Living With Purpose

We've spent time looking at the ways in which He leads us into a life with purpose. In this segment, we’re going to put some legs on the process, helping to define how we actually do this, by looking specifically at what the apostle Paul wrote about himself.

Here are two passages of Scripture in which the apostle describes his own personal experience:

“All the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness. . . . Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back” (Phil. 3:8, 9, 13, 14, The Message)

“The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8, NLT).

The Process.

The first statement describes the process under which a growing Christian operates. Notice several significant elements:

1. Paul speaks of the attractions of sin as “gone from my life,” which he goes on to explain as a choice he is making each day, not some miracle of transformation. God is transforming him, but He is doing it one day at a time.

2. Specifically, Paul speaks of the battle he faces each day, in which he establishes and then reestablishes priorities (choosing Jesus over everything else), and then acts on those priorities.

3. He refutes the idea that he has achieved “perfection,” and replaces it with the concept of “keeping his eyes on the goal.”

4. Finally, he introduces the key element in the faith process: forgetting the past and choosing to focus on the future.

The Assurance.

In the second statement, Paul affirms that he is near the end of his life and that he now understands several important things:

1. He has “fought the good fight,” which is to say he has remained engaged, resisting the temptation we all have to abandon the fight and give in to discouragement or despair. While salvation is a gift—always, absolutely and never deserved—it changes us, calling forth from us a desire to remain engaged with God in revealing to the world what it really means to be a Christian.

2. He further claims to have “finished the race,” and “remained faithful,” implying that he understands clearly the nature of the effort, that it is not about “winning,” as much as clinging to Jesus in faith.

3. Finally, he speaks about the “prize” he anticipates, but his language reveals that he understands fully that it is something to be “awarded” to him by the Lord, when all is said and done—something that comes entirely from the Lord as an expression of His grace.

The process of spiritual growth—which is at the center of the entire discipleship conversation—is entirely driven by God. What we do in that process is very simple: we choose to remain engaged, allowing God to transform us. We don’t “make it happen,” but we do “choose for it to happen,” and allow God to do the work. We do this with a full awareness that we will stumble and fall along the way, knowing that God is walking the path with us, and is eager to pick us up, brush us off, and encourage us to keep going, allowing Him to complete His work.*

*Provided by instepwithjesus.org

Got Road Rage!!!?

A spiritual lesson for me

You know, the other day as I was driving from work I was feeling every bump and hole in the ground and it was so painful to me. I began complaining to myself about it in my mind because of how much it was getting on my nerves... the ups, the downs, the narrow winding turns and swerves, the dips, potholes, and stop and go with the traffic. All of a sudden, I was mentally and spiritually stopped in my tracks. The Lord began showing me how our life is like that. It has ups and downs. It has turns and swerves. It has narrow roads and wide roads. It has dips, potholes, stops and gos as well.

But, it is not the broad and straight roads that I should seek spiritually that are all smooth and nothing to get in the way or to hinder. It is the strait (difficult) and narrow road that I should seek after, with all of its' narrow windings of trouble, with all of its' ups and downs in life, with all of its dips, and deep potholes, with all of it's stop and go traffic that causes pain. Why, you ask?

You see, a friend of mine explained to me how, if it was all straight and wide on a road when driving, it is easier to fall asleep at the wheel because you are not as concerned or alert. You are more vulnerable to allow distractors like texting, cell phone calls, make-up, eating, and the like to happen. So, an accident can occur more likely and you may not make it to your planned destination.

However, spiritually with the winding and strait (difficult) and narrow road, I am more alert for incidents. I am paying more attention and less likely to allow distractors to take away that attention. With the ups and downs I am strengthened and made wiser to be prepared for the next ones. With the dips and the deep potholes that causes me pain, I can grow and learn from and am able to help others through and over them. With all of the stops in my life I have time to reflect and meditate on God's will and direction for my life so that I am not just going at all times without thinking, without praying, without studying His Word. But instead, I would know exactly where I came from, and where I am headed because I allowed God to be my GPS (God Powered Service). Therefore, with all of these that we see as negatives, can be used as positives to make it to our planned destination.

This is a good spiritual lesson for me in turning something negative to a positive outlook. You know what the funny thing is? After thinking of all of this, I didn't mind the traffic and rough roads as much while I was driving them that day. They still cause me pain, but my outlook about them is different. I hope and pray that some experience in your life, when meditating upon it, will cause you to have a different outlook on life about that and many other situations.

A good scripture to look at today is when talking about all of the terrible trials, tribulations, evil and wicked things that happened to Joseph, who didn't cause any of these things to happen to him, but they still happened. God used these things: He used when satan was attacking him through his family, tempting him through his boss' wife, trying him through his boss, teaching him through his imprisonment, and exalting his to the position that He had planned for him to save His people. This was Joseph's response. Gen. 50:20 - But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Remember this, you are not just going through this and that and overcoming hurts, pains, and tribulations for nothing. You are going through it to grow, to be strong and bold, to have a testimony, to have compassion for others, to learn to be victorious and overcoming it to help others to be victorious as well... You are going through this to save much people alive.

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