My Chore List
If you are like me, you are constantly seeking out the purpose Christ has for you, whether it be in your task, your goal, your relationships, your day, or even in the larger picture by what you do as a career or ministry. You may already have a clear map or maybe you already know your path, yet I am sure you still seek course directions to stay on track. Many consider this to be part of spiritual maturity, where we continue to seek Him in our decisions, plans, goals, and priorities.
As I consider my life and where I “plug in”, I have diligently searched for the Lord’s direction in prayer with a sincere desire to “fulfill my purpose”. I find myself searching for direction in my church leadership roles, business leadership roles, relationships, and teaching my children. A constant request in prayer is for the Lord, “…to grant to me the wisdom, understanding, and strength to accomplish that which He has set forth in my day, to fulfill the purpose and role for which He has created me.”
As a man, I have this macho desire to be strong, overcome all odds, achieve something, maybe (if I’m really lucky) conquer something, and at the end of the day cross off my manly list all the chores God gave me to accomplish. If I can cross everything off the list, I have successfully completed my purpose – the purpose God gave me. However, in a revelation just this morning, if I am not becoming more like Him (and I mean noticeably more like Him), I am missing God’s purpose in my life.
David Wilkerson writes in this morning’s devotional, “You see, God’s purpose for me can’t be fulfilled by what I do for Christ. It can’t be measured by anything I achieve even if I heal the sick or cast out demons. No, God’s purpose is fulfilled in me only by what I am becoming in him. Christlikeness isn’t about what I do for the Lord, but about how I’m being transformed into his likeness.”
We find we were created in His likeness and image in Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” We also know sin has separated us from God, perverting our image and likeness. Part of His ministry of reconciliation is bringing us back to that true image and likeness.
As Jesus prays in John 17:20-21, “…I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me…”
As we are transformed into the image of Christ, how is it the world will believe in the transformation? How is it the world will see Christ in each of us? Is it by what we have accomplished? Is it by the check marks on the chore list God has given us?
Or, is it in the way we treat people?
Do I see God in the huge mega-church or do I see God in the people within that mega-church and their love for one another and others? Is He in the accomplishment or the relationship?
I think the Lord added a task to my chore list this morning. I need to figure out what the following means and apply it to my life:
Understanding my purpose in the Lord comes down to how I treat people.
Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
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