Purpose

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     There used to be several questions that supposedly most of the people of the world would ask. One of them was,"Why am I here?" It is basically a question of purpose. Everyone needs to know that they are needed and that they have a purpose in life. We would say that the chief end of man is "to know God and to enjoy His presence forever." That pretty well sums up the reason that we are here. Everything is centered on God and not the world and its system, nor ourselves. If that is our chief purpose, then we sometimes look for a more specific purpose that would be a part of our chief end. Paul got such a message from the Lord and when you look at it, the basic elements are quite similar to ours. Acts 26:18 says, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." While Paul was giving his testimony, he made it very clear that he had been called to bring the gospel message to the Gentiles. When a person is without Christ, their are in darkness. Now, if you ask them, they won't admit that they are in darkness, but nonetheless, they are. Paul's mission was to have them open their eyes and to turn from darkness to light. When we look at the Gospels, we soon learn that the only Light of the world is the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's message was to give light to those who were stumbling around in the darkness. The ultimate purpose of all of that was that they might receive forgiveness of sins and their future inheritance. Paul knew what was his mission in life. People are often asked when they are young, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Very few people would come up with a purpose statement such as the one of the Apostle Paul. We have all been programmed to think that the most important things in life are those things that the world can provide in power, prestige, money and happiness. It is amazing to find that the people who achieve most of these things still have a great void in their lives. That void can only be filled by the person who is in the center of God's will for their lives. I have seen many Christian organizations with this theme: "To know Christ and to make Him known" It includes your personal relationship with Christ and then sharing with others what that means to you. Are you fulfilling God's purpose for your life?  Praise God today for giving you purpose in your life.