What is your purpose?

[Blain]

So i have been thinking about this, there are millions of Christians out there but I wonder how many know what their reason for being one is and what kind of Christian they strive to be. I mean once we have salvation what then is our reason to keep moving forwards what is our purpose of continuing to seek his face and why do we seek to be strong if we even do? and also what is our resolve and how far are we willing to go?

I asked myself what my purpose was and why I keep going and what kind of Christian I want to be and the answer came quicker than I expected I will give my answer but I am more curious about everyone elses if they have one.
I want to be strong like father and to dive deeper in love than anyone has ever gone before, I want to test the limits and push the boundaries however deep we are able to go in love and however strong we can be like he is in all that he is like his nature his traits his ways of thinking and ways of seeings I want to go that far no matter the cost or how far I have to go. to be more than willing to burn in the fires of hell itself for the sake of even one lost soul no matter how evil or how bloodstained their souls are. I simply will not accept any other kind of love than that and I don't care what the cost is.

But I also want to be strong like him because I have heard of so many people who call themselves Christians yet have no idea about the kind of love and bond that they can have with father, when I speak to people whether that is at the store or at church about the kind of love and and the kind of bond and closeness that father and I share many are amazed and many even admit they never heard of such a thing with him before. I want to go that far in love and to be that strong so that I can help others and to help them grow closer to him and for them to know the kind of love and bond that I have come to know with him. whatever he and I end having and however deep we go I want all others to have at least double that.

I suppose the answer came to me quicker than I expected because my reason has always been on my heart I suppose and who knows how far I will have to go or what I will have to go through or what the cost might be but for me these are perhaps the greatest treasures of my heart and are more than worth the cost.
however I don't know how many know the reason in their hearts or what their resolve is but I do think such questions are healthy to search our hearts and consider our reasons and also how far we are willing to go to achieve it.

 

[breno785au]

To answer your question..

Feels like breathing sometimes lol

 

[Willie-T]

I think George Grant wrote this:

“Love God and do as you please.” Or, “Love God and do as you wish.” Or, “Love God and do what you will.”

This famous quote from Augustine of Hippo (534-430) is commonly interpreted to mean if we love God, then what He wants will become what we want—and what we want will invariably be what He wants. Thus, if we want it, whatever it might be, it is within the will of God. In effect, God yields His providence to the sovereignty of our feelings, our wishes, our desires. Ethics becomes a subjective enterprise.

Reading the quote in context however, reveals an entirely different meaning. Found in the tract, In epistulam Ioannis ad Parthos (Tractatus VII, 8), the passage reads: “Once for all, then, a short precept is given unto you: Love God, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: In all things, let the root of love be within, for of this root can nothing spring but what is good.”

In other words, Augustine is arguing objectively rather than subjectively–that when the love of God is the governing principle of our lives, then all that we think, say, and do will necessarily be yielded to that love. If our love of God is real and profound, then obedience and faithfulness, right thinking and right actions will flow irresistibly from that love. Perhaps, what he had in mind was to expound on Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 16:14, “Let all that you do be done in love.”And that is quite the opposite of saying that if we love God, then what He wants will become what we want.

Context makes all the difference in the world.


“Love God and do what you will.”

 

[p_rehbein]

We all (those of us who proclaim Christ as our Savior) have the same purpose. To do what God has prepared us to do and called us to do. His Will is our purpose.

 

[dcontroversal]

Our purpose seems obvious....glorify God and lead mlre souls into the kingdom.....other than that we are lowly servants doing what we have been commanded to do.....!

 

[Stranger36147]

I'm still trying to figure out my own individual purpose. I'll let you know when or if I do.

 

[Joidevivre]

Just to face what God brings to each day with trust, faith and peace.
To serve in some way who God puts in my path.
To keep my eyes on Jesus.

 

[mcubed]

This is the greatest question and easiest... to bring as many people to heaven with me as I can. That is my purpose.

Because G-d chose to allow me to have an autistic son my 2ed purpose is to leave as much money in his trust as I can so he can be taken care of when I move home.

My life is very simple...

