Issue 1420 – For a Purpose (2) April 12, 2024
Yesterday, I wrote about meditating on Genesis 1 and the delightful knowledge that we are created with a purpose.
I have been blessed to experience many things in my life. Today’s image was taken in the mid-to-late 1970s at the starting line of a sled dog race. I was blessed to work with sled dogs from my early teens.
I have visited five continents. I have jumped out of planes, panned for gold and mined fossils. I’ve seen the sunrise on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
I’ve stood atop mountains and walked in deserts. I have watched children being born and held hands with the dying. I have been blessed by God’s grace to be married 47 years, fathered two sons and am a proud grandfather.
I have walked away from car crashes that should have killed me, defeated one round of cancer, learned firsthand the pain of being disabled and more. I have been helped by strangers and betrayed by people I thought were friends.
I have been accepted, rejected, loved, and hated. I have lived the career-chasing, two-income, two-kids, nice suburban household dream. I’ve also collected bottles along the roadside to get enough money to pay for gas and relied on the food bank for groceries.
I have been a God-mocker and a blasphemer and, by His grace, have also been a church planter and preacher.
I have been successful and have failed miserably. I have experienced incredible joy and have teetered on the edge of suicide.
In short, I have had a life. Yours may have different elements, but you, too, have had one. We all do.
None of what you and I have done or experienced has surprised God. Everything in our life has been (or is being) used by God to shape us into Christ’s image and impact His earthly kingdom.
We can rejoice for the truth that He has created us with a purpose and because He isn’t finished.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10
I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6
The Lord is shaping us and has gifted us so that we might fulfill the purpose He created us for.
My friends, seek His kingdom and His will. Hold tight to the one who loved you enough to die for you. The road isn’t always easy, and the ride isn’t always smooth, but the destination makes it worthwhile.
Rejoice in the one who walks with (and often carries) us on the journey we call life.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)