Your Purpose Belongs to Others
Consider the following before responding.
How important is your obedience to you?
In other words, do you love others enough to obey God?
The same love we express to God through our obedience ministers truth to others. Our obedience expresses love to God, and to others. Others know us as students of Jesus by our love (John 13:35). God’s purpose births truth, and the more we obey the greater love we develop for truth. With this growing desire for truth we want to live full lives and boldly encourage others to exchange denial and excuses for truth.
How then, does our obedience to God (through doing purpose) minister truth? Let’s examine a component of love in 1 Corinthians 13:6 (KJV)–
Love…rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.
rejoiceth: cheerful, be well
iniquity: unrighteousness, injustice
truth: reality lying at the basis of an appearance
Gifted Girl, as we live our purpose we enhance our love walk and our personal relationship with truth. Notice I did not say that we become more rooted in our own “personal truth,” which is nothing more than opinion. Instead we align ourselves with the standard of truth, God’s standard, when we are in pure pursuit of purpose.
Wellness Check
- How is your purpose doing in reaching, serving and impacting others?
- Are you cheerful or do you rejoice at the unrighteousness of others?
- Or, are you well (and better off) when the root of a matter is revealed, even if it is a hard reality?
Kingdom Queen, gifted girl, we are on many missions for authentic purpose. Compromise is defeat. To rejoice in anything but truth is to short change those to whom we are called those who observe us as the example.
Staying Power
Key to serving others with and through our purpose is knowing where people fit. How many times have we assigned a person to long-term function for our purpose, and later learned a tough (and maybe painful) lesson about what God intended? Do you remember the email that circulated years ago (and still gets around, I think) about people being in our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime? Well, if life is to be lived on purpose then I suggest we re-assess. And after we re-assess it may be time to re-assign. Deal with the discomfort now of re-allocating time and energy with people who were put in the wrong category…and allow God to properly place them. Then, move on in purpose.
When it comes to purpose, it belongs to others–but not on others’ terms. God remains the giver of purpose. And, we remain responsible to Him for how we steward His purpose, grow it and return it to Him in greater form (see the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30). This is the greater work, and I encourage us to remain absolutely committed to truth in our service to others.
Let’s choose efficiency over appearance.
Let’s choose relevance over appearance.
Let’s choose power over the form of the appearance of godliness…and BE the DOING of what God gave us to do. There is an audience for our purpose. Selah, and love to all.
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The Bereans' Commentary with Shaunta D. Scroggins, Ed.D. 
This was totally awesome Shaunta! Thank God for you and this ministry! Love you.