The Christian Purpose

     When I was little I used to stop, right in mid-step, and ask myself, why am I here? What’s the purpose in this if I’m just going to do the same things over and over? Is this even real? You may find yourself asking yourself the same questions and even, What’s the purpose of the Christian life? For a while, I didn’t even know how to answer the question myself even though I grew up in church and had probably heard the exact answer to that question ten hundred times. But it wasn’t until, after I had walked out to a large field for a work out session, and was walking up and down the tree-lined lane, that I found the answer. I had been arguing with I like to call the Celebrity Me.
     We all have one inside our head, telling us, well you could be this or you could be that. It’s always telling us what we could be to elevate ourselves to new heights. Celebrity Me has another name-Satan. And that particular day, he was trying to trick me into being somebody that would glorify myself and he was promising I would get there. But that’s not the purpose of the Christian life and I made sure that I told him so and in quite a lengthy and successful (on my part; he left me alone) argument.

The Purpose

     In the entirety of the New Testament, the word go appears 283 times. In the four Gospels, it appears 196 times and in Acts alone it appears 57 times. Go is a pretty common word. But Jesus used this word for His great commission. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus says to his disciples, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.”
     Through this commandment, Jesus basically lays out the purpose of the entire Christian life before his disciples (and not just the Twelve-a disciple is anyone who follows Jesus, including you) clearly for them to see. To illustrate, I’m going to use a very common example.

Shine

     Imagine for a minute that you’re sitting in a darkened room, holding an unlit candle, and you can’t see anything, right? Darkness is the absence of light. Then someone lights a candle. Now, the lighter that lit the candle represents Jesus touching somebody’s life. That person, then, with their newfound, childlike faith, reaches out to, let’s say a man named Dan. Now Dan’s candle is lit.  You can see the light of the first person and Dan shining through the darkness. But you still can’t see anything else. Then Dan reaches over and lights Mike’s candle. Three lights now shine through the darkness. Mike reaches out and lights Carrie’s candle. All the while, the first person is still reaching out and lighting other people’s candles. So is Dan. And Mike. And now Carrie. Carrie lights Ally’s candle. Ally’s lights Andrew’s candle. Andrew lights his little sister Ella’s candle. The first person is still reaching out. Dan is still lighting other’s candles. So is Mike. So is Carrie. So are Ally, and Andrew and now Ella. Soon someone lights your candle.
     You can see again, right? The whole room is now bathed in light. There’s still darkness where shadows can’t be chased away, but you’re not caught in darkness anymore. Jesus lights out internal candle when someone reaches out and introduces us to Him and we get saved. But we don’t just hold onto that light for ourselves. Like the old child’s song:

This little light of mine

I’m gonna let shine…

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

     Instead we take it out and shine it into the dark places, lighting up the dark places of the world. We reach out and light other people’s candles. Because, if you shine bright enough, they’re eventually going to ask questions.
     My favorite verse comes from Philippians 2:14-15. “Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights (or stars) in the world.” Stars shine pretty bright. They are millions of light years away from earth but yet they faithfully come out every night and shine down to give a bit of light to the darkened world.
     We aren’t millions of light years away from our fellow human being. They live right beside us. They shop at the same supermarket, the same mall. They go to the same gym. They play on the same team. They go to the same game, concert, and production and watch and cheer right beside you. Yet most of us don’t give them a second glance.
     I’m not saying that you have to turn to the person next to you and immediately start presenting the Gospel. It doesn’t always work that way. You have to wait, pray and see how the Spirit leads you. Sometimes, He’ll tell you to immediately tell the person. If they don’t come to repentance, don’t worry. You’ve planted the seed and the seed will grow. Other times, you just make friends, and, slowly, through your influence, your words, and your attitudes, they’ll come to see something different in you, something more. And they’ll want to know what that is.
     So “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

~Miri~