Wow…”Keeping our purpose firm,” now those are some strong words. The Bible tells us that we are given peace when we keep our purpose firm and trust in God. But how do we do that? How are we supposed to keep plugging away at something when discouragement hits and it seems our efforts accomplish nothing? We go from one thing to another, often having good intentions and good beginnings…but finish badly, if we finish at all.
For one, we need to be in His word daily (read the Bible) and prayerfully ask God to guide us in everything we do and make His will so clearly and bluntly known to us, that we would see it…big bright flashing lights with alarms going off would be nice. Not only that, but that we would want to do God’s will and not be selfish. (I could write a whole other blog on that topic.) If we aren’t in His word daily, we will be starving ourselves from that which keeps our spirits fed. I don’t know about you, but if I’m hungry and miss a meal, my blood sugar starts making me a bit cranky and unable to focus. Imagine then missing your daily bread for days, weeks, even months. Our spirits, which are fed by that daily bread, God’s word, begins to go through a spiritual desert. In that spiritual desert, we face struggles, sometimes the same struggle over and over again. No matter how hard we think we are trying, we feel like we are going around in circles and getting nowhere. Have you ever felt like you were running on a huge hamster wheel, exhausted, running faster and faster, but getting no where? Okay, now you know what I’m talking about. We need to get off that hamster wheel.
If we would just do the things God is telling us we need to do, we could get off that hamster wheel. We weren’t created to depend on ourselves, yet that’s the way we choose to live. We need to take God seriously and I’m afraid we do not. We acknowledge Him as creator, we acknowledge that He walked this Earth as Jesus Christ and died for our sins. We believe by Faith all of these things and that He rose on the third day after dying on Calvary’s cruel cross. We are grateful for all of these things and many of us, have asked Jesus Christ to be Lord of our lives and have accepted the gift of salvation. Even though we have a God that loves us so much and has sacrificed his only son for us, we still hold back.
Just imagine how much we could accomplish if we sought to glorify God in everything we did. That’s a difficult thing to do in this “me centered” world, it would mean putting others first, as our Lord Jesus Christ did. That would require a lot of self control, patience and endurance (…and I’m sure some other things I have left out. Remember I don’t know everything). We aren’t born with self control and patience or endurance; those things are developed when we are committed to developing them.
“And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self control, and self control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.” 2 Peter 1:4-7
Wow… “Keeping our purpose firm,” sounds like a lot of work. It is and only those who trust in God wholeheartedly, will accomplish great things in His name and be filled with the peace that comes with keeping their purpose firm. Aren't you glad Jesus Christ didn't give up on us and throw down his cross? He not only showed us great love by enduring all of the suffering, pain and humiliation that came with his appointed day at Calvary, but he set an example for us to follow.
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