Whatâs Our Common Purpose?
Whatâs Our Common Purpose?
The Westminster Catechism says our purpose is:
đ âTo glorify God and enjoy Him forever.â
John Piper tweaks it:
đ„ âTo glorify God by enjoying Him forever.â
Great answers! But letâs make it even more practical.
Love God. Love People.
I believe God calls us to experience and love Himâand to experience and love others.
Thatâs the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40).
But hereâs the thingâŠ
đ We canât love God while ignoring people.
đ We canât love people while neglecting God.
Why? Because Godâs heart is always for people, and He is the source of ALL love.
Love = Fulfilling Godâs Purpose
Paul puts it plainly:
đĄ âWhoever loves others has fulfilled the law.â (Romans 13:8)
đĄ âLove does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.â (Romans 13:10)
Loving others isnât a side missionâitâs the whole thing!
What Does Godâs Love Look Like?
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It treats people how weâd like to be treated.
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Or even betterâhow God wants to treat them.
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It ...
"Do You Love and Appreciate You? Here's Why It Matters"
Godâs greatest gift to you ⊠is YOU!
Without you, you do not exist.
God made you on purpose, with purpose.
You are not a random mixture of ingredients, but rather the culmination of desire, intent and planning â orchestrated by God. You are exactly what He thought of when He dreamt of you. He used your family lines, history, geography and circumstances to form you. You are His personal handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that He has prepared in advance for you. (Ephesians 2:10)
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Our two primary responses to Godâs personal gift are to love Him with all that we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves. (Mark 12:30-31) There are three love objects mentioned in this Great Command and Commission: God, others and ourselves.Â
In my faith circles, I have heard a great deal about loving God and loving others, but I havenât heard much about rightly loving myself. Rather, such a thought has often been looked at with suspicion â as if it is a selfish and/or self-absorbed ...
What Are You Creating With God?
Did you know that you are Godâs personal work of art? When He made you â when He created you in His mind â when He spoke you into your motherâs womb â when He delivered you into this world â He said it is VERY GOOD. The only One who is good, declared your formation as very good. âYou are Godâs handiwork.â (Ephesians 2:10)
As Godâs creation, what do you like about you? What parts of you can you most enjoy with God? For what parts of you can you be most thankful to Him?
Are there any parts of you that cause you to want to take issue with God? Are there any mistakes that He made in your conception, any parts that you would like to give back to Him? Godâs primary gift to you is you. This may be a good time to talk with the Giver about His gift to you.
You are also Godâs tool to use in this world for His purposes.
âYou were created in Christ Jesus to do good works that He has prepared in advance for you.â (Ephesians 2:10).
âHe made us in order to use us in the most profitable way; for ...
Are You Aware?
Why do people become friends or get married? Usually they want to be with each other and enjoy one anotherâs company. When I was courting my wife, I wanted to be with her all the time â nothing else compared. This is a shadow of Godâs created order.
God created you, and He likes you, and He wants to be with you. That is why He formed and fashioned you. (You may want to take some time and let this sink into your soul â it is bedrock understanding for deep, experiential identity.)
If God created you in order to enjoy you, it follows that you will enjoy life and be most satisfied when you are aware of and are enjoying His presence, too. Unfortunately, our attention is prone to wander! We may go long periods of time without even thinking of God, let alone experiencing His presence. We can easily become distracted by others, worries, concerns, or our own obsessions.
What do we do when we realize that we have, for all practical purposes, been living apart from God? Some feel guilty, and h...
How Well Are You Listening?
Most arguments seem to spring from a sense of not being heard or understood. When we are not understood we tend to press our point or perspective harder. Unfortunately, our extra efforts and energy can be threatening and put others on the defensive. Change is needed.
At a number of junctures Jesus is recorded as saying, âWhoever has ears to hear, let him hear.â These words were always clues indicating that the listener needed to employ a spiritual, kingdom understanding in order to grasp the point Jesus was making. He was encouraging His hearers to slow down, ponder and ask Godâs help to understand the things of the Spirit.
