CHAPTER 4: THE IMPORTANCE OF PURPOSE
“This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.”
-----Isaiah 14:26
I was made to realize recently the importance of purpose in the Divine scheme of things. Without purpose, we are like the proverbial man who "jumped on his horse and rode off in all directions at once." As Rick Warren reminds us, in chapter 1 of his book, The Purpose Driven Life, “It all starts with God." So easily we forget this simple fact. One thing he says is that "…the purpose of your life fits into a much larger cosmic purpose that God has designed for eternity."1
God had a purpose when he created the universe and He had a purpose when He created us. (Rom.9:11) Thus, our lives have a purpose. Thus, instead of being driven by guilt, anger, fear, resentment, materialism or need for approval, we should be driven by our purpose, that is, God's purposes for us. This will give our life meaning. It will also simplify and focus our life. Without a clear purpose, you will tend to make decisions based on pressures, circumstances or your present mood. In Chapter 1, I mentioned that If Timotheus the beggar in my novel, Of Such Is The Kingdom, would have sought to realize his purpose earlier in life, perhaps he could have found a more suitable way to make a living. Just what that might have been, or even if he would have found any, we can only conjecture. Yet, it is true that without a purpose, you may try to do too much and thus become fatigued, which is probably how he felt after his numerous unsuccessful attempts to secure employment. Without a clear purpose, we may become restless and may constantly want to change our direction. Timotheus finally did seek for it, but too late. Thus, he was always asking questions, while his older partner, Lucas, had already mistakenly accepted that his purpose or lot in life was to beg and live off of the charity of others.
A knowledge of our purpose is what should motivate us and thus, energize us. A character who was motivated by a purpose, albeit a wrong one, was Barabbas, as I present him in Of Such Is The Kingdom. Before the stranger‘s challenge, he was simply accepting the Romans and their high taxation, although complaining about it. After the stranger‘s 2nd visit, he had a purpose and soon a vision and then he was on a mission to form a group to go against Pilate. His purpose prepared him only for earthly conflict which was doomed to failure. By contrast, knowing our true God-given purpose prepares us for eternity, because we were made to last forever. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says that God has put eternity in our hearts (Eccl.3:11). Pardon the preaching for a moment, but I can't get away from it--when you stand before God, He will ask you two questions: 1).”What did you do with my Son, who died to save you?” and 2) ”What did you do with what I gave you?”
In chapter 3, we talked about the love of God for us. One crucial thing which we must realize is that we were created to be loved by God. Think about that for a minute--the creator of the universe made you in order to love you. Of course, you rejected His love and went away from Him, which is why he had to send His Son to die for you in order to bring you back to Himself. We will all have to live somewhere forever, and if you accept by faith the gift of His son, it will be in heaven with Him. It's so simple to do, and yet many fail to do so.
But, let's get back to earth. Whether you are prepared for eternity or not, to get anywhere in this life, you need to realize what your purpose is. It is almost impossible to have a vision without purpose. And without a purpose, any goals which we might set would be meaningless. So, let us ask ourselves, what is our ultimate purpose in life? The Westminster confession summed it up this way: "What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." In fact, as C.S. Lewis said, "In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him." Have you ever thought about that--to enjoy God? If you are in sin, you are enjoying the pleasures of sin, but, as the Bible tells us in Heb.11:25, they are "for a season." On the other hand, the Psalmist says of God, "At your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Ps.16:11b ) He also says "The heavens declare the glory of God .…" All creation gives glory to God and we can enjoy the fruits of God's creation, and in so doing bring Him glory. Everything that God created brings glory to him except for two classes of beings, the fallen angels (demons) and us (man.) We have all failed to give Him the glory He deserves. That's why Paul adds the second phrase in Rom.3:23. After stating the universally known fact that "all have sinned," he adds: "and come short of the glory of God." If it were Hebrew poetry, this would be considered a parallelism, that is, two phrases referring to the same thing. Thus, sinning fails to glorify God and failing to glorify God, ultimately is sin. Thus, Paul also tells us "Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.” How can we do that? Just by being aware of what we are doing and asking ourselves "would this glorify God?" (ICor.10:31) Try it for a week and see if it doesn't change some of your habits, what you watch and listen to, etc.
But you may ask, "How do I know if a particular thing is glorifying to God or not?" Since all true beauty and creativity originated with God, the apostle gives us another test in Philippians 4:8: "…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about these things." If a certain activity truly meets all these requirements, I believe we can say it is glorifying to God.
The bottom line is this: When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God. So, it's sort-of a circle. Our chief purpose is to glorify God and when we fulfill our purpose, we do glorify God. But how do we find our specific purpose or purposes in life? We find our specific purpose by getting to know God. We do this first through accepting the gift of His son, as mentioned earlier, and second, through reading His word, applying it to our lives, and through prayer and worship. Then, through prayer we can also discover the gifts He has given to each of us and how He wants us to use them for His glory. Part of that may include reaching out and telling others about Him. We glorify God also, as I said, by running our leisure activities through the sieve of Philippians 4:8.
All of the above bring glory to God and thus help to fulfill our ultimate purpose. If you‘re still not sure what your specific purpose is, ask God. Then listen and be ready to accept the answer.
-------------------------------------------------
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
1) "Unless you assume a God, the meaning of life is irrelevant."
---Bertram Russell
2) "Without God, life makes no sense."
