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What is freedom and purpose of life?
“True freedom, then, is not the absence of constraints or restrictions. It is finding and complying with the right restrictions, the ones that fit the givens of your nature and being. Since we were created in the image of God—we were designed to live and love as the triune God lives and loves. We were created for self-giving, for glorifying and enjoying God, not for selfishness and independence.”
Tim Keller
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Two perspectives on freedom from a pastor and a poet! We are most free when we are operating within our design. Consider the calling and ministry of Paul. An encounter with Christ on the Damascus roads changes his path!
Bright light from Christ’s presence forces Paul to knee and listen to the voice from above. Consider that God temporary blinds him and sends him to Ananias.
Paul’s Mission: 2 Timothy 1
Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:8-12 Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
8So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. 9He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began. 10And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel, 11to which I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher.
12For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.
Commentary Links:
What is a holy calling?
The phrase holy calling conveys the idea of being set apart by God for a sacred purpose. We are “called to be saints” (Romans 1:7, ESV; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2).
As stated in Ephesians 2:10, God wants to use believers for His glory: “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (ESV).
https://www.gotquestions.org/holy-calling.html
Paul went from being a violent persecutor and enemy of Christ to a Gospel sharing missionary. His Damascus road experience sets him on a totally different path. Verse 12 encourages us to press ahead as we know that He will guard us and keep us until the end.
What was it that Paul had entrusted to Christ, the One whom He believed? Various scholarly interpretations abound, but it seems likely that Paul was talking about his soul.
He had committed his entire being to the Lord for safekeeping; he had fully entrusted himself, without reservation, knowing that the Lord is faithful. In this, Paul followed the example of Christ Himself, who, “when he suffered, . . . he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
As believers we are all in God’s hands. Christ is our hope, and we can be sure that He will preserve our souls.
https://www.gotquestions.org/I-know-whom-I-have-believed.html
Excellent article on Calling & Purpose
https://www.chaseoaks.org/articles/finding-calling-purpose
Commitment to Christ: Purpose
Stepping Out: Simple Obedience
Oswald Chambers encourages us to carefully discern if we are faithfully following. Are we following our own ideas or seeking Christ as He reveals Himself? Faith is more than a set of particular beliefs or doctrines. Emphasis mine in quotes. Link to full devotion below:
https://utmost.org/modern-classic/there-must-be-some-misunderstanding/
“Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can’t see anything (see Matthew 14:29). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.”
Obedience in Joy
“Are you debating whether you should take a step of faith in Jesus, or whether you should wait until you can clearly see how to do what He has asked? Simply obey Him with unrestrained joy.”
“Are you faithful to Jesus, or faithful to your ideas about Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise His words with thoughts that never came from Him? “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5).”
A wise man considers his steps and plans. Are they in step with God? Am I worshiping and enjoying the presence of God in the present?
Something to Consider: Getting Ahead of God
Chambers warns us to not get ahead of God. Getting ahead God leads to spiritual dryness, weariness, and burn-out!
“Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls.“
Sensitive to God’s Work and Leading:
“God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?”
https://utmost.org/updated/helpful-or-heartless-toward-others/
Purpose Statement
This quote from Jon Bloom informs my purpose: it breaks this down into three areas:
“You will change the world, more than you know. And because of that, because your life will impact so many others, Jesus wants you to live prayerfully (Ephesians 6:18), walk carefully (Ephesians 5:15), and seek his kingdom first (Matthew 6:33). If you do, if you faithfully invest the “little” he has entrusted to you, no labor of yours in this life will be in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58) and he will entrust you with more in the life to come (Matthew 25:21).”
Jon Bloom “You Will Change the World”
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/you-will-change-the-world
First, I live prayerfully seeking God’s discernment and engaging with opportunities He provides. Second, daily reflect on how I am walking in His ways. Are my values expressing themselves through my integrity and virtues? Third, His Kingdom and Righteousness come first. What obstacles or elements of my life needs to become aligned to His Gospel and Kingdom?
May God’s Presence encourage and bless you as you seek to walk with Him daily!
Words of Grace & Hope 