In Revelation, we see Jesus using the same expression for people to understand His messages to each of the seven churches. He said, âWhoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.â We, too, need to take time to listen and discern what God is saying. We need the Spiritâs help to understand what the Spirit is saying.
Isnât the same thing tr...
How Are You Doing?
âHow are you? ⊠I hope all is well.â This is the kind of greeting many of us write to those we have not been in touch with for a while.  Itâs a very general and surface approach. When in person, however, we may want to go deeper. Unfortunately, oftentimes people are not very aware of how they are doing and arenât inclined to answer very deeply. When you ask most people how they are doing, they may describe whatâs going on around them â their circumstances.  If you press in a little further, they might describe how they feel about their circumstances and what they are trying to do about them. Few people seem to take stock of how they are doing below/beyond their circumstances. Yet, our lives are deeper than what is happening around us.
Our circumstances will change. Sometimes great things will happen and sometimes horrendous things will happen. Sometimes life seems very routine. These experiences will affect us, but they need not determine the state of our soul.  Jesus told Hi...
What Kind of Spirit Do You Want?
Many people recognize a general brokenness in their own lives, and also sense it multiplying through our culture over the last 50 years or so. We have developed an expansive vocabulary related to different forms of dysfunction, addiction, and mental health. Most people seem to feel a need for help from beyond themselves to develop healthy and free lives. Often, they are on some kind of spiritual quest. In many circles it has even become quite chic to pursue spiritual things. For what kind of spirit and spiritual experiences, however, are people looking?
There is a (sometimes subtle) natural draw to seek spiritual growth primarily for the purpose of self-improvement, personal influence, or power. We can be tempted to use the spiritual realm, trying to get it to submit to our own personal wills. The temptation is to look for spiritual power that will help us get what we want. So, we may turn to impersonal expressions of faith/religion to boost our sense of self â a kind of self-help spi...
Does Your House Need A Clean Up?
Sometimes the things that seem like they will make our lives easier and more efficient are the very things that can steal our purpose and passion right out from under us.
Godâs desire has always been to draw people from all nations into His eternal household. But, âdoing churchâ (or, in this case, "doing temple") got in the way of that purpose in the lives and practice of the people of God. Addressing the people in Jerusalem, Jesus quoted from the book of Isaiah and said, âIs it not written: âMy house will be called a house of prayer for all nationsâ? But you have made it a den of robbers.ââ (Mark 11:17) When the people came to make sacrifices at the temple they had to bring animals, or grain or whatever was needed. This proved to be quite an inconvenience for those who had a long way to travel, so they developed a system of exchange right at the temple. People could simply bring money and âbuyâ what they needed for sacrifice âonsite.â This made things much easier for many people, Â bu...
Are You Prepared for What's Next?
When you consider your future, what do you think will happen?
Do you picture good things coming your way, or does the future feel somewhat bleak?Â
No one really knows the future. God rarely gives detailed insights into what is coming next. It seems that He wants us to rely on Him and not to become fixated on what will or wonât happen. This can feel disconcerting â and some become so concerned with knowing the future that they involve themselves in the occult, seeking dark powers for information about their future as if that will bring them security and comfort.
Godâs Kingdom approach is quite different. He promises to be with us always; to never leave us or forsake us. His character is such that He can be trusted with our future, even though we donât know what that future will hold.
âAnd we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.â (Romans 8:28 NIV) Â Â
Rather than showing us the future, God calls us to be prepared...
How to be a Good Human
Click Here for the 4-Minute Video
What does it mean to be a good human?
It relates to our identity as image-bearers of God.
We were created in the image of God. Being in God's image points to our ability to connect with and commune with God.
We understand and receive our identity from being with God. In that way we need to be Human Beings - humans, being with God.
We exercise our identities in God by exercising/expressing God's will/intent/perspective in our roles and life spheres. We express our unique identities through our unique offerings to the world.
What do you have to offer the world? ... that is your unique Human doing.
To be a Good Human is to be a Human Being - with God and a Human Doing - through God's enablement and power.
At this point in your life, might God be encouraging you to grow on the Being or the Doing side?
We need both to be Good Humans!
If you'd like to go a little deeper on this, you may want to check out my 1--minute podcast on this topic. Go...
