Am I Living Out My Purpose?

This morning a friend of mine wrote on her blog (http://allthingshenderson.blogspot.com/) a bit about Senator Kennedy's memorial service. She included a portion of President Obama's speech:

"We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. We cannot know what God's plan is for us. What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and with love, and with joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we can know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of others."

"Live out our lives . . . with purpose . . ." " . . . we can know that we spent it well . . ." What does that mean? For so many it means being a good person, treating other like you'd like to be treated, maybe throwing in some volunteer work here and there. Yesterday, Pastor Steve Dangaran at our church here in Salem, gave an amazing message. I was in tears. I was convicted of how I am not living out my purpose as I should be. Yes, we should love. Yes, we should be generous to others. Yes, we should treat others as we would like them to treat us. But by far, the most important purpose in my life should be introducing others to the One who loves them more than anything they can imagine. The One who wants us to spend eternity with Him. The One who created the Universe; everything in it, the mountains, the sky, the trees, every hair on my head (even the ones going gray). While I'm loving, and giving, and spending time with people, I NEED to be showing them who Jesus is. I NEED to be telling them truth.

The truth is God loves us. He created us. The truth is we are ALL sinners. The truth is God is so Holy, so good, so unexplainable that we in no way deserve to be in His presence. The truth is God so desperately wants us to be in His presence. The truth is He is pursuing us. We mess up and mess up and mess up and God pursues us still. The truth is He provided a way to bring us from our lowly, sinful human existence in to his presence. The truth is He sent His Son, Jesus, to die a torturous death; to pay the penalty for us. Jesus, God in flesh, the One who was sinless, blameless, perfect . . . He suffered in your stead! There is a Heaven. There is a Hell. God wants us with Him. This is truth.

Oh God, please use my fleeting presence on this earth to have an everlasting impact in the life of someone.