Perspective and Purpose

I’ve noticed that when we lose perspective, our purpose blurs. It seems I am so quick to forget who I am and what I am here to do. Sometimes I convince myself that I am here to have the most fun possible. Sometimes I convince myself that I somehow deserve the easiest life affordable. Sometimes I convince myself that I earned everything I have. Sometimes I convince myself that I know what’s right and everyone else who disagrees with me must be wrong. Sometimes I convince myself that I am always the voice of reason. Sometimes I convince myself that I am generous enough, patient enough, godly enough, Christ-like enough… As if God is looking for someone who is “good enough.” It seems that when I forget about who Jesus is, I distort who I am. When I forget about what Jesus did, I distort what I must do.

When we stop preaching the gospel of God's grace and sacrifice to ourselves, we get prideful, selfish, arrogant, sinful and more focused on what is wrong with everyone else instead of what's right with God. The gospel must start in our heart and overflow. It must be lived, not merely spoken. If I am not constantly living in light of God’s grace, then I am going to respond to others with selfishness.

I’m just an Extra

Occasionally, I act as if I am the main actor and everyone is just an accomplice in my story. These are all MY friends. This is MY life. This is MY money, MY car, MY destiny. But what a boring story! How does this plot explain the pain in the world? How does this story show the beauty of creation? It doesn’t! Life makes much more sense when we realize our story is just a sub-plot. When I perceive myself as the headliner, my story is boring and self-consumed. Yet, when I realize I am really just an extra with just couple decades of screen time in a multi-millennia movie, my purpose is shifted because my perspective is fixed. God is the main character and we are just small players in the story. Our lives are simple side stories. Our purpose is just to point to the true plot. How stupid would it look if an extra in a movie was in the background making funny faces just to get attention? Yet, that is what we do when we demand that this life is about us and that our purpose is our pleasure. The Bible isn’t a rule book. It’s a story about a God who is awe-inspiringly just and unfathomably loving. We get to choose our role. We can either be friend or foe, son or stranger, grace receiver or wrath satisfier. I’m going to spend my story pointing the The Story. I'm gonna live a life where all I do is brag about who God is. I'm just going to be a story teller for the greatest story.

Every day is a Battle

Every day, I have to wake up and make a choice. Am I going to remember God today? Am I going to put Him first or myself first? Am I really going to die to myself today so that He will be glorified? Each day, we have to pick up our cross and crucify our selfish ambition. Each day, I have to put on the Armor of God so that I can fight the forces of evil in this world. Each day, we have to put work into this relationship we have with our God, our King, our First Love, Our savior, Our life-giver, Our everything. Sounds like a Lord of the Rings novel, doesn’t it? But perhaps our lives were meant to be an adventure. God says “Do not fear!” In fact, he says it about 365 times in His written word. That’s one for each day of the year.

Every day is a Blessing

Every day, I get to wake up and glorify a God worth serving. Is my sin really washed away? Is this God really that good? Can He really be that faithful? YES! Every day, I get to serve a God worth serving. Every day, I have an opportunity to love. Every day, I have no reason to fear. Every day, I know my pleasure is for His praise and my pain is for His glory. Every day, I get to worship a God worthy of my praise. Do we really think God needs us? There are 100 million angels praising Him at this very second. We should be the ones begging to worship Him! Do you see what has happened?! God is both our Lord AND our Savior. He is both our King AND our Father. Every day is both a blessing AND a battle.

But it’s the thought that counts… right?

I have a lot of good intentions. I like to think of really worthwhile causes. I like to think about how to save the lost and serve the poor. I like to read about how others saw God and served like Jesus. I like to take part in a community where God is moving constantly. However, sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking I am doing good because I am thinking about good or seeing good things happen. Thinking about doing good is not doing good. It's not the thought that counts, it's the action.

Jesus is all about love. His commands always deal with our hearts and not our exteriors. Our actions must start with love. Yet, somehow I can get into a phase where my good thoughts do not translate into good actions. Jesus says “You want to know if you really love me? Just look at your obedience. If you really love, you will really obey.” Action requires love and love requires action. You can’t have one without the other.


So let’s focus our perspective on the Main Character in this story. Our purpose will be our pleasure if we will just get out of the way of the protagonist. Our intentions are only as good as a script. We must perform our lines with passion. We must act with love and love to action. Fortunately, we have a good director and a big budget to play with. I can’t wait to watch this movie when it finishes.