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I write from the future, from ages beyond

In a time when all those plans are fulfilled

At the height of achieved and lost dreams

At the end of it all when lives are measured

And a verdict is passed for your momentary breath

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And how I pity those little dreams!

Am amazed of your concern for those big plans!

Though they sound huge and important now

Coming from the future; I say it’s all vanity

Useless plans and wasted lives

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Wasted because you chase only after a mirage

Useless because it’s but a philosophy built on lies

Wealth, power, legacy, love…it’s all vanity

The one who gets them and the one who doesn’t

What difference is there?

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It’s all vanity, a chasing of winds

For kings and slaves have the same fate

Not until they can live past this life

And in that I rejoice for the hope after death

A hope that gives this life meaning

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I rejoice to know that my life won’t just fade away with time

That when all seems to fail, I will be born to a better world

I dream bigger dreams that a temporary world can’t contain

I make plans for an unending future living with my Saviour

Loving him and serving him now before living with him forever

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This life amounts to nothing until Jesus makes it count

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What is your purpose?

I have been trying to figure out where the idea of “living your purpose” began in Christian circles. At face value it sounds good and is true because we are greatly loved  and cherished (not because we are lovable) seeing the sacrifice of the cross for a people not deserving such love (Romans 5:8, John 3:16). But going by the frailty of the human condition to steal God’s glory and be her own lord, I think this teaching can easily lose its meaning and even become dangerous to listen to.

So, what really is your purpose?

Yes we do have a purpose, and yes we were born for a reason but it is not so much because we are so special such that God’s plans would never flourish without us or as they say if we do not realise our purpose in life. God is sovereign and is glorified so much by our life and even by our death. We are created for his glory and so if we rob him that then whatever “purpose” we thought we had loses its meaning.

A greater purpose…

But here is a greater purpose if I may use that language; not that I am so special and need to realise it but that I have been called to something so special and a mission so important and urgent that I need to do everything in line with it. My purpose is not defined or tied to who I am in regard to my genes or skills and abilities but what I have become by receiving Jesus’ free offer of salvation; a child of God living in obedience to my master and saviour, Jesus.

Serving Jesus is my purpose

And so living as a Christian, I do not look unto myself and think too much of my abilities or that I have a purpose of my own apart from obeying Christ and serving others with the Gospel. Rather I look unto Christ and entirely depend on him to serve him and please him using whatever gifts he has given me as this is my duty in this life as I wait to give an account of it at the last day. As the Bible says; so you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ Luke 17:10. Therefore my duty and purpose is the duty of every other Christians; to obey and serve Jesus.

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Oh dear Lord, in anguish and pain will I pray to you

I pray not for wealth, health or power

No, my prayer is against my foolishness

The foolishness that fills my heart;

That I would say no to your love

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How foolish would that be?

How blind would I be?

That before my very eyes was life

Only to choose death?

Help me never to trust my heart

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My prayer is against my heart

For from within oozes wickedness

But I delight in your holiness

For you have taken the burden of my wretchedness

To rejoice in your free saving grace

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How I glorify your name for understanding

Thank you for delivering me from myself

And giving me a master worth following

Forbid that I should return to my foolishness

To the slavery of my wickedness

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Help me delight in this life I have in you

To share the news of your wonderful doing;

The joy of freeing me from foolishness

And granting me to live with you forever

To rejoice now and always in your salvation

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Where we start doesn’t matter. 

I can understand why people turn to religion for answers. I can see why someone would desperately stretch their hands to anything that promises help, meaning, purpose and satisfaction.I do not need to state the tales of my life or many I know. For there are all kinds of reasons that at first lead us to church only the promise of Jesus is far greater than what we would imagine we ever needed.

The true reality

Though we may come to him looking for answers, meaning, wealth, health, purpose… in this life, he gives us more than that; eternal life. When the world promises you happiness at 40 after years of toiling and wasting you youthful years, Christ promises joy in eternal life that makes the struggle and pain of this life feel like a minute fraction of a second in millions of years (Mark 10:29-30).

True Love

When some promise you love that demands everything only to realise how short-lived or even destructive it can be, Jesus starts by assuring you that he has loved you with an everlasting love and has died for you when you were most least lovable that you may be with him forever (see Rom 5:8, Jer 31:3).

 Eternal Prosperity

When men preach wealth, health, children…only to rob you your little resources and joy, Jesus in his Word assures you abundant life overflowing to eternal life in his glorious kingdom where all your tears will be wiped away and no harm will come to you in his holy mountain (see Rev 21:4, John 10:10).

Unfading name

And when the world seeks legacy, to make a name that soon is forgotten, God says I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever; a memorial better than sons and daughters, a name written in the one and only book of life (see Isaiah 56:5, Luke 10:20).

Trustworthy Word

And most assuredly unlike the words of men that change by season, politicians who lie in public or those that promise what they cannot give, Jesus words are true, unchanging and eternally valid; even more his Word is life (John 6:63, psalms 33:6, Hebrews 11:3, Mark 13:31).

Benefits outweigh the cost

In a few words; his promises are too great than we can comprehend, going beyond time to life eternal. Nothing in this world can be equalled with what Jesus has in store for those who trust and believe in him. In addition his Word is true and his plans cannot be thwarted. This makes the cost (Mark 8:31-38) almost insignificant as a minute fraction of a millennia, a little drop in an ocean not forgetting the assurance of Jesus walking with you to the end (Matt 28:20). Think of it, even if you cried all your life now, a single second in eternal joy is worth forgetting it all and the joy never ends.

It’s worth everything

You may say, too good to be true but Jesus in the Gospels and through the apostles doesn’t leave you with that option. Why in a million years would you say no to such a deal? And if you are still not sure of it, isn’t it worth all the time to investigate? I pray and beseech you even in tears to consider this if you wonder what’s in for Christians. And if you are a Christian, rejoice in this promise with unwavering commitment amidst struggles now and don’t settle for the small false promises of false gospel preachers beside the true and only Gospel of Christ.

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