On Purpose

One of my fears is to be useless. The thought of one day waking up in the morning with no purpose, no meaning, no drive; that scares me. As Bieber once said, to be given purpose is to be blessed with the best gift we could know.

No matter what the world says, I cannot look at my life and believe that the blessings of gifting and talent, position and family, country and freedom, have all been given blindly and without purpose?

I believe that my life has a reason and meaning and a purpose. This is the path I have chosen, to follow Jesus, to shine as a light wherever I find myself. Should a candle in a dark room just assume that darkness is its fate? Should the candle just make peace with the darkness? No. I choose to believe that I am where I am because I’ve been placed right here, not by chance, but by sovereign purposeful design. And this little light of mine wants to shine to all its potential!

That being said, the life of purpose ain’t a walk in the park. Like I have discovered from running in Sweden in the middle of winter, it’s more like running uphill through the snow. It takes courage and determination and perseverance and ignoring the voice that constantly tells me I’m going to fall. It daily involves fleeing from temptation, looking to Christ, fighting the good fight, running the race, and wrestling with myself.

The life of complacency is much more like a gentle stroll on the promenade. It offers a road free from care. I give myself to the very things I should flee from and fight with. So much easier to choose, so much simpler, and just what us humans tend to want. But I cannot deny that there is more for me, so I choose to not want this.

How on earth do I propose to do this? Not in my strength, for it has and always will fail. Not in my previous success for it is insignificant. Not in my own willpower for it is weak and corrupt. Not in any part of my natural being because I have fallen short. I have broken promises I vowed to keep. I have given up more times than I have tried again. There is a powerful magnet in me that always pulls toward easy. I know I have no lasting hope in myself.

So again you ask, how on earth do I propose to do this? I make this resolve solely in the strength of God, in the grace and power of Jesus Christ. In the salvation I know I have through Him. From the righteousness I have received from Him, from the security that I feel in His embrace, from everything that is not me and is Him—in this I stand and in this I put my hope.

Although the life of purpose is harder, I don’t have to (which is great news because I straight up cannot) do it in my own strength and with my own willpower. To change the world God has changed my heart. To fight the fight God has won the war. To run the race Christ has set me free. And in that freedom and purpose I choose to live.

Philippians 2:13

"It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” 

Exodus 9:16

“But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”