Purpose

For awhile, I have been writing on here without much purpose.
I finally have a direction I want to take this blog for at least the next few posts.
I want to talk about the Gospel, because the Gospel is the heart of everything.
First however, I will talk about purpose.

Purpose after all ties very closely with the Gospel.
From the beginning of time God purposed to rescue humanity by sending His One and only Son. It wasn't an accident, it wasn't an "oops," it wasn't plan B, it was purposeful, intentional, and well designed.
Everything in the Bible points to God obviously, but it all shows His intricate purpose and plan as well.
I love when pastors talk about the phrase "Jesus set His face towards Jerusalem." It's incredible to look at the story of Jesus and see how purposeful and intentional He was about everything. There were no wasted moments for Jesus. He never wasted an opportunity to witness, to share a lesson, to give to someone, to heal, restore or rescue. He never missed a chance to hang out with the orphan or the widow or the homeless. He never failed to confront those who needed to be confronted. Everything Jesus did was intentional. It was all designed to show the world who God really was and to provide a ransom for sinners by His ultimate death on the cross.

If the Ephesians says to imitate Christ, why do we look so much like the world?
Why do we fail to be purposeful like Jesus?
Why do we find ourselves not on the Calvary road, but on our own road of our own choosing.
Instead of walking the road that Jesus walked (the road of purpose, and sacrifice), we far too often walk the road of self-indulgence and pride.
Jesus didn't save us to walk that road.
He saved us to walk the Calvary road, to serve and give and suffer as Jesus and to live every moment with purpose because every moment is a gift from God.
Those who have been forgiven much must remember that we aren't guaranteed another moment.
The Bible tells many stories of people who were flippant in life and ultimately this was a picture of them dealing flippantly with God. These stories don't generally turn out too well for the individual.
Perhaps it is time for us to own up to our mistakes, to admit that we don't live with the urgancy and purpose and sacrifice that Jesus calls us to, and change our direction. We can only do this with Jesus' help, and we will inevitably fail, but we need to die to our pride and beg God for the help to walk the Calvary road in a way that glorifies and honors Jesus.
May we be people that are willing to take the hard and narrow and purposeful path that leads to real joy and brings God glory.