HOW NOT TO MISS PURPOSE

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live” – 1 Corinthians 8:6

God wants His children to understand HOW NOT TO MISS PURPOSE: “yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live” (1Cor.8:6). This means that: we are made by God, and for God. You exist for God. Your purpose is to spend your life for God, with Jesus at the centre of everything you are and do. Life is never meant to be wasted! When something is spent in such a way that it does not accomplish its intended purpose, it is considered wasted. Your life has a purpose; and if you do not want to waste it, you need to know what it is meant for. The Bible – God’s word– is our Source of life’s purpose.

Unfortunately, people can fail to live for God and thereby waste life’s purpose in two major ways.

Spending Life on Nothing: those who in their worldly wisdom try to live without God, often end up aimless, isolated, and joyless! They drift aimlessly with no target, no intentionality, no goal, and no purpose, because they lack the divine input that could integrate their education, talents, and passions, thus wasting life. Such people may show a semblance of spirituality and feign faith in some higher force, but the truth is that life without faith in Christ is ridden with crisis! Such a person has not come to terms with 1 Corinthians 8:5-6 – concerning WHO we exist for. In order to have a meaningful life, you must have a passion for something – indeed, ‘Someone’ – greater than yourself, and a vision that surpasses the present. A lack of commitment to Christ will degenerate into fading passion and missing purpose.  Life spent for Christ’s sake is life well-spent!

Spending Life on the Wrong Things – Idols or false gods: being motivated, driven, passionate, and focused on entirely the wrong goals. One can attain a Great Dream and climb the corporate ladder, but a wrong ladder – a life spent in foolishness. The Lord Jesus spoke about a rich man who had so much stuff he had to build even larger barns to put it all in. He was fat, flourishing, and living large. But God called this man a fool because he couldn’t take these riches with him at his demise. All of the stupendous riches were left for strangers to plunder. What’s more, all the wealth in the world wouldn’t prepare this man to meet God, having spent his life serving himself. The Lord concluded: “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Lk.12:15b). Money will be spent, beauty will fade, power will be depleted, fame will be forgotten, and entertainment and pleasure-seeking will fail to provide the joy that one longed for in life.

God designed human life to have meaning and purpose, but this abundant life is found in the Lord Jesus Christ (Jh.10:10b). Our Saviour, God the Son, died in the prime of life, absolutely without sin – not one impure thought, hateful word or white lie – a life perfectly dedicated to God. Jesus laid down His own valuable life for every human being. He sacrificed His perfect and meaningful life to redeem our imperfect and seemingly purposeless lives if we believe in Him. This is the Gospel – the good news of Jesus: He spent His life for us so that we could spend our lives for Him. When you trust Jesus to save you from your sins He does so, and gives you a new life with amazing purpose.

The measure of your life lies not in what you accomplish, or how much wealth you have accumulated, but in what Christ accomplishes in and through you, by the riches of His grace. Choose to invest life to display the glory of God in Jesus Christ: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1Cor.10:31).