Focus: Reason For Living!

Text: Jh.4:34

"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."

Long life is a waste if reason for living is unachieved. In Rev.4:11, the 24 elders who sat around the throne of God said, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." God created all things, including us, for His pleasure. The word 'pleasure' speaks of God's passionate will. He passionately willed us into existence to passionately pursue and fulfill His will. 

Through Isaiah God tells us, "Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him" (Isa.43:7). God created us for His glory. 

We exist to glorify our creator and owner.

Do you know why Moses missed the promise land? God says to Moses, "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them" (Num.20:12). Moses was denied the promise land for failing to sanctify and glorify God before the people.

In the final days of Christ before He was killed, He said to His Father, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (Jh.17:4). He says, "I have manifested thy name unto them… I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it" (Jh.17:6,26). Again, He says, "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me… I have given them thy word" (Jh.17:8,14). Mark these four things:

1. I have finished the work that you have given me to do.

2. I have glorified thee upon the earth.

3. I have given them the word you have given me.

4. ⁠I have manifested thy name unto them.

Jesus Christ fulfilled His reason for living. He died a fulfilled man. He wasted no moment. He did not come behind in any thing pertaining to His assigned task. He did not live in vain. What about you? Are you anywhere close to fulfilling your role in history, especially in the light of eternity?

I close with the touching words of Phillips Brooks. He says, "The great danger facing all of us is not that we shall make an absolute failure of life, nor that we shall fall into outright viciousness, nor that we shall be terribly unhappy, nor that we shall feel that life has no meaning at all - not these things. The danger is that we may fail to perceive life's greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to tender the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God - and be content to have it so - that is the danger: that some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with husks and trappings of life and have really missed life itself. For life without God, to one who has known the richness and joy of life with Him, is unthinkable, impossible. That is what one prays one's friends may be spared - satisfaction with a life that falls short of the best, that has in it no tingle or thrill that comes from a friendship with the Father."

It is not late for you to find and fulfill the reason for your earthly existence. Do it now while you still have your breath!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter