Fulfilling Your Purpose預覽

Be the voice of God where you are

Hebrews 1:1-2a reads, ”God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” One of the purposes for Jesus’ coming, apart from the work of atonement was to reveal God to us by His life and teaching. The primary witness was His life and showing the concerns of the kingdom of God. This revelation was followed by teaching so that His disciples could understand the message being conveyed.

This is the role which we are called to. Moses writes in Deuteronomy 4:6, “Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’.’’ It was the lifestyle of the people that testified to their God. Jesus emphasizes the same in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Peter combines this lifestyle with verbal testimony in 1 Peter 3:13-17, where he says that we need to be ready to give an answer to people who ask us for a reason for our hope.

Today role models in the church are few, even though teachers and preachers are plenty. I have found that some concepts about God, like His love, cannot be understood by today’s generation because they have never experienced unconditional love in their lives. Unless we model it for them, they will not understand what God’s love is like. The message that we preach must be lived out in our lives. 

To be able to do this, we must become students of the word of God. This means that we must not be satisfied with just reading the Bible, but we must study it and must be able to rightly interpret it. Only then can we reveal the truth of God to people effectively. Without putting in the effort to study the Bible, we will not be able to fulfill this aspect of God’s call for us - to witness to him through our lives and our testimony.

Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in 2 Tim 2:15, ”Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” is not just for Timothy but for all of us, since we have been sent like Jesus.

Are you revealing God by your life and testimony?