City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

“…everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.”

Colossians 1:16 (The Message)

“’The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.’”

Matthew 9:37

Reflection

Too often when somebody is looking for their purpose, they look in the wrong direction, either the world or themselves. There are a lot of well-meaning but misguided resources that tell the seeker to look inside themselves for their purpose for living, this is like drinking salt water, it might do the trick at first, but it leaves the victim more thirsty than before. Corrie ten Boom, who spent time at a concentration camp for helping Jews escape the Nazis, said:

“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.”

As Kacee told us on Sunday, we fulfill our purpose when we bring glory to God. Rick Warren wrote in The Purpose Driven Life that we bring glory to God by worshipping Him, fellowshipping with other believers, growing in Christ-like character, using our talents for the benefit of others, and bringing non-believers to Christ. Worship is adoration, constantly thinking about God. Fellowship (when you see this word, how many of you think of the first Lord of the Rings book and movie?), is a group who share a common interest and friendship (and like the heroes of the story, we go on adventures together!).

We grow in Christ-like character by adopting godly virtues (Matthew 5:3-12, Galatians 5:22-23). Your talents (not a typo, you have multiple, maybe even hundreds, of talents) are needed, and like the parable (Matthew 25:14-23), investing in them makes them multiply. And we need more workers for the harvest, especially coming out of all the horrors of 2020, many non-believers are looking for more than the here and now. God’s purpose for us is a lot more exciting than simply “finding ourselves”!

Application

How about you? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your purpose for living? Or maybe you know He is, but sometimes He is unintentionally put on the back-burner. We can put Him back in front where He belongs by reminding ourselves of our purpose. Centering your purpose around Jesus takes a LOT of pressure off of you!

Prayer

Dearest Jesus, thank You so much for giving me a purpose to live and a great destiny to fulfill. Help me to remain focused on You and what You have for me. In Your name I pray, amen.