Day 72 - History and purpose
Being in Britain/Europe has helped me see how much bigger the world is, and has gotten me more in touch with world history. That has made me look closely at seemingly-insignificant people & events that helped shape the world over the past 3000 years or so.Tonight I was supposed to lead one of my cell groups on the first few chapters of The Purpose Driven Life. I've never been a fan of studying a secondary source without relying heavily on the primary source, but I just couldn't bring myself to cover the Bible verses given in the book. They seemed to be cherry-picked from random places without context. That's fine -- it wouldn't be practical to quote entire chapters along with historical background. But I recently spent several months studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses who pull verses out of thin air and string together sentences from totally different contexts to support their doctrines. It still gives me nightmares sometimes. So instead I did an exegetical walk-through of Jeremiah 1, which actually paralleled the book very nicely.
Jeremiah was told from the beginning what his purpose was. It probably seemed insignificant and futile at the time. Why preach to a nation that won't listen -- one that will soon be conquered and exiled? But he did it anyway. Some repented because of Jeremiah's prophecies, and the Jews eventually returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple (rather than disappearing forever as a people, which could've been very likely at that point). Today, it's hard to go anywhere in the world (especially places like the US and UK) without seeing the effects of what took place in Jerusalem 600 years later when Jeremiah's prophecy in chapter 31 came true.
Like with Jeremiah, God already knows what my ultimate purpose is, and has designed/molded me in exactly the right way to carry it out. Part of that included coming here. My purpose in coming here was mostly degree-related (pun intended). But I already believe it will have a big impact on the rest of my life, not just my degree.
7 Comments:
"degree-related" Lol. You crack me up sometimes, Matt.
Okay, but seriously, I've been considering that same thing, as I've studied 1 Kings. Odd how certain things tend to stick out, but 1 kings 8:60 brings to light the very thing that is repeated in the Psalms, in Isaiah... The Lord is God; there is no other. Isn't THAT what we're here for? Granted, I never read the Purpose Driven Life. I could be way off base from what this book suggests our purpose is, but from what I can gather from the Bible, it is that the Lord is about His own glory, and we are to be about the same. In Psalm 105 & 106, we see that the reason for all the incidents in the history of the Israelites recapped by the psalmist was that the nations know that the Lord is God. He moved people here, there, and even changed the hearts and minds of entire nations. And in those times, the Spirit really impressed upon me the words that followed, which were always something to the tune of "so that the nations would know that that Lord is God" or "for His glory". I don't think that's something to be overlooked.
And we tend to micromanage our lives instead of taking a deep breath, stepping outside of ourselves for a moment, and stepping into the paradigm that we are to be about God first and foremost. I think that once one stops trying to weild his own power, and rests in the fact that only in our weaknesses, God is most strong, one will recognize the power of God is more than just something to give lip service to. The valleys of the shadow of death get so much deeper and darker (I say this from personal experience) but isn't that just where we need Him most? Won't we let Him be GOD and start making our purpose be about Him alone? About making his name known to the nations?
Well, your main point (about our purpose not being about us) is basically what the book said so far. The rest.. it seems a little too abstract and maybe a bit pie-in-the-sky. I don't think everyone's purpose is what you said.. otherwise there've been many people who never fulfilled their purpose. I believe in a God who always fulfills his purpose and can't be thwarted by us not wanting to live every second of our lives purely for him. Maybe that's a good ideal, but I don't think it's practical or what he expects from most people.
But if you're right, there's a lot I need to change in my life. Something to think about. Thanks!
You sure have been saying "pie-in-the-sky" a lot. :-p
Haha, and i'm sure you can guess who I got that from (except I don't add "by and by").
how about casper white milk toast? You should start using that! :-) We were talking about where that came from the other night at bible study! hehe
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