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Purpose gives Understanding

Humans are not content to just be, they want to understand. Their understanding of purpose determines their motivation. No purpose, no motivation, no fulfillment or lasting happiness.

Purpose and Goodness

We need a purpose but where do we get it? Who should determine how we live and what is the greatest authority and good?

  1. Ourselves – If there is no objective purpose we are free to invent our own or live aimlessly. We pursue pleasure and avoid pain as animals do.
  2. Society - We should let friends, family or society define our purpose and “live for others” by trying to meet expectations and fulfill a role.
  3. God – If a good God made us, He surely had something in mind. Our whole makeup and being should resonate with his purpose for us and we should find that our skill and joy centers on this purpose.

Purpose for Value

Without a purpose their can be no value because no judgement can be made as to whether a person is fulfilling their purpose. A rope is good when it supports weight because that is it’s purpose but if humans are purposeless then there are no Good or Bad Men and the rapist is equal to the philanthropist.

Related Posts

Defining Faith

What is faith?

  1. Believing in things you can’t see or verify?
  2. Trust in a person’s integrity?
  3. Believing in things that are obviously wrong?

To have faith in an object, like a chair, is to apply experience, senses and reason in predicting future behaviour. We know chairs are mostly stable, this chair looks stable and reason that we can sit down in good faith.

Christian Faith

For a Christian, Faith is what you hold on to when you don’t understand God’s ways or plan for you. You know, from experience, that He’s good and faithful and has your best at heart, but you are facing difficulties. Like a rope, it matters awfully much what your Faith is attached to. It is not just important to have faith in anything say, this pencil, it’s critical what the object of your faith is. Good faith is faith in a good object.

Why We Need Faith

We all have faith because we live by constantly testing things and it is rational and reasonable to assume that the chair we sat on yesterday will hold today and the God which saved us and kept past promises will continue to be true.

Salvation by Faith

Christian’s believe that they are saved by faith and not by doing good deeds (works). It is not at first obvious why God would choose people for salvation who have faith in Him. Are not those people naive who have faith? However we must remember that it is the object of the faith which is important and God is the ultimate perfect being. Someone who needs saving is amply justified in saying: “If anything can save me, then God can!” This is known as “calling on the name of the lord” and is a recurrent theme in the Old Testament and a visible and central concept of the Good News in the New Testament.

Those who are spiritually bankrupt are those who realise that only God can save them and their faith is that he is Good and will do it. Believing this of God gives Him Glory and such a person is justified by their faith because they chose God over everything else.

Defining Freedom

We’ve all felt it and value it but how would you define Freedom?

  1. Does freedom mean making your own choices? Then we’re all free!
  2. Does freedom mean choosing without external factors and pressure? Then no one is free!
  3. Does freedom mean choosing and acting without consequences? Not in this world!

Complex Freedom

Freedom is such a basic concept but far more complex than we often realise. Societies recognise that freedom comes at the expense of security. If everyone is free to do as they please, we are no longer safe. If every action is regulated by Law we are no longer free so we try to maintain an ideal balance.

Secure Freedom

In a world where too much personal freedom destroys collective freedom we need a type of freedom where the borders are clearly defined and stable. Only when we know that nobody will rob or kill us can we leave our doors unlocked and feel the freedom which comes from having laws. There is another possibility without laws:

If nobody would break laws which rob our freedom we could have freedom without laws.

This is only possible if all people are changed in a radical miraculous way – a new life.

Liberating Truth

Jesus says the Truth shall make you free. When you know who you are and who God is you’re in the best position to be liberated from things which bind you and rob you of freedom:

  • Peer Pressure
  • Expectations
  • Poor Self-Image
  • Addictions and Bad Habits

Basically when you know your true identity in light of Ultimate Reality (God) you are free to be you. You were made for a purpose and living any other way is going to be problematic – discover your identity and purpose and be free to live life to the full.

Peace eludes many people but some seem to have it. We see people who find a kind of peace in nature or in relationships, some in culture or religion but all these things are unstable and cannot offer the security we need in order to be truly Free.

The Peace that God gives is true, lasting and real because He doesn’t just give Peace alone, he gives Himself. Because He gives Himself to us (through Jesus) we have something true, lasting and real namely, God. Thus we have His true, lasting and real Peace.

Jesus said anything we ask in His name will be given to us. We could ask for money but probably not in His name unless we wanted to do His Work. But if we ask for Peace we can know that God will pour it out generously.