The beginning of a brand new year.
The time of new beginnings. Fresh starts. Setting goals.
Over the course of the past year or so, through teaching, revelation, and circumstances, God has begun shifting most of my foundational plates. I find myself re-evaluating many of the solid premises I previously based my life upon. I've been meditating a great deal on goals and meaning and purpose. Significance and value and worth. Investing in others. Considering my influence. Making a difference in lives. Trying to determine what counts. Identifying priorities. Just plain figuring out how to live again. It feels like God has yanked the rug out from under my feet to force me to look outside the box. Because that's not where He lives.
And as I meditate on ultimate goals and purpose in life, I'd like to evaluate a couple definitions:
goal - the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end; the terminal point of a journey or race
purpose - a fixed design, outcome, or idea that is the object of an action or other effort; an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal
Obviously I need to clearly view the terminal point of my life journey. To understand where and how to direct my actions and efforts. I need to soak my brain in Scripture. I'm trying to squeeze every last drop out of the following passages:
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." John 6:28-29
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:1-2
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. Phil 1:21-26
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:8-14
To be continued ...
And as I meditate on ultimate goals and purpose in life, I'd like to evaluate a couple definitions:
goal - the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end; the terminal point of a journey or race
purpose - a fixed design, outcome, or idea that is the object of an action or other effort; an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal
Obviously I need to clearly view the terminal point of my life journey. To understand where and how to direct my actions and efforts. I need to soak my brain in Scripture. I'm trying to squeeze every last drop out of the following passages:
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." John 6:28-29
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:1-2
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. Phil 1:21-26
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:8-14
To be continued ...
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