Purpose fulfilled

                                                    Purpose fulfilled
        A verse in one of the Psalms I read this past week keeps coming back to my mind and I’ve pondered and thought about it a lot. It’s so clear in the ESV Psalm 57:2  "I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me." We’re here for a purpose. God is doing something in each of our lives. And He will indeed accomplish what He sets out to accomplish. "Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

        There are many "purpose statements" in scripture and we do well to pay attention to them. Those great salvation verses of Ephesians 2:8-9 which tell us we are saved by grace through faith are followed by verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Good works are not only a purpose of God for us but He has actually "ordained" that we follow a life of good works. It was said of Jesus that "He went about doing good." Acts 10:38

        One of God’s main purposes for us is that we be like Christ in our actions and attitudes and desires. There, too, that is ordained or "predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. . . ." Romans 8:29 Will God actually accomplish that? He even tells us when that will be fulfilled or accomplished: "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2 ESV

        Another purpose statement is given in 2 Cor. 5:4-5 ESV "so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee." God has "prepared us" for life–real life–eternal life. We weren’t made to live eternally as fallen creatures in a fallen world. He has prepared a place for us and now He is preparing us for that place–eternal life in glory with Him. It’s going to be even better than you can imagine!

       God no doubt has other specific purposes for you that may be different than the purposes He has for me, but there are many that are the same for all of us. We are to
"run with patient endurance the race [or course] that is set before us," Heb. 12:1–the course individually laid out for each one of us by God Himself." Do you remember the words of that great hymn, "In Christ Alone"? "No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny."

      "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." We will be doing both throughout eternity. And how do you glorify God here and now? By acknowledging His control of your destiny. "The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, Blessed be the name of the Lord." So be thankful for whatever the "good hand of our God" brings to us and learn patiently from it. My wife told all of us before she died, "I am where I have always been, in God’s hands."
                                                                    –Pastor Burnside