What Is My Purposeনমুনা

The Divine Perspective of life

1 John 2:15-16 - Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

Before we began following Jesus the objective of all that we did was generally either pleasure or the acquisition of worldly goods or status. However, Jesus said, ‘Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”. He called us to repent from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of God. Many misunderstand this call to repentance as simply turning away from sin. But, when we read the New Testament, we find that while John the Baptist asked people to repent from their sins, Jesus and His disciples simply asked people to ‘repent’. Jesus was calling for deeper repentance.

Temptations leading to sin come from our desire for the things of this world. James 1:13-15 says,

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

and 1 Tim 6:9-10,

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Repenting (turning away) from sin does not help unless we also repent (turn away) from the source of sin. Once we turn away from the source of sin, repentance from sin becomes possible. Otherwise, we continue to struggle with sin all through our life instead of fulfilling God’s purposes for our lives. Our goal changes from ‘serving God’ to ‘not sinning’. That is not right. Our goal should be serving God.

Once we turn away from the source of sin, we begin to seek the purposes of God rather than our worldly desires. Work is no longer focused on getting the next promotion but on serving the needs of our team members and clients. Our job is no longer just a means of income but of fulfilling the larger purposes of God. So, we research and study a lot more to understand why God would want that job and what it contributes to the good of mankind. Our job gains meaning and we get a passion for the job which we would not otherwise have had. Since we are no longer competing with our colleagues for promotions and other benefits, we get along better with them and can build a team more effectively in the workplace.

The same applies to the home. It is no longer about us but about what God is doing in our homes. Are we preparing our children for the work of God or making them self-centred people who are running after the world? Is our family inward-focused or outwardly focused to be a blessing to other families?

Turning away from the source of sin helps put our life in the proper perspective.

Paul summarizes this world view in 2 Cor 5:15 as, “and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

Have you repented from the things of the world as John calls for in 1 John 2:15-16?