By Not Known
Why am I here?
That question has shaped our Sunday sermons and small group Bible studies over the last 7 weeks. It is a question about life’s purposes.
‘Why’ depends on ‘Who’
The ‘Why’ question depends on the ‘Who’ question.
The Bible gives a clear answer to the 'Who' question. We are God's creation, made to bear his image or likeness. It is of the utmost importance to grasp this. We are not God, nor God's clone, but we are God's image. His fingerprint is all over us. We are meant to reflect his nature, insofar as it is appropriate for the creature to be like the creator. Likewise, we bear the likeness of the earth in our physiology, but we are not mere creatures of the dust
It’s about God, not me
Because our ‘Who’ is bound up with God, so is our ‘Why’. We are here for God’s purposes:
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Here to worship God, nor ourselves
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Here to trust God, not ourselves
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Here to be like God, instead of making an idol of ourselves
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Here to build God’s family, not just for ourselves
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Here to serve God, rathere than ourselves
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Here for God’s mission, not our own
In short, we are here to be filled to the measure of the fullness of God (Eph. 3: 19)
Back on track through Jesus
Our sin means a turning aside from living for God to living for ourselves. God did all that was necessary to return us to himself in remarkable love and power. This was all done through Jesus Christ. He gave us new life and raised us back to God (Eph. 2: 1- 9). Now we are ready for the good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2: 10). Living in God’s good works is living inside God’s purposes
Living with God’s purposes
Some live with no purpose – just drifting and tossed about by every passing fad. Other live with zealous purpose – but their purpose is not of ultimate value. How about us? Are we ready for the challenges and opportunities of living for the most human of all purposes – to be the people that God created us to be?