Aimlessness: The Lack of Divine Purpose

“We live in a day where many men are still living within the constraints of their boyhood.  At a time when boys should be shedding their boyhood play clothes and putting the garments of manhood, they are entangled by the enemy’s web filled with entertaining toys, games, videos, and lures of the flesh (pornography).  Unfortunately, this trend is a as proliferate within our churches as it is within the general public, and sadly to say there is little being done to combat it.  In a very real way, our men, and now our boys, have been lost to a cultural current of manhood that is anything but biblical and God-honoring.  Something must be done and it needs to happen right now.” (previous devotional)

Within God’s created order, all of life has meaning and man is no exception.  God has naturally wired every man to pursue something—He has given us a divine purpose.   We were made in the likeness of God (our being) and given a task to undertake (our doing) in a specific relational context.   Throughout the revelation of God’s Word is the continual defining of this “being-doing” relationship that exists between the Creator and the created.    Ultimately, our life aim, our eternal purpose is held within the reality of this larger than life relationship. 

The first question of the Westminster Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?”  The answer is a simple one:  To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.   It goes without saying, if God wires a man in His own liking, there is a unique fellowship that the Creator shares with His created.  Furthermore, it is only reasonable that man, image bearers of God Himself, should live in a manner that seeks to bring glory and honor to The Creator.  David, a man after God’s own heart, expresses this well in Psalm 22, verse 23:  “You who fear the LORD, praise Him!  All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him…”  As many verses speak to man’s need to glorify God, there are countless others that express the joy that comes with knowing God in a personal love relationship.
“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me  tread on my high places” (Habakkuk 3:17-19, emphasis added).

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”
 Philippians 4:4

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials”
1 Peter 1:8

In all of this, it comes down to this essential reality:  man’s purpose to glorify and fellowship with God is embedded in the core of his being and holds within it man’s greatest joy.  When Christ was asked the greatest commandment, He gave us two.  First, our highest life priority is to love God with our complete totality of being.  There is no room in our life for God to be second best, or as worse, to share the number one spot.   In order to effectively love God, we must love Him exclusively first and most. 

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” 
Deuteronomy 6:5

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.”
Matthew 6:24

“And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question f to test him.  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him,  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:36-38

Throughout the Old and New Testament we see the one to one correlation between man’s love and man’s devotion.  This is why man’s purpose and life passion must originate within a heart that is totally sold out to God through Jesus Christ, anything less than a total commitment and we begin, in some sense, to play the role of a harlot.   Think about this.  We have many men today that choose to live with a woman yet never marry her.  It is the unwillingness to submit to God’s model of covenantal love and commit themselves to one woman for life.  They want an escape.  Yet, in their unwillingness to give commitment, they fail to love God most, and at the same time they fail to effectively give the woman what she needs most, a God-made love relationship that transcends circumstances and life’s many trials. Now consider this question, have we given ourselves completely to God or are we just "living" with Him?

“but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8  

It is here, we see that our love for God compels our most real love for others.   This is the second commandment that follows our love devotion to God—to love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).   Point being, we cannot “love others as ourselves” unless we love God first and most.  It is God’s love and presence in us that moves us beyond ourselves to embrace a model of self-sacrifice to the point we put other’s needs before our own.  Without loving God first and most, we will continually place ourselves before others. 

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2

The aimlessness epidemic that has infected man, both young and old, is not derived from a lack of motivation and/or focus.  It is totally rooted in the hearts of men that has chosen themselves and this world over God.   They are totally motivated and focused on the wrong things.  God is not first and most.   Let’s face it; He is typically second best and one of many.  We are living the harlot and in the process, we have dragged our families into this illicit and perverted “love” affair with ourselves and the world.

Men, we do not need to get “in touch” with ourselves or worse yet, “find” ourselves on some weekend men’s retreat.   We need to effectively nail ourselves to the cross and lose ourselves.  Our greatest need is not more “How to…” teachings on leadership, marriage, parenting, evangelism techniques, etc…  Our greatest need before God is to give Him our everything—to love Him first and most.  Based on God’s Word, this is only accomplished through a volitional choice to forsake self and cling totally to the work of Jesus Christ.  

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”
Philippians 3:8

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20

It is only in our confession of neediness, that Christ can truly become both Savior and Lord over our lives.  Yet, it is here, that godly purpose and passion is born in a heart that has experienced the redeeming grace of Christ Jesus.  To know the enduring and relentless love of Christ will compel a man to aim his life beyond this world.

  “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”
Philippians 1:21

In a very real way, a heart that is totally God’s is under the divine influence of His transforming love.  It is the highest task at hand for the work of the Holy Spirit within us—to change us into the image of our greatest love—Jesus Christ.  In this light, God truly works in us, through us, and in spite of us for one greater purpose:  to render our being and our doing completely His.  In this manner, God both defines us and then grows us. 

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,  but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:19-22

How will we change the current tide of aimlessness that is sweeping through the ranks of our men and our developing youth?  We must with great resolve and passion define our highest life-priority to love God first and most.  In doing so, God then creates the bridge toward an obedient life that is entrenched within His Word and His will.  His transforming grace will compel hearts to focus their aim upon His honor and grace. 

I challenge all of us to consider this one objective:  To be more and to do less; it is in the reality of our standing in Christ that He compels our day to day living. 

One last thought—our youth has and will follow in our footsteps.   What needs to change in our lives and in the lives of our churches to ensure that we are truly engaging their hearts and not just entertaining their minds?   Do they understand what a love relationship with God really means?  Have they heard it?  Most significantly, have they seen it?
  




 

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Copyright © by Joe Waresak 2010. Published by Seek First Ministries, Inc.
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Otherwise noted Scripture taken from the English Standard Version.  Copyright(c) 2008-2009 Crossway Bibles.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

  

 

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