Last week, I talked about our culture’s identity crisis. Part of that crisis involves our need for a purpose. Too often voices of those around us will make us feel unworthy of the purpose that fulfills our dreams and makes our soul sing. We feel unworthy. Maybe we can’t see beyond the cost to achieve it. Sometimes it could be as simple as no one in my family or that I know ever managed that, so what makes me think I can?
I spent a lot of time trying things and quitting them to the point my mom regularly called me a quitter. However, she also encouraged a lot of things. My genuine problem came down to me trying everything that everyone else thought I should do rather than what I wanted. I explored writing and never stopped, but it never fully turned into something shared until later in life. And then I had a lot more work to learn the skills to truly write novels as I dreamed. The fun thing is I keep learning how to improve my call to writing even after two published novels.
But where does this calling come from? God. He set a purpose for all of us long before we were born. He wanted us to have an intimate relationship with Him and learn how to be more like Jesus Christ. Through this, we can discover our true selves in a way that nothing else can supply. I honestly believe this because I tried enough things in my 20s that friends thought my turning to Christianity would just be another fad. It’s the best fad ever because I’m still at it twenty-two years later. It’s so good I can’t help writing about it, even in my fantasy and sci-fi stories.
Let’s dive into some of God’s word to understand His purpose for us and how that turns into us finding a purpose for this life. I’m going to use the New Living Translation and notes from the Life Application Study Bible published in 2004 by Tyndale to help me explain this.
Romans 8:28-30 NLT
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
That’s quite a bit to digest, but I like how the NLT version lays it out for us so we can dig into it one bite at a time.
First, God works in EVERYTHING for His purposes and our good. He is not working to make everything go right in our life because both good and evil still exist in our fallen world. We have an enemy prowling around who doesn’t want us to find God and the good we can gain from knowing Him. The enemy has a chance of doing this because we can’t get the good of God unless we turn to Him and decide to love Him as He loves us. He wants to adopt us into His family because He loves us that much. So the enemy wants us believing God hates us for all the wrong we do and that it will never allow us to be right with God. So this good comes to us when we turn to love Him, learn how to have a full relationship with Him, and trust His lead through the Holy Spirit.
Second, He wishes for us all to become like Jesus. This will always be a learning process on how to shed the old self that did things wrong in order to do things as Jesus would. It allows us to get a new perspective on life and a new mindset that sees things in a way nothing else can. It allows us to trust God completely and not waver when bad things happen to us. I know I still have to work at this, but the peace I have knowing God is on my side helps me overcome so I can prevail as His child rather than my old self. The old version of me did not know love, so I was a raging lion trampling on those around me, operating like Satan.
Third, He called us. We are not an afterthought. God has always had a plan for us. He has always known each one of us. I know He knows me better than I know myself. It comes out in how He leads me to learn more about Jesus and how to have that intimate relationship with Him. Sometimes the revelations in this relationship hurt and it may take me several times to complete the lesson. However, I keep working to learn more about who He made me to be in Christ because I trust Him to lead me into what is good for me. His eternal love may seem unfathomable based on the perspective we gained from the world and the enemy, but we can truly gain an understanding of it by learning who Jesus is.
I spent years avoiding Christians and talk of Jesus. I had some not so great examples in my teen years that made me not want to seek it in my 20s. You will always find bad examples to point at, but you should avoid doing so until you know the person’s heart and where they stand with God. None of us are perfect. Even King David, a man after God’s heart, has murder and adultery on his resume. No matter what we have done before and how much we railed against God, He will still show us love and a path to reconciliation through Jesus Christ.
A lot of it doesn’t have to make sense before you accept Him. You do not have to be perfect or clean up your act first. Believe me, you need Him in order to do that correctly. You may fail and require discipline you don’t like as you grow with God, but He is a Father that wants to see you become the best you can be.
Wonderful testimony and sharing of the gospel.