What Is This All About?

Today I am a little under the weather and resting at home. I have had a cold for a few days and basically have had no voice. It has been quiet around here. 🙂

I have had quite a bit of time to read and rest …and think.  Here it comes…:)

I have been watching quite a bit of drama unfold this week around the blog contest that I am in, and to be honest, am not getting into that. But sitting here alone, sick, in my awkwardly quiet home, windows open, cool breeze and singing birds filling the air, a question comes to mind.

What is this all about? What is the bigger picture?

What is the purpose of life?

It is a question I have asked myself many times.  More specifically, what is my purpose in life.

I play many roles: wife, mother of five, teacher, daughter, friend, cook, cleaner, etc…but will any  of these roles ultimately give me fulfillment in the end?

The answer that I am drawn back to is “No.” Although I love my role as mother, it is not always fulfilling. I love being Peter’s wife, but even that is not my ultimate purpose.

My purpose it to know, love and walk with God.

If I had never met Peter, and never become a mother of five, my purpose would have been the same. If the Lord takes all of my children to himself, my purpose doesn’t change. It will still be to know my God and enjoy a relationship with Him.

“My goal is God Himself, not joy, not peace, nor even blessing, but Himself. My God.”

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

“ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30

Sometimes we get it all wrong. Instead of stressing knowing, we stress serving God.

Knowing God comes first. Service will follow.

In the beginning, God chose to create creatures. Why? He was complete and had no needs. But,

“Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” Rev. 4:11

Ta-Da!! That is it. The reason. All for God’s own pleasure. God made us to be the object of his love and affection. Man knew he was “the created.” He knew that God was God. His main goal was to live for Him, delight in Him and do His will.  He never viewed life as independent of God. He totally sought to make God smile by doing what pleased Him.

But as  you know, this did not last long.

Satan tempted Eve with the promise that she could flip-flop her created role and become “as Gods.”  Eve made a choice. She chose independence and self rule. To run her own life.

We struggle with the same problem today. Self rule, independence and autonomy. And it still shows up in the way we handle life. You know you are handling life in a godless manner, when these “evident” fleshly works show up in your life :

enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies ,impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips, lying,sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery.

God brings trials into our life to test our faith and to change us.

In trials

“What God is most conerned about is our coldness of heart towards Himself and our proud, unbroken nature…He sees a sharp point in our makeup that is continually wounding others. He sees within our hearts the motives of self seeking and pirde. He, therefore, allows someone to come and work alongside us who will rub against that sharp point and round it off. Or He allows someone to thwart our plans and perhaps even step into our shoes. If we are making “self service” an end in itself, we will be full of reactions and will want to fight back or to break away and  be independent. We become more self centered than ever. But if we will bow to what God has allowed, and repent of our sinful reactions, we will find that that very situation has led us into a deeper experience of His grace and of His power to satisfy our hearts with Himself alone.” -Hession

Don’t believe that handling life in the flesh(list above) will give you control. It is a lie. It will be the undoing of you; God will resist you. But, He will give grace to the humble. Humble yourself to His will. Submit yourself… even when it’s hard and you are tempted to sin. Pray for grace.

Peace and fulfillment come through submitting to your God and knowing Him. It is not a matter of circumstances, thankfully!  It comes from resting in the knowledge that God is good and in control. He works all things out for the good of those who love them.

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