OUR PURPOSE ON EARTH 2 Chronicles 19-20 | John 13:21-38 “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last…” —Romans 1:17 Every Christian believes that Jesus came to earth to pay the price for our sin so that we may be saved to an eternal home in heaven. When we first become a Christian, we are grateful and humbled by that, and filled with a wonderful sense of joy and peace that comes from God. But then soon we get wrapped up in our busy routines, once in a while tipping our hats in God’s direction, but for the most part, forget He is even there. Heaven is a magnificent consequence of salvation, which is a certainty for those in Christ, but it is not the goal of the Gospel. To miss out on the goal of the Gospel, we are failing to understand God’s purpose for us on earth. Salvation is not primarily from guilt to innocence or from hell to heaven or even from death to life. It is true the cause of this is that we are forgiven and made clean, and will go to heaven, and it is also true that the means to this end is by being made alive through the gift of the Holy Spirit. ‘Christ in us’ is our only means of attaining to some degree His likeness, which is the goal of the Gospel. Salvation is primarily from unrighteousness to righteousness, and is not earned but received, and does not begin in heaven, but here on earth. Christ did not come into this world to recruit for heaven, but to reconcile humanity to God so that God’s purpose in creating us might be restored and fulfilled on earth. To illustrate, if our car were to break down on the side of the road, and our primary concern was having a garage to put it in when we got home, we are missing out on the purpose of the car. Our primary concern would be to fix the car so we can use it safely again. It’s nice to have a garage to keep our cars in, but we do not mend our cars to keep it in a garage. We mend it so that we can use it for the purpose it was made… to drive. The restoring of the righteousness of God into human experience is mending broken humanity that lies on the side of the road, unable to fulfill its purpose. Paul writes, “And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20). God’s strategy in this world is through His people, and it is in intimate union with Him that we discover the role He has for us in it. PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, I pray for a deeper work of your Spirit in exhibiting more of your righteousness in my life. And thank You, Lord, for your abiding presence in me. TO REFLECT UPON: How important to me is God’s agenda for this world?
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 12:38:05 +0000
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