Follow: Purpose
Reading Luke 9, I was stopped in my tracks by the way Jesus implores His followers to reload their notions about life and how to live it. Most of the concerns I find myself agonizing over on a day-to-day basis seem to fall from their stilts when I hear Jesus say, “Whoever wants to be my disciple…” Life in Christ is a different kind of life. As I look more and more intently on the life, message, and resurrected life of Jesus, I see how inversely skewed I’ve been living. Let me explain: All of my life, I’ve learned to spread my resources and to never put all of my eggs in one basket. But when I read Jesus’ words, I hear Him calling me to do the opposite. Instead of spreading and carefully investing myself in life (everything in moderation), I am really supposed to put everything I have, everything I am, everything I will be into Kingdom of God (efficiency is overrated). Simply put, Christ wants all of us. No loopholes.
Being His disciple means understanding His purpose.
And he said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’ Luke 9:22
Christ came in the flesh to fulfill a purpose - reconciliation of humanity. What, then, is our purpose? Just as Paul told his hearers in Athens, “in him we live and move and have our being,” we (who have commited our belief in Jesus) have to find our purpose and meaning in the purpose and meaning of Christ. We are between the lines of His story meaning somewhere between the sufferings, the rejection, the death, and the resurrection - we find our place. Actually, we find it at all parts of His story.
Jesus came and lived without any mind toward ambitions of His own - He had no ambitions other than the will of the Father. Therefore, He had no wife, no home, no savings account, quit his profession… Nothing did He hold onto other than His purpose and destiny set by the Father. Jesus never found balance in life. Maybe we’re never meant to find it. Does this mean we should follow suit and remain unmarried, broke, and homeless? In a way, yes! If you’re married, your wife/husband should be in this with you - the purposes of God - 100%. If you have money, your money should be a tool to bless the world and open doors for the love of Christ. If you have a home, may it be open and full of prayer. Nothing should detract from our real purpose because nothing else matters! Erwin McManus responded to the question of finding balance in life, ministry, and business by saying, “I live a skewed life.” As a follower of Christ, my desire is to live skewed - that my time, energy, money, emotions, EVERYTHING would be spent for Christ and His purpose.
