Purpose Revisited

Ever been asked what is your purpose or ever read a book about finding your purpose in life? Ever asked yourself or been asked what is the purpose of (my) life?

Is there a purpose?!

Nothing is made without some purpose, even a painting has a purpose, even a matchstick - think about it..

Isaiah 64:8
Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; We are all the work of your hand.

Just the creation of the thing, in itself can be its purpose (for example a sand castle), once created there may be no more need for it, but in the creation someone felt some sort of joy or fullfillment, and that was its purpose all along.

I dont think this is the case for people, and do think that the Lord had great joy in creating every one of us, but like most 'things' our creation was for a purpose. Perhaps those babies that die in hospital days after being born were like sandcastles to the Lord, and gave him the joy he needed in just creating them and those few days of life. Who are we to understand, his ways are above our, his thoughts above our understanding.

Romans 9:21
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

If you look at some of the people it is sometimes easy to know if someones purpose was 'special' or 'common'.

If you look at Nelson Mandela - obviously a very special purpose!
Some people have died saving another person, very noble purpose, infact most noble!

John 15:13
Greater Love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.

Some of us are the more common clay jars, who's purpose may not be as noble, but in our service to the Lord we find our purpose, and in being the common service jars being 'last' in the hierarchy we will become 'first'.

Luke 13:30
Indeed there are those that are last who will be first, and first who will be last.

I remember my Great Gran, we called her Nanna, who at the time was in her late eightys her hair being snow white with age. Well, when I was a young lad, Nanna although being quite deaf, loved to squeeze my knee and tease me about the dimple on it.

I remember how she would tell my parents that the Lord hadn't forgotten her, she believed that He still just had work for her to do. I remember thinking to myself, how can that be, Nanna must have stopped working years ago. Nanna was in an old age home and although was very involved there before (working for the red cross before admitting herself - as I later found out from my parents) she was now very much one of the residents, albeit a well known one.

How could she be working for the Lord? What could the Lord be expecting from her?

Well, I am now a father and look back fondly on my Nanna, and think perhaps squeezing my knee and teasing me about the dimple on it, was some of the work the Lord had wanted her to do. Heck just telling my parents those exact words infront of me may have been part of the work!

I dont remember when Nanna died, I dont even remember her funeral or if I went, BUT I do remember the donkey bites (knee squeezing) she used to give me, and I now love to give my son the donkey bites, in the hope that one day he remembers.

I just recently read a book that, says that the best (and sometimes only) way to figure out what anythings purpose is, is to ask its maker.

Again when I was younger I remember seeing some very strange looking kitchen utensils in my mothers kitchen, and no matter how long I played with them, took them apart and put them back together, I could not figure out what the purpose of the instrument was until seeing my mother use the utensil. Ok this analogy is not perfect as my mother was not the creator, she was however the purchaser - and in so doing would have been told by the maker what the purpose was as to encourage her to buy the utensil.

The garlic crusher/ chip slicer could never tell me what its purpose was (duh, this was an inanimate object) but the 'maker' could.

I agree, we are all here for a purpose, we may not know what it is, but our Creator knows, ask him, he might just let you know what it is, and perhaps he won't.

But be sure though - there is a purpose for you, and you might be fullfilling it right now, unknowingly.