God’s Purpose For Our Future

​All of us have faults. Even though Satan will try to get you to deny them, God is not afraid of your flaws. Since God wants us to be genuine people with genuine faith, the Bible says we must deal with our faults responsibly. In the brilliant light of Christ’s presence, our fracture lines will display themselves. Even if things are going smoothly right now, in the future you will get squeezed. God knows the areas you need to strengthen to prevent failure. Dealing with your faults now will shore up your character so you will not crack under pressure. If you work to overcome your faults in interaction with the Holy Spirit, who knows what the future holds, God will heal you and help you triumph over life’s testing.

When we start off as Christians—after repenting, getting baptized, having our sins forgiven, and receiving the Holy Spirit—we feel and believe that nothing can stop us now! We have a clarity of purpose, believing that God was going to work through us to change lives and change the world.

But then we go through struggles and periods of dryness spiritually, where we are just trying to survive. Many of us are in a desert spiritually—in our marriage, in dating, in relationships, in careers—but do not understand how and why we got here or God’s purpose for our future.

“I’m weak.” This is one of the hardest phrases I have ever had to say as it relates to my Christianity. What makes this such a difficult sentence is the fact that I mean it the most when I am at my lowest and in desperate need of God’s saving Grace. Admitting weakness usually comes after I have tried to tackle a tough situation on my own, only to realize that I am failing miserably and cannot continue without urgent intervention. I should pause here and give you some background information about myself to put this post into perspective.

If you asked me about who I am in Christ,  I would tell you “I am a Jesus Lover; I am madly in love with God and I want only to live for Him. I am the pastor of the church. I pray, I preach, I do volunteer work, and my heart is to share the love of Christ with the world!”  Impressive right? Not really. The thing is, anyone can point out all the good things about their Christianity. It’s easy to say nice Christian jargon like “too blessed to be stressed” and “too anointed to be disappointed” when speaking to others. Now do not get me wrong; I am not saying that having a cheerful outlook about your Christian life is bad or holding on to hope is wrong.  I am just saying that it is okay to boast about those things that make you weak; understanding that it is because of them we experience God’s perfect strength.

Weakness is everywhere in the New Testament. Jesus told his disciples that, in contrast to the spirit, the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38).  Luke, in Paul’s voice, refers to the weak as those who are economically disadvantaged (Acts 20:35).  The Corinthian believers were weak in the social sense (1 Corinthians 1:26–27). The Book of Romans tells us that Jesus died for us while we were still weak, that is, while we were ungodly and lacked any possibility of deserving the slightest good (Romans 5:8).  But we are also weak when we pray, when we lack the words or know-how (Romans 8:26).  And if that is not enough, then there are fellow Christians who are weak if they cannot get past judging others on matters of conscience (Romans 14:1–4).  Also throw in this pile the physical infirmities that Paul seems to cite in (2 Corinthians 10:10), the thorn in the flesh in (2 Corinthians 12:7), and the litany of unpleasantness in (2 Corinthians 12:10).  One way or another, we have felt the way the Bible speaks about weakness.

So, what can we do? I learned to start with a WORD from the Lord. I love the verse from Psalm 139:14 NLT. “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”  

We cannot make changes in our lives until we understand our identity. You cannot become all that God created you to be until you embrace your identity — the unmistakably unique and flawed you that God intentionally made for a purpose.

To fulfill God’s purpose for you, you must look at every facet of your life - Worship, Evangelism, Fellowship, Discipleship, and Ministry - these influence your character. Then, you must make the most of what you are given. We may have all been given different parents, pains, problems, and potential, but we will all be held accountable one day for what we did with those factors.

You will never be able to make a change in your life or fulfill God’s purpose for your life until you understand that you are wonderfully complex and uniquely flawed for God’s glory. The question then is this: What will you do with your life today?

Make Every Day Count!

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