life_onPurpose

Living Life “On Purpose”, by Randall D. Kittle

You didn’t just happen. You’re “father” isn’t a bunch of slime that just got lucky. You are more than just a highly-evolved animal with opposable thumbs. The Word of God begins by telling us that we were created by God. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Four times in this passage God says we were created or made by Him.

But even greater than this is how we were created. It says we were made “in the image of God” or “in His likeness” four different times in these two verses. This tells us that we weren’t just made by God, we were made for Him! We were made in God’s image, made like Him, so we could be the family of God … His children with whom He could share His life and love. God is eternally a Father. He always has been and always will be a Father, and He created us to be His children. “‘And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,’ says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18).

If you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and accepted Him as your Savior and Lord, you are God’s child. Your purpose in life is not what you do … it’s who you are! God created you on purpose for the purpose of being His beloved child in whom He is well pleased. This means that your main purpose for existence is to be lavishly loved by the Father, to be the benefactor of His love and grace, and to be the recipient of everything He has for you which was afforded for you on the Cross!

Willing to Live Life
While it is wonderful that we grasp the purpose for which we are created, it is even more important we don’t respond like Lewis Carroll’s Alice from Alice in Wonderland who famously declared, “I give myself such good advice, though I very seldom follow it.” It is not enough that we know we were created on purpose for a purpose … or even that we’ve come to understand God’s primary purpose for creating us was for relationship — to be His beloved child in whom He is well pleased. We must choose to live our lives for this purpose. Vance Havner put it this way, “The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps — we must step up the stairs.”

It is not what we know or how we feel that determines our spiritual progress. It is what we will. While we don’t accomplish anything for the kingdom of God by mere determination, we also will never accomplish anything for the kingdom of God without determination. In these days of weak and watered down religion, we don’t hear much about the need to walk out our faith in determined will to what God has called us to. Yet throughout the Scriptural record we see the importance of making a determined choice to follow the Lord.

In Genesis 28:20 “Jacob made a vow,” and it set him on a course to live a life that was ultimately victorious for God. So much so, that God was not ashamed to declare that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Daniel “purposed in his heart” (Daniel 1:8) to pursue the will of God instead of the ways of man, and God honored this purposing by giving him wisdom, favor, and divine deliverance. Beaten and bloodied, Jesus “set His face like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) and walked straight to Calvary carrying His cross. The result was the salvation of the world. Paul “determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2), and in that determined spirit turned “the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). These are only a few of the many men and women in the Bible who have left us a record of spiritual greatness born out of a will firmly set to do the will of God.

So, let me encourage you this day to be willing to live your life for God’s ultimate purpose — being His cherished son or daughter. Let this understanding fill your heart and make everything you do flow out from it. I want to encourage you to start each day remembering your purpose is not something you do but who you are — a beloved child of the Most High God! Then, you need to choose to live that day in light of this, meaning the values you hold and the priorities you set should align with living as one of God’s children whom He richly loves and cherishes in His heart.