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Be Purposeful

“In a hurry to nowhere” serves as a good description for a lot of people. They have specific short-term goals they are in a hurry to reach, but little in the way of purpose in life.

When we look at Jesus we see a strong sense of purpose. On one occasion, Jesus prayed “Father, glorify Your name” to which a voice from heaven responded, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” (John 12:28) On another occasion, He told His disciples: “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13) Jesus’ overarching purpose in life was the glory of God.

At the same time, Jesus was driven throughout His entire life by a single specific goal. That was the act of redemption on the cross. In Matthew 16 we read that at one point “He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Matthew 16:20-21)

While this overall purpose and specific goal gave general shape to His life and ministry, He had many individual things to accomplish along the way. They were entirely compatible with the broad scope of His life and ministry, so they did not distract Him. Indeed they often served to move Him forward in His purpose.

One of the things Jesus did was to touch lives, one by one, in personal ministry. I think particularly of a little statement we find in John 4. There we read that, on His way to Jerusalem, “He needed to go through Samaria.” (John 4:4) We find out as we read the context that by doing this he was positioning Himself where a certain woman would encounter Him and find spiritual reality to replace the illusions and delusions by which she had been living to that point.

In reading the gospels, we observe that Jesus had a specific timetable. When His mother asked Him to intervene at a wedding celebration, Jesus responded that her concerns did not correspond with His and said “My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4) Yet for all this, He was not rigid. After saying this to His mother, He went ahead and responded to her request and turned water into wine to facilitate the festivities.

Nothing deterred or distracted Him. He showed that even His physical needs took second place to His spiritual purpose when He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (John 4:34) Nor did He allow Himself to be affected by the earthly perspective of those who loved Him, offering arguments against His accomplishing His goal. For example, He told Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:23)

Our desire to be like Jesus will prompt us to be purposeful. May we embrace His goal of glorifying our Heavenly Father. Each fulfilling it in the way He calls us personally.

Ron Hughes
© June 2009