One of the most popular questions for all man-kind is “what was I created for”? The desire to discover our purpose on earth is one that has haunted me for a long time. If you believe that God created the earth, and then He created us, then you must believe that there was a purpose behind it. A creator ALWAYS creates with intent. A musician writes a song for others to hear, writers write stories for others to read and artists draw to enlighten the minds of others. So God, being the ultimate Creator, definitely created us with a plan in mind. I want to know what God created me for and what His will for my life is, don’t you?
As I was lying in bed last night, I started to think about this concept. See, I used to think that doing “God’s Will” in my life meant doing what He created me to do. Things that would advance the Kingdom by way of serving, ministering, evangelizing or simply reaching out to others and spreading the Good News by using the gifts He has given me.
Although this will eventually be the case, I’m not sure if that truly is His will for us. I think that may be a result of doing His will but not the will itself. After reading the scriptures, I believe that doing God’s will in our lives means taking advantage of the time He has given us to strengthen, or establish, a relationship with Him by way of reading His word, prayer and worship. That must be done first, then the service will come naturally.
Does God want us to represent Him unto the world? Yes. Does He want us to reflect Him so that others may be drawn to Him, through us? Yes. However, in order for that to happen we must be doing our best to exude Christ-like character. In order to do that, we must learn about the life of Christ and apply that to our own. For a long time, I thought doing God’s will meant actually serving Him, through works, for the advancement of the Kingdom. Sometimes, I get caught up in asking Him to show me what His will for my life is (which really means, I want to know what He created me for) when I’m learning that what He wants, first and foremost, is for us to choose to develop a relationship with Him.
In the book of John, chapter 6 verses 38-40, Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life."
Jesus mentions two of the most powerful declarations in that verse:
1) The will of God, for Him, was to NOT lose all that He has given Him. With this, the question arises: How could Jesus “lose” us? Well friends, in one of the most amazing revelations the Bible has to offer, Jesus could have lost us if He was disobedient to God. See, He was the blueprint for how we are supposed to live. If He would have reacted, in a fleshly way, to those who mistreated and abused Him, then we would be doing the same, in the name of Jesus. If He would have disobeyed the command of Love and reacted with negativity, then we would be doing the same and pointing to Jesus to justify it.
Hypothetically, if that only happened once in the Bible, throughout all the wonders and miracles Jesus did, people would use that to discredit the word of God and not follow Him. Some would build religions off of it just to satisfy their own understanding. He did God’s will in His life by being obedient to God with how He lived. Therefore, Jesus did God's will in His life, by not losing us, because He was obedient to what God wanted. He lived how God intended Him to live, which resulted in Him fulfilling the mission that God had called Him to do.
2) Jesus said that God’s will is for “all who see his Son and believe in him” to have eternal life. Most of us can relate to the fact that one of the key ways that we believe in Jesus is due to how he lived. Jesus didn’t come just so that you, or me, can write amazing books for God, produce good music for God or go into the world and talk about God. Jesus came so that we may believe in God, give our lives to God and glorify God with what we do, say or think. The other stuff mentioned (books, music and going into the world), WILL COME AS A RESULT OF THAT.
The Bible says (in Luke 10:27), when an expert of the law (given by God) asked Jesus “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus referred him back to the word. The expert said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus replied, “You have answered correctly, do this and you will live.” Jesus clearly instructed that the key to eternal life is to love God with our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbors. He did not mention to create Godly music, write Godly books or preach the Godly message to the world. He simply stated that the ingredients to eternal life was to love God first (which involves having a relationship with Him) and love others second. Loving God with your heart, mind and soul requires consistent commitment to developing a relationship with Him. We achieve that by reading His word and applying what it says to our lives.
Ironically enough, the story of Mary and Martha follows this statement in Luke 10:38, which is a great illustration of those who may get caught up with serving God vs. those who understand the importance of intimacy with Him. I HIGHLY SUGGEST that you check out that story.
And for those that think, because you pray in tongues, have knowledge of the bible, tithe and live in great faith, you are doing all that God has called you to do, think again. Paul says it best in 1 Corinthians 13:2:
"If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing."
In closing, I encourage each of you, who have made it this far, to continue strengthening your relationship with God. That is what He requires of us. In terms of us utilizing the skills He gave us to add to the Kingdom, He will open those doors when the time is right. I repeat, WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT. When I say, “right timing” I mean that when He opens those doors, we will be able to handle what He puts before us, with the mind of Christ.
"For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life." (John 6:40)What will they "see"? Jesus. How will they believe in Him? By His works. What allows HIm to work in that manner? His union with God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, as they gave Him the ability to do so. Don’t worry about Him telling you exactly what job He has for you or what car or what skill to grow, just put focus towards spending as much time with Him, and in His word, as possible. He will take care of the rest. It will only be through encountering the grace, love and mercy through an intimate relationship with Jesus that will prompt you to spread what you've learned with others.
Peace 2 U,
James a.k.a. His Messenger
My brother, I'm glad you opened up your own blog. I was wondering when such a thing would happen as God blesses you with a writing ability as well. Just as you said, when “It is the right time.”
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this post. I learned a lot. Came to a greater understanding and had confirmation on doing His will. What God spoke to me through His Word as I pondered the fact that He existed before anything existed being that He's existent. God spoke and I heard, ‘I exist to be perpetual love that all things may be sustained.’ Certainly such words blew me away and caused me to rejoice as the Word states that God is love, and again that these three abide (co-exist together) hope, faith and love but the greatest of all is love, and again God is Spirit. So with rejoicing, being aware that we were created in His image, not flesh but spirit, knowing that He breathed His life into us, I said, Lord then Your will for us is to be perpetual love.
But the question that eludes many of us is how, and you confirm it, as the Lord spoke to me. By love. Amen. As the Father so loved the Son, and the Father so loved the creation that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life, we too, know that we are loved, and it's further confirmed to us that His will is to love, that God demonstrated His love for us as while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, and further if that wasn't enough God is faithful that as the Son would return to His former glory His Spirit would continue God's will in and through us in the Helper; the Holy Spirit, that love would continue to abide on this earth and in this world. Amen.
My brother, great is God and His faithfulness that although all seeing, all knowing, all powerful and everywhere present, He loves us so, that He allows us to have and experience a relationship with Him. This is love, and in us doing so, we too, fulfill His will in being love. Amen.
Loved this post. God be praised and forever glorified. Amen.
God's grace and peace to you. As always...YOU ARE LOVED.