Purposeful Living - Part 5
Psalms 90 (KJ2000)
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
2 Timothy 3 (KJ2000)
10 But you have fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose…
In the course of the week I’ve had the opportunity to receive questions and comments about our topic. Here’s a sampling from some of them:
Will Purposeful Living Only Be Rewarded At The End Of Our Lives?
Bless God, no!
1 Timothy 4 (KJ2000)
7 But refuse profane and old wives' tales, and exercise yourself rather unto godliness.
8 For bodily exercise profits for a little while: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
There are benefits to obeying God and living according to His purpose which we will enjoy now. Perhaps the greatest of them is the confidence and assurance that comes from knowing that you’re in the will of God. But there are also material benefits to obeying God.
How Can I Know God’s Purpose For My Life?
Spend time in prayer and study of the Word of God. We know from the Bible that God’s purpose for all of us is that we pre-occupy ourselves with the ministry of reconciliation. Start out by simply living a godly life and sharing the gospel with the lost around you. As you live a life of obedience and consecration to do God’s will, He will reveal more details to you.
It is amazing how many believers want to know the details of God’s plan for them, while living in disobedience to the revealed will of God, His Word. If you’re not obeying the Bible, you’re unlikely to obey anything else God is telling you to do.
Closing Thoughts
2 Peter 3 (KJ2000)
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conduct and godliness,
12 Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
The Spirit of God is calling His Body back to living with eternity in view. For a while now the Lord has been dealing with me on this subject, and I seem to be unable to get away from it.
Think about all the labours and the achievements of every man and every woman who has ever lived. All of our successes and our failures, all of our travails and our triumphs, all of our challenges and our victories, the valour of every hero, the knavery of every villain, all these things shall be dissolved…
Only what we do for God, in fulfilment of His purpose, will count. We ought to live here with a consciousness that it doesn’t end here. We ought to live in anticipation of our Blessed Hope. We ought to live pre-occupied with His purpose!
Continue in grace!