The Purposed Life

“But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,” -Acts 26:16 & 17

When God calls you out of sin and darkness, to himself; he calls you for a purpose.  When he called the Apostle Paul, he saved him from his sins, he brought him into the body of Christ, and sanctified him by his Spirit.  Paul was gloriously converted, but he was also gloriously called for a wonderful purpose.  Called into a field of labor to preach to the Gentiles, called out of the sinfulness and bigotry that was his former life.  Called to live a purposed life.

A dear saint of God once said, “God didn’t sanctify use to sit us down.”  Sanctification and holiness is a wonderful thing, not just because you are redeemed from a lost estate and welcomed back into the family of God.  But to know that you are living under the guiding hand of God Almighty for the Almighty is a blessing beyond description.  Moreover, it is not just experienced one time, at an altar of prayer, but every day when you are living in obedience to God.  Furthermore, the scriptures prove time and time again that absolute trust and obedience to the will of God is the most profitable plan for all involved; and this is no wonder.  If you allow the God of the universe to guide your life, direct your steps and be a light unto the world.  Instead of striving to walk through this life by yourself; who do you imagine will do a better job?  God can use us for his purpose if we trust and obey his word; he will not impose himself on anybody. I am confident to say that any reasoning individual with a belief in God will admit to the fact that God can guide our lives better than we.  If you accept this; why resist the call of God?  Why run from the unction of his Spirit?  Why would you go on hording all your worries and cares when you can just turn them over to Jesus?  Perhaps there is more than one single reason; however, the Word of God leads me to believe that a failure to trust and obey can often be found rooted in a failure of faith.  Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Rehab, Daniel, and many more in the scriptures believed God more than anything; they had faith that God’s way was better than their way.  This is the faith of the saints, the faith that brought revival, the faith that spread the gospel of Christ across the globe, the faith that is still carrying us on today.  The faith that God’s way is the way, his purpose the purpose.  Paul was heading his own way when he was called.  However, when God called him, he was not disobedient, and he had faith in the call and faith in the purpose.  God calls each one of us, to purpose us for Himself, but we must have faith in the calling.

When he calls you, he is not calling you to “sanctify you and sit you down”, but because there is a glorious field of labor prepared for you; “God has something beautiful planned for your life.”  There is a purpose for you, within this sanctification that God has brought you.  The sanctified life is a purposed life.  A life lived for the glory of God.