What is the purpose of your life, what drives you every day to get up, get dressed, and continue on the path that you were on yesterday, why haven’t you given up yet? Is it your family, what if you woke up one day and they were gone, how about your job, what if that was taken away, sports, adventure trekking, travel, what makes you get up in the morning, what gives increase to your enthusiasm, what drives you.
Many people cannot answer this question, the daily exercise has become monotonous, routine, and is in a small way driving them mad. Others have already given up, do a search on the internet under the title homeless, indigent, or poverty, and you will see millions who have simply lost all hope, who decided long ago that the effort was just no longer worth the rewards. Without a purpose, mankind is lost, and long-term goals are only mentioned by investment brokers these days, when happiness is what people are told to search for, the pursuit is a lifelong goal of never-ending failures, for what made us happy last week rarely lasts for any distinguishable length of time anymore.
The media over the last few decades has done an excellent job at leading the masses to the pursuit and subsequent loss of happiness, attempting, and succeeding in many cases, to get us to live vicariously through the lives of others, those who have “made it.”
“In your patience possess ye your souls.” (Luke 21:19) For a Christian to be happy here is an impossibility, but we are offered much more than the transitory emotions that the world continuously offers us, we are offered joy, and contrary to a widely held belief in the Christian community, we do not have to die and go to heaven to begin receiving the joy that is offered to us. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:11) Not past tense, present tense, today, right now, it is always available, and circumstances cannot change that fact. The assurance of “And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” (Deut. 31:8) That “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand,” (John 10:29) brings a peace to us that is unexplainable, even to many who know Him as Lord.
This is not a “It will all be better in the end” mentality, it is a right here, right now fact, it is what carries us through our days in this evil, sinful world, it is beyond hope, it is truth. “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” (Matt. 19:29) How much? A hundred-fold. When? Today, in this life, more of what, cars, money, things, yes, sometimes, but those also will pass away. Joy, a blessed assurance that he who has promised to us every single day that His yoke is indeed light, that we have an eternal home waiting for us. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10)
One of the greatest burdens I carry is not the lost, but those that say they are born-again believers, but have absolutely no proof of the fruits of the Spirit in their lives, but I do not carry them for the reasons you might think. This burden is because by their words and inactions, they are blaspheming the name of the Most High, they are the ones that are bringing shame to His Holy name.
One small sentence in the Scriptures has been stuck in my mind for many years now, it is what Nathan said to David in 2 Samuel 12:7, “Thou art the man.” Yes, the child died because of David, but that was not what broke his heart, it was the knowledge that he had brought dishonor upon the name of the Almighty. “Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.” (2 Sam. 12:14) I have done the same, many times, and I know that I have been forgiven, but how many people had, and took, the opportunity to disrespect my Father in heaven because of my sins. They are still accountable to themselves before the Lord, but what I have done and said in those times I will give an account for, and I fear it has cost me dearly.
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” (Matt. 12:36) Every one of them, every action that caused someone to fall, or to turn away, this must be made to stick in your thoughts.
The lost do not have a valid reason to get up in the morning in the eyes of the Lord, we do. An ambassadors must always keep every thought captive for Christ, every action must be contemplated, every deed must be thought out. We are not responsible for anyone else when it comes to their salvation, it is a completely personal responsibility, but we are to always be aware of the possible consequences that may occur if we are not diligent in this area of our walk with our Lord. I am not going to be judged by man, I do not even judge myself, (1 Cor. 4:3) but I do everything I possibly can not to act like a Christian in front of others, but to be a Christian. It is my purpose for rising each morning, to glorify our Savior. What is yours?
