My 8 purposes for life

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

TRYING to make ends meet, you’re a slave to money, then you die… the immortal words of the Bittersweet Symphony. Life must have more significance than that! And it does.

In a salient moment’s reflection, God gave me this. I exist for these reasons:

1.      To stay alive. I feel God has given me the mission to work hard for Him for a definitive length of time. By His will and for His work, I will finish that mandate well. Then, He bids me retirement. Ultimately, we have a firm idea how long we wish for me to live; an age to attain. We all have a responsibility to stay alive; to promote health. (Psalm 23:6; 91:16.)

2.      To live straight. Integrity is the most important thing as far as the ‘how’ of life is concerned. And to follow God’s ancient path is the way, including the confession and repentance of sin. (Proverbs 3:5-6.)

3.      To love family. God has put a range of persons into my life as family. To love them to my fullest capacity is both my joy and responsibility.

4.      To preach well. Not only by the words I’m blessed to deliver both publicly and privately, He wills me to preach well by the way I live. I must plan and prepare and deliver His messages with all due diligence, and respect feedback as the stewardship of others as their love seeks to sharpen my own.

5.      To care compassionately. The gift of life experience has been a gift where spiritual gifts have become useful skills. Compassion is as important as integrity is. (Matthew 9:36.)

6.      To bless others. This is the uncommon love of Jesus done in common life. Everywhere, always, in the everyday, in all situations, to bless others is the summum bonum — the supreme good. (Romans 12:9-21; 1 Corinthians 13:13.)

7.      To enjoy life. I’ve been blessed to breathe and walk this life out; to enjoy it is to make the most of the seconds and hours and weeks. Because some parts of life require us to go backwards, walking forwards should hence be a duty of delight.

8.      To glorify God. Yes, ultimately, nothing else matters. And all the previous seven culminate in this! (Mark 12:30; James 3:17-18.)