Plan vs Purpose Part 2: The Purpose
So if we are in the midst of planning - where does our purpose come in?
Well - the mighty Google defines purpose as: the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
Great - that’s easy enough…. I have a plant pot, it’s purpose is to house a plant and allow it space to grow in a safe environment. So when the pot isn’t accomplishing it’s purpose (such as it’s leaking or it’s growing mold), we can either fix it (restore it to it’s purpose) or we get rid of it. Simple.
However - I’m not a plant pot….
So how do we define our own purpose? I love the reminder that Hillsong gave us in the song “So Will I (100 Billion X)” that the stars were made to worship, and so was I. In fact we see this time and time again - we were made to worship, we were made to as Toby Mac puts it “…to love you, I was made to find you, I was made just for you, made to adore you, I was made to love and be loved by you?” (Can you tell that I grew up with a LOT of music - hello 90s!! - playing and so when I think about things my brain auto corrects to musical lyrics?)
Okay - so we according to Christian music we were made to worship, love, adore, glorify, and be loved by our Heavenly Father. Do you agree? Disagree?
People often use the widely misquoted verse from Jeremiah 29:11 about God having a plan and purpose to prosper us…and while I know my Father wants good things for us, this verse in particular He is talking to Israel. He’s telling them that they will have to prosper in their captivity and then after 70 years (ish depending on translation) only THEN will God come to them and restore them to their homes. He has a plan and purpose to do that.
The other verse that I see most often misquoted and misused for determining God’s purpose in our lives is Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good” and that’s usually where it ends but did you know the rest of the verse is “of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. The context of this verse is finding ourselves so broken and weak that we don’t know what to say - starting in vs 26 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” AND THEN we get verse 28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Alright - so what IS our purpose? I think ultimately we find our purpose from Jesus’ chat with the Sadducees and the Pharisees in Matthew 22. He’s been talking about the marriage supper of the lamb (whole other post we can talk about at some point), when he silences them with his answers to questions… so they decide they want to question him more and send a “expert” of the law in to ask him simply “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:36). We can dig into their reasons for asking Him questions - but ultimately, they were trying to get him to give an answer that would go against something else in scripture, they were trying to trip Him up. But (as always) you can’t really trip up the creator of the universe… so “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
We can dig down and look at WHO Jesus says our neighbors are - but I’ll sum it up for you… they are all the peoples. Honestly - my own opinion…. I think Jesus gave us that second law because our human brains are way too small to really understand what all the first one means. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your soul. With all your mind. I can promise you that I haven’t ever loved Him deep enough that my actions would reflect it in this way that people who have no doubt who I love.
How does this have anything to do with our purpose?
TRULY - HONESTLY - DEEPLY I believe that THIS IS our purpose. To love our Lord. Here’s why I am to this conclusion - when we truly love God with all that we are - heart, soul, mind - all of it, our actions will follow that love. We see that in Romans 5:8 “…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This love that God demonstrates to us here? That’s the type of love we should have for Him. Love that’s not ashamed. Love that’s willing to to do whatever is needed. Even if that means we don’t get what we want (Daniel 3:18 is tattooed on my wrist as a reminder of this, but read the whole story here ❤️).
But really - how does this purpose allow me to know what to do in our day to day lives? What about my purpose THERE?
Here’s my question (and yes - it’s one I ask myself as well) “Are you loving God with all that you are?” I can tell you that there have been times I have been so caught up in my own grief and dispair that I’ve missed loving God. And before you yell at me - I KNOW. I KNOW the depths of pain that you can get wrapped around your brain, your heart, and the sluggish mess that you can become. I know that sometimes you need help getting to the place to even be able to take care of your own basic needs - and that means that you can’t fathom giving anything else, loving anything or anyone else. There’s a LOT I can tell you about how to set yourself up for these moments and who you can surround yourself with (maybe ideas for later??) but here’s the truth. God knows that better then we ever will. Remember Romans 8? The Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf when we don’t know what to pray.
One truth that I think we can end on is this - God loves us. There’s proof in all of scripture, and the greatest commandment is to love HIM. Additional truths and rules can be argued and honestly some of our day to day things can be twisted around and confused and all the things. But our purpose? Our purpose is to Love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. For me - this is where I’m starting, and while I’m doing this - I’m praying for God to show me how to love others like myself and what that looks like.
