Our purpose

As I work towards reclaiming the faith I once had I struggle with so many different issues. One of those is the question “what is our purpose”?

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” – ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This is the beginning of God’s plans for us. According to the Bible, He made each of us carefully.

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.” – ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:14-15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Once the plan was made, God gave us life.

“then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” – Genesis‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Deep inside we long for confidence because God made us to be confident. That tells us we definitely have a purpose, but what is that purpose? The problem is that we are not confident so we cover up the pain we feel with other things. We feel like God made a mistake and that we have to prove ourselves every single day.

We were designed to be significant. In an attempt to be significant, we try to control everything. We try to minimize the risks we were designed to take. We tell ourselves that if we just work harder we can solve all of our problems.

We are conditioned by society to dread Monday morning. It gets so bad that we can’t even enjoy the freedom of a Saturday afternoon. We let it get in the way of our relationship with God. We don’t trust Him. We know something is wrong. The question becomes “what is wrong?”

As I look back over the past five years I’m left to wonder if I fell for Satan’s lies.

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” – John‬ ‭8:44‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I wonder if I have allowed Satan to deceive me or have I figured out the real truth? Is there a God? If there is a God, why have I been allowed to suffer alone? Then I consider how bad others have it in comparison to me and I feel embarrassed. It is a vicious cycle of wallowing, realizing others have it worse than me, wallowing some more, repeat.

Here I sit struggling. I’m sure at some point you’ve felt the same as I do.  I’m working on this and trying to come to some conclusion. When I was younger it was so easy to “just believe”. The older I get the harder that is for me. Something tells me that is exactly what I need, but for some reason I can’t just relax.

I am reminded of a lesson once taught by Juan Carlos Ortiz. He said that most people trust God, but only to a point. He compared that trust to someone who needs rest, but hovers over a chair and never sits down and relaxes. That is most definitely me!

Tell me what you struggle with. How have you handled your struggles?

Where is faith?

What happens to us on a daily basis seems to change how we feel about faith. Should it?

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)

Faith is all about the things we do not see. So why does daily life always seem to challenge our faith? It is about how we interpret things. If we interpret them as God punishing us we tend to slowly lose our faith. What we should be doing is seeing life’s challenges as lessons in how to live. It should build our faith not tear it down.

I believe that the faith of people will continually waver but I also believe that people need to hang in there. The trials you go through will test your faith, but you should come out on the other side stronger.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4 ESV)

So stop letting life’s challenges get to you and rock your faith. Let those things make you stronger as they should.

Wonder

I sit here alone and wonder. Am I really alone? I got to thinking about the wonders of God.

“Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of Israel his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!” (1 Chronicles 16:12, 13 ESV)

The reminder to remember the awesome works of God made me think. Why did God so these wondrous works for a selfish bunch of people?

“They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.” (Psalm 78:11 ESV)

How can people ever forget the wonders God shows them?

“therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”” (Isaiah 29:14 ESV)

God is ever faithful to do “wonder upon wonder” with the people.

“In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.” (Psalm 78:32 ESV)

The people experienced the wonders of God yet they still did not believe. This amazes me. Having struggled with my own belief I understand why people wouldn’t believe, but my own disbelief was due to a distinct lack of God’s presence in my life. I completely lost all sense of God being a part of my life. These people have seen His wonders yet they don’t believe and that boggles the mind.

“to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;” (Psalm 136:4 ESV)

Remember that God has a love that endures forever. Even if you turn your back on Him the love He has for you will not ever stop.

The Story: My Thinking

My church, Eastside Christian Church, is going through a book called The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story. It is somewhat controversial amongst Christians.

The Story takes the Bible and puts it in chronological order. It then goes straight through, but inserts counts and some summaries along the way. This is where some Christians seem to have am issue. They claim The Story changes the Bible. I say it makes it easier to understand. It gives people some motivation to read the entire Bible and to me that’s a good thing.

The actual text is not changed. They use the NIV and stay true to it. The notes help to clarify the points being made in the text. I highly recommend the companion book Exploring the Story: A Reference Companion as it explains everything and even provides discussion questions.

I am considering blogging about each chapter, but I am undecided as of now. Please come back and read this blog. I pray that God’s grace shines on you continuously.

Do we have everything we need?

The question for the day is has God given us everything we need? How much responsibility do I have in the matter?

The Bible gives us many clues about the answers to the questions we have. It is our job to find out what those answers are.

“seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” 2 Peter 1:3

 

God has made it possible for us to have everything we desire. He has put our needs first and given us a way to be more like Jesus. In fact, we have the ability to be exactly like Jesus right here in this life. There is no need ot wait until the Rapture.