 

[Grock89]

My real biblical duty n purpos as a Christian is to reach out to Everyone young n old small or big n make disciples of Christ...n my perpose that as me I feel is to live life fully no regrets ..live an abundant life..I strive to live each day as best n enjoy it as much as I possibly can..at the end of the day I say I had a life well n fully lived!!

 

[star]

I have questioned my purpose for just being born. I'm a "why" person and ask God often why I am here.

As for my purpose of being a Christian. I can't think of any reason why God would love me let alone save me. But, thankfully he did. Everyday I ask Him which way to go.

As a Christian, we are to obey God, follow His leading and be a living example to the life Jesus Christ set before us. We are to be an instrument in the hand of God for His purposes.

And I confess before you all, I fail many times but my heart desires to become a more useful instrument in His Hands.

 

[EarsToHear]

Our prime purpose, which many reject, is salvation through Christ. Without that, everything else is for not.

It starts and ends with loving and obeying God. He comes first.

 

[Jimbone]

Man it's crazy you asked this question right at this time in my walk where I feel like that purpose has been made so very clear to me. The simple answer (IMO of course) is we are here to glorify God. I have had a pretty major shift in perspective lately and have been led to really look at what this coming "kingdom" Jesus talked so much about really is. I know this invites a ton of opinions, viewpoints, and endless debate, but I have heard a message that has lit a fire inside me, like what you were describing above, and just seems to ring so true to everything I am reading in His word now.

It's the message of a God who's created people have rebelled and turned from Him, a people that are incapable of wanting Him, incapable of good. This God is good, He demands perfect judgement for the sins of His people, yet also has a love and mercy for them that match His good and perfectly just nature. This God steps into His creation, He condescends to our level to teach us the error or our thinking. How do men take this news? Exactly like each and every one of us do outside His grace, we told Him NO! we don't want you God, and we beat and crucified Him. Behold the goodness of men. Even while he was carrying the cross He would be nailed to He told the women, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children", because He knew what was coming for them. History tells us what their children endured at the hands of the Romans.

Jesus talked much about the coming kingdom, a kingdom that would know no end, a kingdom described like leaven, as well as the mustard seed. Did Jesus finish His work? Did He do what He said He was going to do? I feel He has, the last thing He told us before ascending to His throne at the Fathers right hand in Matthew 28:18-20 was,

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[a] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

I think our purpose is right there, we are to "go make disciples of ALL nation. I now believe that Jesus brought His kingdom and it will now conquer the world. I believe Jesus is truly the "King of kings", right now and that His word will keep growing until it's ALL brought to it's rightful place, under Jesus feet. I no longer believe the world is just "going to hell in a hand basket", and that evil wins until Jesus comes back to save us from it. I believe His words do have power, the power to save men, and by His Spirit in truth men and this world is being redeemed.

I want to make clear I am not trying to "sell" anything here, my main point was to share the message that has lit a fire in my soul for God like I've never felt, it rivals, but is different than, my rebirth. It is just ringing so true through His word the more I read (and I am talk about the Bible only here) the more excited I get. He has blessed me a couple time now in seeing the true power of proclaiming truth to people, really shown me firsthand the truth of His word. It's amazing and I want to spend less time fighting and debating issues within the Christian communities, and more time reaching out to the lost, speaking His truth, and watching in utter amazement as He works.

That's my opinion anyway , but as always I love your zeal brother and pray He always draws you ever closer.

 

[Marcelo]

I mean once we have salvation what then is our reason to keep moving forwards ... ?

I know many people who have complete confidence in their salvation and yet keep up their good works. I know a guy who helps the poor a lot since the time he was a teenager. He's been a deacon for the last two decades and a few weeks ago he was anointed as an elder. He never received one cent from the church -- he has a secular job and apart from it he dedicates his time to God.

I myself today am not doing many good works because of my tight budget, but I do what I can. I have two kids with problems: The boy (29) is wheel chair dependent and the girl (26) has deep depression and morbid obesity. I don't feel they're a burden -- they're very nice kids --, but I have to prepare them for the future because my lifetime is running out.

I've been a Christian for over 30 years, but still have a long way to go in my spiritual walk. I have a lot to learn, especially from the poor.

 

[Jimbone]

I wanted to also address your question "I mean once we have salvation what then is our reason to keep moving forwards what is our purpose of continuing to seek his face and why do we seek to be strong if we even do?"

