Steven Malcolm - The Overflow DevoSample

What Was You Thinking

What was you thinking?
That I forgot my purpose in breathing?

Purpose is a powerful word. There is something intrinsically woven into the fabric of who we are as humans that longs to know our purpose. One of the most common human questions, no matter what the language, time in history, or geographical location, is, “what is my purpose?”. Justin Bieber's newest album has already sold over 1 million copies and the title is...you guessed it...Purpose.

“God created me—and you—to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion—namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.” -- John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

Our purpose in life is much like an address to the final destination of a road trip. The only way to know whether or not you are headed in the right direction is to clearly identify where you would like to end up. Similarly, in order for us to know whether or not we are headed in the right direction as Christ followers, we must turn to God’s Word to let Him define our purpose for us.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-3: “[1] Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. [2] For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. [3] For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” (ESV).

Verse 1 here gives us great insight into another way to describe God’s purpose for us in our everyday lives: “How you ought to walk and to please God”. Considering how God is calling us to walk and live in order to please and glorify Him is a tremendous way to clearly define day-to-day and eternal purpose. Living to please and glorify God should be the “address” we plug into the GPS of our hearts each morning before we begin that day’s journey into the world.

Verse 3 tells us plainly that part of God’s will for Christ followers everyday and throughout eternity is our sanctification. The word sanctification means “being set-apart, purified”. A simple way to understand sanctification is to look through the lens of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, God in human flesh, and the perfect embodiment of purity, perfection, and “set-apart-ness”. Being sanctified is simply being made more like Jesus. Jesus is pure, and faith in His finished work on the cross makes Christ followers pure in two ways:

At our moment of salvation, Christians are eternally made pure, set-apart, just like Jesus in the eyes of God, therefore, eternally receiving the same love that Jesus the Son receives from God the Father.

Between salvation and heaven, Christians struggle with sin and are progressively made more pure and more like Jesus in our everyday lives through His Spirit and personal devotion to Him.

Regarding number two, though God is the One who does the work in us, through His Spirit, we are also responsible to pursue Jesus through His Word, through prayer, through a life of worship and service, and through His Church.

Let this reality define or redefine your purpose tomorrow morning, and throughout all eternity! Amen.