Have you noticed how hard it is to listen to the news these days? It seems like the media relishes in giving us the bad news, the awful news and the really awful news. True, we hear of heroes who saved lives on subway trains or of men and women who are serving our country or communities.
Henry David Thoreau once said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Sadly, especially in our cultural times, that is true. No matter that our civilization is privy to ideas, inventions and conveniences that previous generations didn’t even dream of and if they did, they were either seen as crackpots or “out there.” But seriously, think about the advances we have seen in just the past 5 to 10 years. I can remember when my dad was a computer operator and the computers were in a frigid room and were as big as a house. (Okay, slight exaggeration, unless you consider a mini-home). 🙂 In spite of our technological advances, we still see far too many men and women who wander aimlessly, with the no particular direction to go. These people are purposeless. I liken it to two things I believe we can all relate to. One is a pinball machine. I’m sure we have all seen them in action. Pull the lever and watch the ball take off. And then we watch it and it goes from bumper to bumper-once, twice, three times-and eventually drops to get slapped back into action again. The other picture is of the person wandering in the woods, seemingly lost. They can do one of two things: either continue wandering willy nilly in a “whatever strikes your fancy” way (which shows no purpose), or follow a path until it either leads you out of the woods or burns itself out and you have to backtrack and start all over again (at least there is a method to the madness).
Have you ever considered the idea that the Christmas story has the stories of two men who knew their purpose and knew why they came? One was John the Baptizer. Zechariah said about his son: “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High because you will prepare the way for the Lord.” (Luke 1:76). The following 3 verses tell us more of John’s purpose. The other was Jesus. We know why He came. He even tells us over and over throughout His short ministry that He came to “seek and save the lost.” “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:10)
So, the question we all must face is “Why am I here?” What is my purpose in life? Hopefully, you know what yours is. Live that purpose to its fullest.
{All Scripture from the NLT}