purpose

This question is something that comes back over and over again.

Said in another way: Why am I here on earth?


Purpose driven life. Pastors preaching. Leaders sharing.

Self help books. Well known gurus. Subtle messages.

Have we truly found out why we are doing what we are doing? In fact, sometimes we think we know we are, but we are deceived and hence we can't live a fruitful life. Constantly keeping busy in battle with the situation/job/studies we are in.

I told this to my friend today, because I believe, like all else, this person needed to find the purpose God has set.

Another excerpt from The Face of Atheism by Ravi Zacharias:

The life of the Scotsman Eric Liddell, who was a devout Christian and a superb athlete, was featured in contradistinction to Harold Abrams in the film Chariots of Fire. Abrams, we recall, underscored his emptiness by finding even winning to be anticlimactic. Liddell's life, and his striving for excellence, was an expression of his love for God - everything mattered because his life was committed to Christ. The lines in the film that capture this best are uttered by Liddell to his sister: "Jenny, God has made me for a purpose - for China; but he has also made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure."

Liddell won the 400 meters gold medal in the 1924 Olympics and later became a missionary to China, where he died. His enjoyment of God in every endeavor and service for Christ was a strong reminder that nothing for the Christian is essentially secular. It can only be secularized by leaving God out of it or by engaging in that from which God, by his nature, must be excluded.

A christian sees life in continuum. Not about yesterday, not just about today, nor does one gaze and hope only for the future.

The christian explains history through the eternal eyes of Christ. By contrast, the traditionalist lives for the past; the existentialist lives for the now; and the futurist or utopianist lives for the future.

It's true. A christian lives in a different mindset. Knowing what his purpose is, it's so much easier (although not easy) to handle ups and downs, or obstacles. A runner in the secular sense, would run to win the next gold medal, to qualify for the next big event, like the Olympics, but then when that runner reaches there, then what? What happens when the days are up, and the runner can no longer run as fast, or compete with the rest of the incoming young crowd?

But the christian runner, runs because he knows of his purpose. He knows that God gave him the body to run, that whenever he does it, he glorifies God, as God's beautiful creation. He runs not to win, but to please God. Simple, yet hard to grasp.

In this so called battle of living, we place ourselves in a dog eat dog world, and when all dogs are eaten, leaving one, then what? We work ourselves so hard, we do so much, but for what?
When we finally come to realization of what's Gods purpose is for us, we can do it with full passion. Just like the footballer who plays beautiful football because of passion, and not out of drive to win the match, we will soon find ourselves no longer in a battle to survive, but fully driven by God's beautiful purpose for us.