Winston Churchill made a memorable observation about the nation of
Russia during a 1939 radio broadcast: “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery,
inside an enigma.” William Shakespeare wrote a similar comment about
this journey that we call LIFE. “It
is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
(Macbeth, act 5, scene 5) Unfortunately for far too many, all that life
represents can be summed up as riddles, mysteries, enigmas, idiotic tales,
furious sounds…a TOTALITY
OF NOTHING. Such sentiments make it challenging to even get
out of bed in the morning, let alone to confront the unknown and potentially
troublesome circumstances of each new day. Such is the perilous
plight of those whose lives are devoid of PURPOSE.
Dictionary.com defines “PURPOSE”
as “the reason for which something exists.”
Perhaps, our most momentous accomplishment prior to our ‘DIRT NAPS’ will be the discovery
of WHY we are
here. It is THE CENTRAL QUESTION OF
OUR LIVES. It is the underpinning of all our conscious and
subconscious thoughts; it is what fundamentally motivates all decisions and
actions. Friedrich Nietzsche contended that “He who has a WHY to live can bear almost
any HOW.” I
heartily agree. It is the absence of PURPOSE that haunts and hurts us most. To live
without PURPOSE is to
live without meaning.
About a hundred years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper
and, much to his surprise and horror, he read his own name in the obituary
column. The newspaper had erroneously reported the death of the wrong
person. His first response was total shock. He thought,
“Am I still alive? Am I here or
there?” When he regained his composure, his second thought was to
find out what people had said about him. The obituary title was,
“Dynamite King Dies” and it described him as “the merchant of
death.” This was the public view of that man, who was the inventor
of dynamite. When he read those words, “merchant of death,”
something stirred deep within and he asked himself an important question, “Is
this how I will be remembered?” That day, he got in touch with his
deepest feelings and concerns about life and decided that this was not the way
he would live or be remembered. From that point, he started working
passionately toward world peace. His name was Alfred Nobel and he is
remembered by the prestigious prize that bears his name, “The Nobel
Prize.” Alfred Nobel searched his heart, redefined his values, and
transformed his legacy. We can do the same.
Carefully consider this. If you were to leave this
plain-of-mortality today, how would you be remembered by your family, your
friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, your co-workers, or even your
enemies? More importantly, what ‘SPIRITUAL
OBITUARY’ would God have inscribed within the Book of
Life?
The discovery of your purpose is the greatest gift and glory to The
Creator who endowed you with the most precious of gifts: YOUR LIFE. What are
you doing with that which HE endowed?
Jesus Christ taught a poignant parable about our Creator’s expected
return-on-investment. He said, “the kingdom of heaven is as a man
travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto
them his goods.” (Matthew 25:14) This parable is significant because it is
symbolic of our God-given lives and distinctive abilities. Our
Creator designs uniqueness in each of us. The servants in this parable
were provided with differing degrees of “goods” or “talents” in accordance with
their abilities: one, two, or five talents. The servants who
received two and five talents traded and doubled that which had been initially
granted. The servant who received one talent hid it in the ground
and offered insufficient excuses for his lack of productivity at the return of
the estate master. The former were commended as “good and faithful
servants.” (Matthew 25:21;23) The latter was condemned as a “wicked and
slothful servant.” (Matthew 25:26)
It is my contention that the one-talented-servant underestimated
both his personal worth and the value of that which had been entrusted to
him. It seemed small in his eyes, and that is precisely how he
treated it. The result was an
unfulfilled life and a calamitous ending.
What is YOUR WORTH? What is the value of the talents that have
been assigned to your hands? And what are
you doing to maximize them? My greatest fear in life is the
possibility of standing before my Creator without a meaningful response to this
question or without fruit that would justify a positive assessment. Jesus
Christ issues this grave warning to all of us. “Watch therefore, for
you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man
comes.” (Matthew 25:13) Ready or not, He is coming. So, discover your purpose and pursue
it!
Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all
else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
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