Living with Real Purpose

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We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10

Your life matters. You are living for a reason. Your life has purpose. Without purpose, life is boring and meaningless; there is little sense of life’s significance and value. Having a life filled with purpose is not just for the super-successful and highly important. God doesn’t just look after famous people who have accomplished great feats or individuals who have been placed in high positions of leadership. He cares for everyone. From the macro to the micro level, he declared his love for the world. There is no doubt, he loves you and gives your life real purpose. He does all this, not because you are deserving, but purely by his grace.

God demonstrated his grace when he saved you through your Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus’ perfect life counts for you. He suffered and died as your substitute. His rising from the grave means that you will also rise from the dead. And since he has saved you for all eternity—the greater thing—does he not also have great purpose for you in this life, the lesser thing? Yes! What is more, God says that he has created you to do what he has already planned for you. With every task and responsibility God has given your life purpose.

There is purpose in the mother who cares for her newborn and the father who teaches his son to double-knot his shoelaces. There is purpose in children who obey, just as there is purpose for the soldier who follows orders, the citizen who respects leaders, and the employee who goes to work.

Even your average day has purpose, for God has equipped and called you for each task of life. He does not intend life to be mundane mediocrity. Life is not meant to be compartmentalized into significant and insignificant pieces. Instead, God wants you to see his purpose for you as the fiber seamlessly woven through fabric of every facet of your life.

You have important purpose in life. Primarily, it is to know God’s love for you through Jesus. Motivated by his grace, you can willingly follow his lead through life and lovingly serve the people he brings into your life. That’s living with real purpose!

Served the people

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“Okay, so you did it once. That could be a fluke; do it again!” That’s reasonable. When scientists do a study which makes a significant find, immediately they want to re-do it, to make sure that it wasn’t a fluke. If we find the same thing consistently, then we say, “This isn’t a fluke, it’s a fact.”

Perhaps we’d wonder if Jesus’ first miracle—changing water into wine—was a fluke. So, Jesus did MANY miracles. For example, one time a group of 5,000 men, plus women and children, gathered to hear him. As evening came, Jesus told the disciples that they should feed the crowd. The disciples were stunned; how could they feed so many? They found one boy who had five loaves of bread and two small fish. What they considered a loaf of bread we would now consider a tortilla. It was about the size of a bagel. From that, Jesus fed the whole multitude! Then, a few months later, he fed another crowd of 4,000-plus. And we’re just scratching the surface. Jesus cured blindness, deafness, leprosy. He drove out demons, calmed storms. And perhaps most impressive, Jesus raised several people from the dead. Wow. This is no fluke! But we would fall short if we didn’t explore why Jesus did these things.

One time Jesus was teaching in a house when some men brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus. Because of the crowd, they couldn’t get to Jesus, so they climbed up on the roof, made an opening, and lowered their friend through it. Jesus’ first words were, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5 NIV).

The religious leaders were angered: “He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7 NIV). Jesus then asked, “Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?” (Mark 2:9 NIV). For a “normal” human being both would be impossible. But for God? Well, he could do both. So, if Jesus could heal the paralytic, that would prove that he could also forgive his sins. And that’s exactly the point Jesus makes: “‘But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .’ He said to the paralytic, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all” (Mark 2:10-12 NIV). Jesus healed him; therefore, Jesus could also forgive him.

And there we see the ultimate point of Jesus’ miracles. Each of those miracles said, Look at me! I have the ability and the authority to DO what you NEED! I have the ability and authority to FORGIVE you, to declare you innocent!” And as we look at all those miracles? We’re led to conclude, “This is no fluke! It’s a fact!”