THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."  (John 18:37 NKJV)

This was our Lord's answer to Pilate's inquiry, and to a certain extent each of us may appropriate His words. Wordsworth's immortal lines suggest that we stood before God to receive our commission, ere we became clothed with this body of humiliation. Whether or not the poet is right in his surmise, that "not in utter nakedness or forgetfulness do we come from God, who is our home," we need not argue. It is enough that God, who hates nothing that He has made, sent us forth to realize an ideal, to fulfill a purpose, to bear witness to some phase of truth! Shall we not ask ourselves, as in His presence, whether we are fulfilling the divine purpose of what the apostle calls "our high calling"? I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:14 NKJV)

God created each soul with a purpose. The potter takes in his hand a lump of clay with a distinct design. He means, when he places it on his wheel, to make of it a vessel to adorn a temple or palace, or he has in mind to serve some household use. The revolving wheel on the one hand, and his skilful manipulation on the other, will evolve and complete his purpose. "Cannot I do with you, as this potter? saith the Lord."

"You have made me and fashioned me. You chose the time and circumstances of my birth, my parentage and heredity, my mental equipment and my physical frame. From the first You knew the constitution of my body, which You fashioned in secret, and curiously work in the lowest places of the earth."

To our humble challenge: "Why have You made me thus?" God does not always give an audible reply. His answer is often voiceless, it steals in upon the soul insensibly, and we know that we are fulfilling His purpose. If you are engaged in some unwelcome task, which evidently is your duty; if you are shut up as companion with some uncongenial charge; if you are called to minister to people who seem unresponsive or unsympathizing, ask that the Savior and you may be yoked together, that His will may be done through you, that His love and kindness may bear and forbear in you, and that you may witness to the truth, as it is in Jesus.

PRAYER

O God, some of us shrink from our life-work, from those with whom we have to associate, from unwelcome toil and irksome tasks. Enable us to see Your plan, and to trust You as You working out Your plan in our lives. May the love of Christ constrain us no longer to live unto ourselves, but to Him.  For it’s in His name we pray, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #32:
I am seated in the heavens and My kingdom reigns over all.

Psalm 103:19 (WEB)
Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens.
His kingdom rules over all.