Our
Holy Purpose
What is our holy purpose? Obedience? An active faith? Spreading
the Gospel?
Those are a few of God’s attributes and essential to our Christian existence. Without them,
we stop growing in Christ's image. They are the byproducts of God’s divine plan.
But they are secondary to the Lord’s most precious desire-glorification.
Our
primary purpose is to glorify God through walking in the footprints of Christ.
This is our top priority and the focus
of eternal life. God delivered Christ to the world and completed His eternal
plan. The Lord made Christ the entrance to His kingdom.
Our eternal destination rests upon building an unshakable
trust in Christ. This means seeking the
Messiah with our minds, bodies, and
souls. Lukewarm faith avail us nothing,
but abiding in Christ glorifies God, and
we become sanctified.
It’s impossible to worship
God without the cleansing Christ brings to our sinful lives. Jesus is the bread
of life. We cannot afford to miss the mark for God is watching the way we seek
Christ as our savior.
We must glorify Him or face eternal damnation. This may sound harsh, but God rejects those who
mistreat Him. The Bible is full of God’s justice to those who don’t give Him glory.
In the Old Testament and during Noah’s generation the power of
God’s glory is displayed. It took the Lord’s wrath to rectify the wickedness of
that era. Evilness had reached an epidemic where God had to take drastic action.
Here, God showed Noah His mighty justice.
The Lord took away the life of every human except Noah’s. In
those times, Noah’s faith glorified God, and the Lord used Him to repopulate the earth.
It’s hard to imagine God did such a thing. He did, and the Book of Genesis recorded the great
flood. The Lord made sure that future humans understood the penalty for not
giving Him glory. God makes glorifying Him imperative to our salvation.
Another excellent biblical account backing up God’s
displeasure is when the Lord called on Moses. The Lord gave Pharaoh several
chances to show Him glories by releasing His people. God took away the life of Pharaoh’s
son before he unwilling succumbed to God’s glory.
Either by choice or consequence, God’s always gets His glory.
The greatest example of God’s glory is in the New Testament. It came in His New Covenant through His
resurrected Son Jesus Christ. Here, God rose Christ from the dead and showed
His glory to the real believers.
Most of those people witnessing Christ painful death didn’t
realize God’s display of Glory. They watched Christ shedding His blood waiting
for a sign, but didn't understand the real meaning of His sacrifice. Even Christ’s faithful followers had trouble
grasping it, but when Christ rose from the dead, they saw God’s glory was at
hand.
The moment Christ spoke and showed Himself to Mary Magdalene
God’s glory is fulfilled. She knew it was Jesus and rejoiced in His name. And
from this point forward Christ became the way to glorify God.
I try my best to worship
God daily. To live my life in Christ’s sovereignty is a challenge. Every day I try
to steal God’s glory and my spirit suffers. It happens in subtle ways, and the villain is pride. During the day
Christ steps in and reminds me of this and gives me a chance to humble myself.
I’m grateful to have the opportunities Christ presents in
correcting my wrong behavior. The “Spirit of truth” makes my suffering well
worth the pain, for I know it’s for my good. And I shed a tear when I absorb
what the Lamb of God did the day He died. I have a long way to go on staying in
God’s spirit, but His promise of heaven motivates me to continue seeking.
A life centered in Christ radiates to the world the essence of
God’s glorious attributes. In our private relationship with God, we are given an
unconditional abundance of love, forgiveness and selflessness. Then, as the
result of abiding in Christ the courage to take those same holy principles to believers
and unbelievers glorifies God in our righteousness.
The list of ways to glorify God is limitless. Christ holds the
keys and will unlock those ways to the faithful. Each day is a fresh start. An opportunity
to give God glory. Let’s unite and continue giving God, His precious desire-glorification!
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