On Purpose

I want my life to count. I want to feel significant. I want to feel I made a difference. That is a lot of I's.

So I go to church. And I am told God has a purpose for my life. Great! I matter. More me. More I!. 

The preacher even quotes some verses from the bullfrog guy Jeremiah, something about Him knowing the plans He has for me, plans give me a hope and a future. 

Nice, God has a plan for me!

Sound familiar? Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy inside? That verse is from Jeremiah 29:11. And truth be told, it has played an important role in my life and calling. 

But there is this little problem. It was never meant for an individual. God was actually speaking to an entire nation called Israel. They had been conquered and forced to live away from home in a place called Babylon. They were feeling down and rejected by God (they had actually had rejected God, but that is another story). 

So God comes and says, guys and girls, trust me here. I have a plan. I do not intend for you to live in exile forever. I am going to save you from the Babylonians just like I saved you from slavery in Egypt. 

So here's the thing. God does have a plan. It just isn't for your life. Don't freak out just yet, read on. 

For thousands of years, God has been trying to bring about His purposes on earth. Trying to get the people who inhabit the earth to choose His way of life. To love Him, and to love each other. He doesn't want to force the issue, He wants them to choose this way of life. 

When people choose this way of life, it is like a little bit of Heaven comes to earth. It is like His Kingdom is established wherever people love Him and love one another. 

He has a plan. It is for all people everywhere to make love their primary objective. He wants them to love Him. He wants them to love each other. 

God does not have a plan your life, He has a plan for all of creation. He wants it be restored to the way it was always meant to be. 

You can choose to be a part of it or choose not to be a part of it. Either way, His plans continue. God doesn't want something from you. But He wants to invite you to be a part of His plan. His plan that is way bigger than you as an individual. The purpose of your life is to be a part of God's bigger plan. 

There is no greater honour. And as Rob Bell says, in the end, love wins. And we all like to back the winner, don't we?

Where the Kingdom flows...

Have you ever found yourself plodding through your faith journey waiting for God's river of life to sweep you away in a torrent of unrequited love and grace? Perhaps you once experienced a spiritual flash flood that made you into a believer. But sadly that river was at best perennial, making an appearance in season... but for the most part you felt you were living as a Christian in a dry flood plain.

I sometimes feel that way. Like I am a lonely drop waiting for God to sweep me up in the current of His Kingdom, giving me an opportunity to be a part of something big. Trouble is, I've been waiting here for far too long...  

An old school South African acoustic rock band called Peculiar People wrote a song about this. 

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Water of love - Peculiar People

Some days I’m in a strange place

I feel like I’m falling far from your love

And I do what I don’t want to

Trying to be for you who I should be

 

On my own I’m going nowhere

Not satisfied with this at all

I’ve been waiting for your river

Waiting here for far too long

 

I’ve been listening to you say

That you’ll never leave me

You’ll always be there

It’s sometimes hard to believe you

When I cannot see you

But I don’t want to doubt 

 

Take me to the river

Let me sink into your water of love

‘cause I just want to know that you are with me

As I walk through this life

 

©2001 Here We Are Music CC

Do you understand that the river flows? Sure we can sink into this water of love and grace and all that. We can even drink from it.

But at some point, we have to decide to join in the current of God's Kingdom. If we want to experience that life-giving water all year round, we have to let it move us. Let it take us. It doesn't allow you to stay where you are. You can choose to just dip into the water but hold onto the shore so it doesn't pull you along. You can choose to stay where you are. Comfortable.

But the water will soon be gone, and you will be a lonely drop quickly evaporated out of faith and purpose and life. 

So when the water comes, and it does, let it move you. Allows your life to be part of God's bigger purposes. Don't ask the question: "What is God's purpose for my life?". Ask "How can my life fit in with God's purpose for this world?". God's purpose for you is to flow in the direction of His purpose for this world. 

Go where the Kingdom flows. It will never run dry.

Songs that have inspired me: I therefore You

This song is one of the reasons I miss the sounds and thoughts of old school Tree (before the 63 got tagged on). It taught that the very fact that I exist is proof that God exists. The very fact that I have breath, means He is. And if I am living, what else should I be living for but for Him, for His glory, for His honour, for His Kingdom. 

Bruce, therefore God.

you, therefore Him. 

Breathe. Believe. 

BIG BRIDGE OVER A SMALL RIVER - TREE63
 
All the trees in the world
Have one purpose in mind
To try and reach the sun
And touch him from behind
 
Thunder rolls in the sky
And the stupid ask why
They think you're rolling around
Scaring them with sound
 
And I don't breath for my own sake
The choice is just not mine to make
 
I, therefore You (4x)

All the kids that lived in my street
Still live there today
Now they're as old as me
But younger somehow

I don't pretend to swing
I showed off all that noise
Dress me up in the truth
We're all your girls and boys

Why do I sleep the night away?
There's only so much time to pray…