Our purpose is to keep going until EVERYTHING is under Jesus feet. We are called by our creator to proclaim His truth to ALL nations, is everyone you know Christian yet? Then we still have motivation and even better we know God will give us streagth to go not matter what. Very inspiring to me personally.

 

[Blain]

We all (those of us who proclaim Christ as our Savior) have the same purpose. To do what God has prepared us to do and called us to do. His Will is our purpose.

Yes this is the general answer given but I was talking more about a more in depth thing. I mean this is obviously every believers reason but God does not use every believer in the same way. Every believer has a different calling and role in his kingdom unique to them and many know the general answer but cannot search their own hearts and find the answer for their own selves.

As you can see there were several replies that were simply beautiful, Joidevivre for instance takes one day at a time doing what she can and seeking Jesus, a simple yet beautiful way to walk, Grock wishes to go all out and live for God with abandoned basically the you only live once method and some like stranger showed true honesty in saying he has yet to find his individual purpose and I love brenos response in saying it's like breathing. That was perhaps the simplest and yet most profound respond I have seen.

You see I not only asked this question for myself but it was also purposely provocative to make the reader ask themselves this question and search their own hearts for the answer. Yes we all have the same purpose in Christ but individually we all have different roles and our hearts motives and reasons will be the deciding factor, and if we go through this life with just going with the flow and just living with that general reason and purpose then we will never truly understand our role in his kingdom, It's like when I draw a picture, if I have a general idea of what I want to draw but have no real purpose in making the picture then it will be sloppy and not very great I will not be very driven to actually put my heart and soul into the picture.

But when say I make the picture and lets say this picture represents the kingdom of God and the many colors I am using is all of us who are his children, we all have the same goal to finish the picture but because we are all different colors we all have different purposes in filling the picture. This is why I asked what our reason is and what kind of Christian we strive to be, there is a vast variety of believers who are different kinds of Christians because their desires and their hearts in Christ are different. Some are called to be teacher some are workers others are simply the ones who you never hear of who are care takers and others still are encouragers, but just like colors they can be blended and are sometimes not just one thing.

But in order to truly achieve the role God has made us for whether that is a teacher or a preacher a servant or a caretaker we may never truly know our role or truly achieve it if we do not know our reason and motives and though I don't always post such provocative questions the purpose of them is always to make the reader search their own hearts and to if possible bring them closer to god that is just what I know in my heart to do I admit I wasn't always the kind of believer who more than anything wishes to bring people closer to god and to encourage and build up others and I didn't always seek to be strong in him specifically for the the sake of others and to this day I myself do not know my role and purpose in his kingdom but I do know the motives and desires of my heart in him and that will eventually lead me to understand exactly why i am me and why I am here.

 

[JairCrawford]

First and foremost, to be His bride. Everything else revolves around this.

 

[GuessWho]

To know God and be in communion with Him.

 

[oldethennew]

our purpose, hub and myself, is the same purpose that was given by God to His called and chosen,
when He delivered them from their worldly, human, Bondage and brought them out through the sea-
to Love and Obey and Serve Him as their only God and Saviour,, and now, for the Price that He paid
once again, for us, for those whom He Loves, His Remnant'...

it's not simple really; for His own reasons, He desires human sons and daughters
to be a part of His Holy Family...wanna talk about being 'blessed', much less Loved by
The Creator of the world we were born into??? can we understand His reasons now? no,
but we both accept them, for whatever they are, and we are doing our very best to Love Him
to the best of our ability, in any way that we can, to show Him our Love and Gratitude...

and yes, there is a 'price to pay', mostly it is to be shunned by the world...does it hurt, does it
make life lonely? sometimes, Yes, but what more, as His human creations could we ask for or
want than to be desired by Him to be a part of His Family for ETERNITY???

 

[BenFTW]

It is in the balance. How very important are our decisions in this life and their consequences. What was once our purpose could no longer be, sometimes opportunity presents itself and we need to move right then and there. Purpose entails one purposing to do something, and that means action. God can give us all the promises in the world, but if we don't have faith (and show it through action) we might as well dig our grave and lie down.

 

[Silverwings]

To love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, and my neighbor as myself.