Post from Brian:
We believe that we are created beings. Created by a Creator who is purposeful and good. This leads me to conclude that He has a purpose for us and that if we seek to do what He purposed us to do, we will be doing the best thing we can.
It is interesting; God gave us a will, so He meant for us to decide what actions to take and what goals to have. He also gave us minds and a faculty for understanding, limited though it is… so He meant for us to think about our goals and try to come up with good ones. He is also a God of order. A Holy God with a law and clear distinction between right and wrong. From this I conclude that He intended us to try and formulate goals and plans that are “right”. If I am to use my mind to formulate a plan for my life, my day even, it makes sense to try and figure out my maker’s intent for me and to do that thing for which I was made.
Let me be clear: our purpose in life is not to feel satisfied or happy or alive. Our purpose can’t be based on feelings. If it was, we could just take drugs and be fulfilling our purpose. But I can’t seem to shake the idea that if I was doing exactly the thing my Maker intended for me to do, I might have a sense of “rightness”, of satisfaction even. I hope that is the case. I hope to find that place in life where I feel I am in exactly the right place. But I MUST NOT use that feeling as my compass. If I allow my feelings to direct my steps, I have seen where they lead. How many broken lives have been justified with the words, “It felt right”, “it made me feel so alive”, or “I was trying to find satisfaction.” No, our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. I can’t trust mine. Don’t trust yours.
Instead, this is what I find in the Bible. The aim of a person’s life ought to be righteousness. Which, at it’s root I think means: being right with God. I think we can measure success in our daily lives by how often, and too what degree, we find ourselves acting in accordance with God’s perfect law. I’m not talking about salvation by works. I’m talking about becoming more like God himself. I’m talking about sanctification.
It’s dangerous to take stock of ourselves and try to measure our success because we are prone to pride. But we are doing it all the time! If we aren’t prideful about what we are doing we are depressed about how little we are doing. And if we aren’t measuring ourselves and striving for further growth we are dead! Again it’s not about feeling alive, it’s about being alive.
Evangelicals make a mistake of focusing so much on salvation, that I think a common problem in our churches are that saved people have no sense of what to do now that they are saved. I certainly have struggled with that. Someone once told me, “Don’t be an Ellis Island Christian!” Ellis Island is where immigrants to the United States would stop to be processed before entering the country. I thought when I heard it, “I’m not on Ellis Island, I’ve been a Christian for years. Surely I am deep into the Kingdom.” But the danger is camping on salvation. Or maybe better way to say it is resting on salvation. By grace you have been saved through faith. Wow! How could we ever get tired of thinking of that marvelous grace. But the truth is that there is no end to our capacity to get bored. If we aren’t careful we will get bored with ‘by grace through faith’, get complacent and lose our first love. We will become lukewarm. That is the danger in any relationship. We must work to keep the passion in it. With passion comes life.
Jesus said (paraphrase), “stay connected to the vine! I am the vine. Stick with me!” This is a relationship. How can we keep up the passion in our relationship with Jesus? We want to see His Spirit transforming us and working in us. Can we make it happen? Well we can sure make it stop! Jesus said, (paraphrase) ‘get disconnected from the vine and watch yourself whither away. No fruit, get tossed in the fire. But stay connected and you will bear fruit.’ I think this is what we are made to do. Bear fruit! Spiritual fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control. As often as we bear this fruit and to whatever quality it is we are having success in life.
But how?! This is the frustration of my adult life. I get it! I want to bear to fruit. I want to be connected. What does that mean! Please show me how to do it. The trouble is, there is no formula. It’s a Spirit thing. You follow the Spirit. You pray, you read the Bible, meditate, listen, and obey. It’s hard and it takes lots of time. Bottom line: I don’t have time for it; God help me.
The truth is I know how. If I slow down and listen to the Spirit and listen to what godly people tell me I will know what I ought to be doing to grow. It’s just that my life is so finely tuned that I can’t adjust to let God in. This has got to change.
Part 2 “Dear God how was your day?” coming in a week.
