Purpose part 1
Its a question we hear--and ask--quite often: Why am I here? What's the point? What's my purpose? What's this life for? I used to ask that question a lot, to be honest. And then I had a kid and that kind of settled that. I can't tell you how quickly the light flipped on when my son arrived. All those Bible verses that I "knew" about a Father and a Son became real to me in a way I never knew they could. Head knowledge became heart knowledge like... that! I knew what my purpose was. I knew I was supposed to love that kid forever. Protect him. Take care of him. But that's pretty private and personal. Like, what if you don't have a kid? What then? Let me say it like this, talking about Jesus--talking about US--Colossians 1:15, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." Or let me say it like this, Isaiah 43:21, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." And one more, John 14:9, "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" Basically, as simply as I can put it, our purpose is to show people who God is. To shew forth His praise. To be the visible face of the invisible God. We are God's love letter to the world. Living epistles read of all men. And I'm telling you, showing is more powerful than telling. A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. Heart knowledge trumps head knowledge every time. There's a difference between knowing and KNOWING. And, as my pastor says, if you KNOW it... throw it! Remember the old phrase, "Christians are like teabags, you don't know what they're made of until you put them in hot water"? I think there's a lot to that. But that point is... what's inside coming out. The point is... knowing and believing what's inside so that it can come out. What's this life for? In a word: Living. And we know that to live is to love. To love is to live. They aren't just connected. They are the same thing. You can't have one without the other. That's why God gave us His only begotten Son... so that we might not perish but have everlasting life. So that we might experience Jesus' life as HE lives it in us, and through us, and as us. Our purpose in life is simple: To love and to be loved. To know and to be known. To let God love the hell out of us and love Him back by loving the hell out of each other. To let what's inside come out by knowing and believing that its in there. Why am I here? Because the God who is love wanted someone to love. God wanted to express Himself. That's what it means to be His visible face. We are His expression. We are expressions of love. God's love letter to the world. What did the Message Bible say? He wrote it and we publish it. We shew it forth. We let what's inside come out. That's our purpose. That's why we're here. To receive and release the love of God. This life is for living. This life... is for loving!