can have purposes without a purpose. That doesn't make any sense. And this idea has seeped into the churches. The same idea is applied to a life which has a purpose but tells you that you must make purpose in everything you do so that you can be fulfilled and live a happy life. 'Just do what makes you happy' is the modern motto. Dr. Voddie Baucham put it this way, "Get what you can, can what you get, and sit on the can." That's the lie that some of us have bought into and we don't even know it. So I'm writing here to show you how to identify it. That's a shameless life to live and totally self-gratifying.
The ways the purpose driven lifers try to tell you how to live is completely selfish. The motive is to obtain happiness and joy. Now I'm not saying it's wrong to want joy in your life, but that's not what the gospel is about. God wants us to be happy, but it's not in this life. The purpose as I have said before is to have the chance to be reconciled to Him. Jesus died so that we may have eternal life. The goal to get a happy life and following some step-by-step book to joy and happiness is not the answer, it's self-driven and self-gratifying. The main purpose should be to find that joy in God, in His Son. The Holy Spirit can help, that's why He sent him--we couldn't do it on our own.
"The truth is that you have a purpose, and
the only purpose is to be reconciled to God."
The truth is that you have a purpose, and the purpose is to be reconciled to God. If you have decreed your servitude to Christ in surrendering your will to the Father, by which I mean as not just 'asking Jesus into your heart' or 'accepting Jesus as your saviour,' but directing your life unto God and giving it up in accepting what the Bible says about Him and the works He has done in the Messiah for your sake.
Here is a new drive for you; live your life like you were chosen by God, because well... you were chosen. I can't tell you how to live but I can ask you to direct yourself to the New Testament and take a look at how God asks us to live. Look at the way a person would live by the spirit and that's the way we ought to live and look at the way we would live if we were living in the flesh and work to put those ways to death.
It may be difficult because we live in a carnal body and our soul is in constant warring against the flesh, but by putting those hidden or beset sins of our youth we can live a more joy-filled life from the Lord as was intended for mankind. Not that it's possible to have a fulfilled and happy life in this life but we can surely enjoy God's grace in this life. You can enjoy Him now, even though not fully as promised when we are ultimately reconciled and restored in our new bodies with Him.
In the Old Testament the Lord left for us Solomon's proverbs to his son who would soon heir his throne. Just as we are adopted heirs to the Lord through Christ, we too can learn how to think and live a Christ or God centred life. Maybe I just coined a new phrase? (Tongue in cheek)
The proverbs say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The only way to know how to live a life dedicated to the Lord is to know Him, and to know Him is to read or listen to His Word. Any book in scripture is full of knowledge even if you don't notice it at first, study and find out! I'd say it's not possible to learn everything about the scriptures in one life time or many life times, God's knowledge is far beyond our human capabilities. But don't let that discourage you. The scriptures, and I'd like to point out especially the proverbs and the gospels and letters in the NT are very good, all of scripture is God inspired and good for the soul, for man does not live on bread alone, but on the Word of God.
It is Sunday and I have missed a day of church due to working the weekend to make up for the 7-day national holiday in China. So I'm so thankful that the Lord has inspired me today and given me some time to write to you. But I must go, I don't want to keep too much time from my wife.
My last tip is: serve others without thinking so consciously about how you might feel others might think about you. Throw yourself out of the picture and focus on the Lord and how He wants you to act; unselfishly.
With Love & Compassion,
Michael
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