Faith With Purpose

Faith with purpose. What does that mean? It means I believe in Jesus, I follow him, and I believe that everything in my life should point back to Him. Now, I don’t mean that I should spend every moment of my life screaming “Praise the Lord!” My point is that I should live my life in a way that is consistent with the teachings of Jesus. My purpose in life, and thus much of what I do, should be pointed toward God and reflect His glory and desires. Yes, God deserves, and I should give, those loud exclamations of praise and adoration, but there is also work that He wants me to do. He has paved the road of my life with the life-changing work that He wants me to do. Only by following it will I find complete fulfillment on this side of Heaven. Live a life of faith with purpose.

Worship of God and what we do in our day-to-day lives should be intrinsically connected. God explains this through the words of Paul in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So, God saves us when we put our faith in Him, and from that point on, He has a purposeful life ahead of us, full of good things to do. Faith with purpose. Both our faith in what Jesus did and purposely living our lives according to His will is what it means to be Christian. These are the verses that brought me to my faith in Jesus.

I spent my earlier years in life believing that it was the good that I did that would get me into heaven. I believed that I was a good kid that did less bad things than all the other “Christian kids” around me. However, in college, I heard those verses in Ephesians and realized the truth. I could not save myself. I could never be perfect enough to deserve an eternity in the presence of God in heaven. That’s why Jesus’s perfect life had to be sacrificed to pay the penalty for all of my sin. Thanks to Jesus, the sentence was served for all of my past, present, and future screw ups. However, that’s where many people in church stop. They say that they accept what Jesus did, but ignore the fact that God has a whole new life in front of them.

It is very common for people to have an emotional moment in a church service, Summer camp, or conversation with another Christian. They might feel bad for all the bad that they have done. They may fear an eternity away from God (Hell). Maybe they just felt like they should because everyone else around them was. One way or another, they “accept Jesus into their hearts”, and go on their merry way. Nothing in their life has changed. They continue doing the same things they always did. They make the same bad choices. They continue to act in their own self-interest. All of this with the solace that they will go to Heaven when they die. The problem is this: Did they really accept Jesus into their lives?

Think of it this way. You are walking across the street. You are too distracted, looking down at your phone, to notice the car running a red light and heading straight for you. Meanwhile, a heroic individual dives into you, knocking you out of harms way. Unfortunately, that person gets hit by the car and dies. Are you going to stand back up, grab your phone off the ground, and keep walking? No! That person sacrificed their life to save you from your own dumb decision to not pay attention when crossing the street. You may feel guilty for a time. More importantly, however, your whole perspective on life has changed. You realize that there is good to do in the world. There are other people in the world that need help, and you owe it to that hero that saved your life. You owe it to them to live a life caring for and helping other people. This is our relationship with Jesus. We did nothing to deserve being saved. In fact, it is our own dumb decisions that earn our eternity away from God in heaven. However, Jesus loved us and wanted us to live with God in both our mortal and eternal lives. So, he jumped in front of that car. Now, it only makes sense that our perspective on life has changed, and that we will now live that life of good works that God prepared in advance for us. Live a life of faith with purpose.