---Andrei Bitov
3) "Surely God would not have created such a being as man to exist for a day! No, no! Man was made for immortality."
---Abraham Lincoln
4) "Most men live lives of quiet desperation"
---Henry David Thoreau
5) "The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder--a waif, a nothing, a no man."
---Thomas Carlyle
6) “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
―Ralph Waldo Emerson
7) “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”
---John F. Kennedy
8) "This is the true joy of life: the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."
---George Bernard Shaw
9) "Your heavenly Father has a purpose for your life, and He has planned the best for you....When your purpose and priorities are in line with God's..., He will do absolutely amazing things in your life."
---Charles F. Stanley
10) "Given enough time, all your trophies will be trashed by someone else."
---James Dobson
11) “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
---The Westminster Shorter Catechism
12) "In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him."
---C.S. Lewis
13) "The glory of God is a human being fully alive!"
---Irenaeus
14) "But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."
---Isaiah (Isaiah 64:8)
15) "You Lord give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you."
---Isaiah (Isaiah 26:3 [TEV])
16) "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God…"
---Paul (Philippians 3:14)
---------------------------------------------
1. Warren p.21
“As every man has received the gift, even so, minister the same one to another.”
-----I Peter 4:10a
In the previous chapter, I mentioned discovering our talents and Spiritual gifts through prayer. An awareness of our gifts and talents should further define and solidify our purpose. But how do we know what our gifts are? In Romans 12:1 the apostle urges believers to “(by the mercy of God).present your bodies to God a living sacrifice... and be not conformed to the world, but be transformed, that you might prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.” He then tells us to “think soberly, according as God has given to every man, the measure of faith.” He then goes on to talk about various Spiritual gifts. So, the first step, after accepting the gift of salvation is to present yourself to God for His use. Then don’t be conformed to the world system but renew your mind through reading His word, the Bible. Then, with your mind renewed in the word, prove, or test out what your gifts may be. Try various things and get the advice of others until you find out what it is you are good at and enjoy doing. These things would comprise your Spiritual gifts or talents.
What is the difference, you may well ask, between talents and Spiritual gifts? Talents relate to natural abilities while Spiritual gifts are divinely given for Spiritual purposes and are driven primarily by Spiritual motivations. Some Spiritual gifts may develop out of talents. For example, you may have a natural talent for writing, but it becomes a Spiritual gift when you are motivated by the Holy Spirit to use your talent to teach other believers or to evangelize the lost. On the other hand, some Spiritual gifts may be completely independent of natural talents. Our purpose should be tied to our God-given talents and Spiritual gifts and knowing our purpose should compel us to use what you have to the fullest.
I felt compelled to add something here about the law of use after listening to a message in a series by T.V. preacher, Pat Robertson. Understand, I’m not endorsing Pat Robertson blanket, though I feel that God has given him insight into certain areas of practical Biblical interpretation. Thus, it struck me like a ton of bricks when he mentioned “the law of use” and illustrated it by explaining compound interest (adding interest to principle so that the added interest also earns interest) and by relating that to Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matthew 25:1-30). In the case of compound interest, you are using the money you have to gain more money by causing it to earn interest and adding the interest to it so that the total, in turn, can earn more interest, and so on. In the parable of the talents, the ones who invested and used the talents they were initially given, were given more, while the one who hid his had it taken away and given to the one who had most. I had never thought of it like that before, but it also applies to all areas of life, including our gifts and talents. What we don’t use, we lose. Physically speaking, if you don’t use certain muscles, they atrophy. If you have a talent, whatever it is, for singing, acting, writing, or whatever and you don’t use it, you will, to some extent, lose it, or lose the ability to function in it to your fullest capacity. Use, on the other hand, sharpens and hones whatever talent or gift you have. As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect.” Thus, Pat’s advice and mine would be to use whatever talent you have to the fullest. In doing so you may not only improve your existing gift or talent but also gain more gifts or talents in the process.
I can’t think of any examples from my novel, because actually none of the characters did use even their natural talents to the fullest extent. As perhaps a negative example, Pilate failed to use his strong leadership ability to the fullest, so that, finally, when prodded by his wife to use it more, he misused it and ended up in trouble for doing so.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
1) "Seek not the life of the immortals, ...Enjoy to the full the resources that are within thy reach. "
---Pindar (522 BC - 443 BC)
2) ”The secret of concentration is the secret of self-discovery. You reach inside yourself to discover your personal resources, and what it takes to match them to the challenge."
---Arnold Palmer
3) "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
---Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)
4) ” What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity - intellect and resources - to do something about them."
---Henry Ford II (1917 - 1987)
5) "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. "
---Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)
6) "Few men during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling in them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used."
---Richard E. Byrd
7) ”To be thrown upon one's own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy…previously unsusceptible."
---Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
8) ”A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. "
---Balthasar Grecian
9) "I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow."
---Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924)
10) ”The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it."
---William James (1842 - 1910)
11) "Skid sideways [through life], thoroughly used up, proclaiming 'Wow-What A Ride!’"
---Peter Sage
12) "And the LORD said unto him, 'What is that in your hand?' And He said 'A rod.'"
---Exodus 4:2
13) ”You should have put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming, I should have received my own with usury.”
---Matthew 25:27
14) "As every man has received the gift, even so, minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
---Peter (I Peter 4:10)