Day 7: With purpose
All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).
Heavenly Father, God of creation, it is in You we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). When You send Your Spirt [all creatures] are created, when You take away their breath they die and return to the dust (Psalm 104:29-30).
We do not know in advance the days ordained for us, nor do we understand the details of Your timing, Your plan, and Your will, but we know that You are a God of unfathomable wisdom who designs and executes all things according to Your good purpose (Isaiah 46:9-10).
The apostle Paul explained Your sovereign design to the Athenians: [God] marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us (Acts 17:26-27).
But You reached out for us—reached down to us—first. You provided the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). In Him You revealed Yourself as God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people (1 Timothy 2:3-6).
Your plan does not end with this transient world. You prepare us for a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1) to replace this broken world of pain, sorrow, death and destruction. And You transform us into the image of Your Son—to remove all traces of the distortions of sin, and restore us to the perfect image of God:
Once you were alienated from God... But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel (Colossians 1:21-23).
To this end, Lord, You do Your transforming work in us for the rest of our lives. And You entrust the work of Your kingdom to us. You do not save us by our good works—they could never be enough. We are saved by Your grace alone—but You have prepared work in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Father, help us to live with purpose—Your purpose. Without Your purpose, we could become distracted by the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth (Matthew 18:22). We could squander our wealth—our treasured life—in wild, wasteful, reckless, riotous living (Luke 15:13). We could become discouraged and defeated by the challenges and the difficulties, the trials and the tests.
Strengthen us, O Lord! Teach us to embrace this short, precious life that You have given us. Teach us to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). Teach us to occupy till You come (Luke 19:13). Teach us to make the most of every opportunity in these evil days (Ephesians 5:16). Teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).
Comments