If our pursuit as a believer is not to become holy, since we already are, then what changes in the way we do life after we surrendered it to our Maker?
Though we do not strive to become righteous since He completely erased every wickedness and stain from our spirit, we do need to learn how to live from that spirit instead of from our soul that still has sinful habits.
Our spirit is the core of who we are, our essence.
It is the part of us that has been united to God at conversion.
Our soul consists of our mind, will and emotions.
Our thoughts, the decisions that we make and our feelings.
As a new believer we are like new born babies in the spirit that need to learn a lot and grow.
We can never grow God’s love for us though.
Just like you do not love or value your baby any less then your grown up child, so we can never do anything to ad to God’s love for us.
Neither can we do anything to diminish it.
His love for us is constant and will always be constant.
Yet that does not mean we do not need to learn how to obey him and how to live our lives according to his ways.
His instructions always lead to more fullness of life.
Obedience to God is not an act of fear but of love.
Not of meaningless duty but of deep passion.
We want to obey him because we love him and we know how much He loves us.
We live according to his instructions because we want to with our whole being.
And if we do not understand why He asks something from us we obey nonetheless because we trust him.
Knowing that He does everything for our good.
Yet there is a danger if we solely were to make obedience to God our new pursuit in life.
If that would become our main focus.
The danger is that we would forget the cross.
That we forget that we live only by grace and not by our behaviour, even though that behaviour certainly has consequenses, whether good or bad.
Like reaping and sowing.
We sow what we reap.
And so it matters whether we obey God or not even though it has no effect on the measure of his love for us.
Like the people that never give their lives to God go to hell, even though He loves them still.
If it did not matter how we live, our lives would have little significance.
It is because it matters that we can accomplish great things and have influence in the world around us, even for future generations.
We can make inventions that greatly improve life.
We can put up social systems so that the poor and sick are taken care of.
We can even reach space.
And more close to home, we can change the life of a neighbor next door that is in need of our help and compassion.
We can show the beggar at the supermarket or train station that we care.
We can teach our children that they matter and have great value.
The downside of this though is that it is also possible to do great harm.
We can destroy someone’s reputation with our gossip.
Even to the point of diminishing their chances in society.
Whether relational or in the workplace.
We can kill a person, beat them up, physically or emotionally.
We can greatly influence the future paradigm of our children.
Of how they will live their lives, even when we are gone.
This may all sound like a good reason to take a closer look at our behaviour and become more sensitive to the needs of others.
And it is.
Yet…
If our primary purpose in life is to improve it, even (seemingly) for selfless reasons, we can greatly deviate from the prime purpose of our existence.
Remember that in the beginning when God made us everything was perfect.
There was no lack that needed to be filled.
No sick that needed to be taken care of.
No lonely people.
No people in pain and need.
No crime that needed to be contained.
No disasters etc.
Now if that is the case, then what tells this us about our purpose in life?
If nothing was broken, then our purpose was not to fix something.
I do believe we were made to explore life and create new things.
To do new discoveries and make inventions.
Not so much out of need because God could not make these things himself but because it is great fun!
God did not create us to suffer endlessly and to do hard labor.
Nor to climb that ladder of society so we become better and stronger than others.
Always competing with each other.
High above them so we can have a sense of worth and power.
So we can feel we are in control and are safe.
We all know there is not much safety we can get in this world, even if we are the richest person on earth or have an underground bunker.
We all die one day. Some sooner than others.
Some with the riches of money, yet lonely.
Others with the riches of loved ones around them, yet poor.
But none of these things we can attain in life, whether material or relational, we can take with us when we die.
We may meet our loved ones again in the hereafter, supposing they go to the same place as we when we leave this earth.
Yet when our lives end only one thing matters.
The only thing that determines how we spend eternity is whether we had a relationship with our Maker during our lifetime.
You may have given your life to him with your very last breath, yet if so then that is all that matters and it is enough for the salvation of your soul.
You may have done great things for humanity during your life.
Saved many people from premature death.
Yet if you did not surrender to your Maker you will not be with him in eternity.
And you will suffer endlessly because of that.
You may have benefitted the life of many, yet you lost your own in the end.
Now that is tragedy right?
So what is the point of all this?
Do we only live to determine where or how we spend eternity?
I will leave that question open.
But the suggestion I want to make is that the purpose of our lives is not to attain things. Initially.
Our prime purpose is to develop a relationship with our Maker who is our eternal Father.
Just like life really is all about relationships.
It is actually only through relationship with God that I believe we can fulfill our full destiny here on earth.
So we do have a purpose, each individual life its own.
Yet our prime reason for living and the only thing that can fill the deepest needs and desires of our soul can only be found in connection with our Maker.
The One that created us and the One we were made for.
To bring him joy.
And nothing gives him greater pleasure than when his sons and daughters come to him to have fellowship with him.
When they share the life He gave them with him and do everything in relationship with him.
Always asking what his take is on the things they are doing and thinking. Always sharing their heart and feelings with their Father.
Involving him in every single aspect of their life, like can be expected one does with a partner.
And spiritually speaking God is not only our Father, the One we came from, but also our partner, our husband.
The Lover of our soul.
The One that loves us more than anyone else ever will.
Even if their love is perfect.
Our new pursuit in life is to get to know God better.
To love him, and to let him love us.
To be continued…
Creator's Joy 