What is Your Purpose?

Jesus's sole purpose on earth was to do the work of His Father (John 4:34). His constant obedience and fervent dedication to the fulfillment of the will of God enabled Him to say at the end of His life "It is finished" (John 19:30). He had achieved the mission He had been sent to fulfill.

Following Christ's example, Paul later declared that his life's ambition was "To live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21) Paul said, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things" (Philippians 3:8). He had sacrificed His position, possessions, and popularity for the Gospel, and in retrospect he stated that "whatever was to my profit I now consider a loss for the sake of Christ" (Philippians 3:7). Nothing in his life brought greater fulfillment than his relationship with Jesus and it was upon Christ that he built the foundation for his existence.

Esau, on the other hand, found immediate pleasures of far greater value than the promise of future rewards. He exchanged his birthright for a bowl of soup and reaped the consequences of that decision for the rest of his life. He missed out on the blessings of his role as firstborn because he succumbed to his temporary
hunger pains. He settled for soup when he could have had a banquet!

Lot's wife's life ended tragically after she too compromised by disobeying God's
command to flee Sodom and Gomorrah without looking back. She could not resist the temptation to express remorse for the life she had left behind, for she had yet to embrace the hope of a better life ahead.

Will you be like Jesus and Paul who pursued the will of God and changed the course of history or will you be life Esau and Lot's wife who exchanged a life of promise for a life of compromise. When Joshua spoke to the Israelites he offered this challenged, "Choose you this day whom you will serve . . . but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15). The choice is up to you.

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All Bible verse quotations on this page are from the New International version.

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